Ontario busker finishes 4th on Canada’s Got Talent, says time on show a ‘whirlwind’ | CBC News

The curtains closed Tuesday night on Samantha Meave Pearson’s time as a contestant on Canada’s Got Talent. 

The Hamilton singer and busker, who uses her middle name Meave as a stage name, placed fourth in the competition.

When Meave spoke to CBC Hamilton Wednesday morning, after the show’s finale, the 26-year-old said she was “so tired” from the long, exciting night before. 

During the finale, Maeve performed one final song, Somebody to Love by Queen, for millions of Canadian viewers before the results were announced. 

Though she came short of first place, Meave told CBC Hamilton she’s happy with her fourth-place win. 

“I’m just really grateful for this opportunity and I can’t wait to keep making music and performing,” she said.

“I’m feeling good.”

‘Not what I was expecting at all’

Maeve’s journey to the finals began when she was busking outside of the Fallsview Casino Hotel in Niagara Falls last October.

She drew the attention of a special passerby — Canadian comedian and Canada’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel. Mandel listened to her sing and asked her to audition for the show inside the casino. 

In a video posted by the show, Mandel said, “There’s an old joke: Why did the judge cross the street? To find Meave.”

Meave said she heard the show was in town, but had no clue she was busking right in front of the building where auditions were taking place.

“That wasn’t the purpose of me being there anyway … I just needed rent money,” she said. 

“Making it this far is more than I could have hoped for.” 

Headed back to the recording studio

Meave said the past seven months since she auditioned in October have been “a whirlwind” and the show ending “hasn’t fully sunk in yet.” 

“Everything went by so fast. I kind of feel like I auditioned yesterday, but I also feel like that was 10 years ago,” she said.

“It’s hard to put into words.”

If she had to do it all over again she would, she said, and anyone thinking of auditioning next year should go for it.

Another reason to audition is that next year Canada’s Got Talent’s grand prize is growing from $150,000 this year to $1 million. 

Meave said now that the show is done she is going to turn her focus back to recording new music. 

“I just released a song yesterday, actually, so I’m going to be doing some more of that and hopefully some gigging locally,” she said. 

Her new song is called Done and is available for streaming on Apple Music and Spotify, along with a cover of House of the Rising Sun by The Animals — the song Meave performed a capella for her Canada’s Got Talent audition. 

“I’m definitely going to be doing a lot of recording,” she said.