Local songbird Siti Nurhaliza (left) sends words of encouragement to Golden Buzzer act Putri Ariani on Instagram. Photos: Siti Nurhaliza/Instagram, Putri Ariani/Instagram
Visually impaired Indonesian singer Putri Ariani recently made headlines after earning a Golden Buzzer from English television personality Simon Cowell on America’s Got Talent.
The 17-year-old won the hearts of the four judges after performing an original track, Loneliness, and was even asked by Cowell to perform a second song.
Putri’s audition clip on YouTube, which has garnered over 28.5 million views at press time, caught the attention of people from all around the world – including two YouTubers, who said that her voice reminded them of Malaysia’s songbird Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza.
Taking to Instagram to respond to the comments, Siti wrote: “Masya-Allah little sister. Keep flying high and make your parents and country proud.”
Shortly after, Putri made an Instagram Story thanking the 44-year-old for her words of encouragement.
In the post, the former Indonesia’s Got Talent champion also voiced her hopes of performing with Siti in the future.
“Thank you so much. I really love your songs. I hope we can meet in person soon. I’d really like to duet with you,” the teenager wrote, to which Siti responded, “Insya-Allah, my dear.”
Putri has been blind since she was three years old and has been performing on stage since she was seven.
The talented singer rose to fame in 2014 after winning the second season of Indonesia’s Got Talent, and was also a finalist in the 2016 singing contest, The Voice Kids Indonesia.
According to Daily Mail, Putri has released almost 30 songs on iTunes so far.
Her most successful song, Tak Mampu Lupa, was released last year and has over 11.7 million streams on Spotify at press time.
