Cristina Rae remains one of the frontrunners to win America’s Got Talent season 15. Her voice is truly one of a kind. She wowed the judges with her performance of “Hallelujah” during the third round of the quarterfinals on Aug. 25. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Cristina after her big night and asked what she would do with the $1 million prize if she won. For Cristina, winning means more than just a cash prize.
“For me, winning AGT would mean that I have a house,” Cristina told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “It would mean I would just invest in my child and his dreams and, of course, make my dreams come true and hopefully make that path even easier. I really just want to have a home because my son always asks, ‘When are we going home?’ He is happy in the hotel, but we can’t be in the hotel forever. So my number one goal is a home and to invest positively in my son’s life and take care of people who need it… That is my number one goal, is to get a home.”
Cristina previously opened up about being homeless. She was living in her car when she was pregnant with her son, Jeremiah. Her little one has been by her side as she competes on AGT. “He is doing well. He is in heaven with everyone here,” Cristina gushed. “Everyone loves him. He thinks he is a part of W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew and the Bonebreakers, and I let him know that we have to get some good life insurance and health insurance to be a part of their crews [laughs]. I don’t got time for this! But he is happy!”
After her performance of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum both called the performance “flawless.” Even though she got such high praise and earned Heidi’s Golden Buzzer, Cristina is not going to let this get to her head. “To be honest, I don’t focus on the comment of ‘flawless’ because I know I am a person of many mistakes. But I also know that if I am meant to go higher then I will go higher,” she said. “I am always going to be a humble person because at any moment my gift can be taken away.”
She also revealed why she chose the song for her quarterfinals performance. “So when I spoke with the producers and the music team I explained to them that it felt like listening to that song is the window in the darkness. It is a window of light with the ‘hallelujah’ in every verse of that song because every verse is a sad part but everyone ends with the ‘hallelujah’ and that is the highest praise. I think we all need bright sides right now because it is very a dark time that we are in with COVID-19 and even with the election that is going on and all this brutality going on. We all need a moment where we have a moment of peace and healing, so that was my interpretation of doing the song.” America’s Got Talent season 15 airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.