For the Judges Callbacks on America’s Got Talent, each of the judges – Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Mel B and Sofia Vergara – got to select five or six acts that had received at least three yeses for a second look in order to decide if they were worthy of appearing on the Live Shows.
Tonight, on AGT, the artists picked by Simon and Mel B will perform one more time and hope for a thumbs up. Among the artists that Simon selected is vocalist Travis Garland, who is hoping to use the NBC talent competition to break out from the pack.
“Dancing is a really heavy workload,” the singer-songwriter from Lubbock, TX exclusively tells Parade. ‘We’re doing anywhere from 10 to 20 songs a week all different styles and I’m given what I’m assigned by our DWTS music director Ray Chew. AGT is cool because it’s me as an artist. I’m not the background guy and I’m getting to choose what songs to perform and really show a little more of who I am as an artist, so it’s been awesome.”
Travis auditioned on Night 1 of the AGT 2026 season and he only received three yeses. Howie wasn’t a fan, telling Travis he was “too theatrical” and “over rehearsed.” Luckily for Travis, the other judges didn’t agree.
“People made a whole thing of that, of me getting a no from Howie,” Travis says. “He said I was too theatrical. For me, I take all that with a grain of salt. Howie is entitled to his opinion. At the same time, he said he felt like I was over-rehearsed. I’ve been telling people — spoiler alert — I was very rehearsed. This is a huge opportunity and I came in prepared. Getting feedback or a no or anything like that doesn’t scare me or deter me at all. I’ve been getting told no my whole career. I always say you can’t ever let the criticism go to your heart, and you can’t ever let the compliments go to your head, so that’s like a mantra I live by. Howie was entitled to his opinion. If he didn’t like it, that’s great; I’m looking to win him over in the next round.”
During his meeting with Simon at the judges’ Malibu Beach home while filming the callbacks, Travis received some excellent advice from the mentor, which he says he will carry with him moving forward.
“On shows like this, the tendency is to go big,” Travis shares. “There’s people lighting themselves on fire and nailing stuff to their face. Simon told me, ‘Travis, you don’t need to do any of that.’ He told me, ‘You have one of those voices.’ He said, ‘You’re the best vocalist we have on this season.’ He said, ‘You remind me of the singers that we used to have on the early seasons of Idol, people like Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson and they didn’t need to do anything except sing. You don’t need all the bells and whistles to stand up there and sing. You have one of those voices.’”
So, if Travis makes the cut on tonight’s America’s Got Talent Judges Callbacks, he has a plan in place to try to win America’s vote and make through to the finale.
“My plan is what it’s always been, which is just to be myself,” he says. “Everybody else is already taken. For me, I’m a singer-songwriter-performer-producer. I’ve been doing covers for a long time on YouTube. I’ve been doing covers for a long time on TV on Dancing with the Stars, so I definitely want to just come with an original flip on some of these covers that people have heard. My goal when doing the cover is always how can I tap the original, how can I bring something different that’s even better than the original maybe that people haven’t heard. If I continue progressing to the rounds, you might hear an original song out of me. We’ll see.”
You are used to singing in front of a live audience because of DWTS, but also, when you were younger, you were in a boy band, Not Like Them (NLT). How was being on the AGT stage different?
Like you said, I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been performing on stages since I was a little kid, so that isn’t anything new, but for me, I get the same nerves every time I go on stage. Every time I go out on stage, it’s like the first time. I’m deathly… stomach in knots, and then the second I start singing, that all goes away, so that was the same feeling, the same nerves, the same excitement. I live for that: Facing the fear and overcoming it. It’s a little different on AGT because you’re talking with the judges. It’s kind of like doing a job interview right before you give a performance, so that’s new. But I’m just soaking up the experience and enjoying the ride and really excited for people to see this next round tomorrow night.
For the Judges Callbacks, you are one of Simon Cowell’s picks. Is it more special because it’s him and he’s known for putting together One Direction, Fifth Harmony and Il Divo? What did it mean that it was Simon that picked you to be his Callback?
That was really cool for me. A big part of coming on this show was getting to connect with Simon. I feel really grateful that he picked me for this round because I get to connect with him and work with him personally. He actually picked my song I’m performing on this next episode, so that was cool to get some feedback from him and Mel, too. These are the two people who have long, successful careers in music, and they were the ones that I feel saw me and appreciated what I do, so that was really cool. I’m hopefully going to continue working with Simon more and always appreciate someone like him who’s had a long, successful career of picking talent, just getting any feedback, advice, and coaching from him along the way.
Tell us something about Dancing with the Stars that would surprise our readers that we don’t know because we don’t see what you do behind the scenes.
There’s a new surprise every week on Dancing with the Stars. There could be an entire TV show just on the behind-the-scenes to make it to each Tuesday night, but I think for me, one of the biggest surprises and challenges is every week taking on a new genre. Some weeks it’s like hair metal week and I’ve got to scream my lungs out and do rock songs from the ‘80s. Then we’ll turn around the next week and it’s Broadway week, and then the following week it’s Motown week and it’s all R&B. These are all styles that I’ve grown up doing and trained in. It’s something that I pride myself on: that I can do a lot of different styles, so I think that’s something that sets me apart, and that’s something I’m looking to showcase on AGT: That I can do a wide range of styles. I don’t think many people can do that, so I’m looking to showcase my range.