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Awesome Talents

Singer vs. AI

Singer vs. AI

AI voice generation software has made it relatively easy to create songs and speech that sound like anyone. But can an AI singer beat a professional like Anthony Vincent? The Ten Second Songs host asks you to be the judge. While the technology certainly is impressive, we will always be Team Human when it comes to creative pursuits.

Somebody That I Used to Know Dance

Somebody That I Used to Know Dance

Choreographer Sergio Reis and members of Netherlands-based CDK Company flex their muscles with a fantastic modern dance set to Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to KnowThe picture-perfect photography and wide-angle shots are straight out of a Wes Anderson movie. Their performance of Eye in the Wall by Perfume Genius is similarly captivating.

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Dancing Ductwork aka Ductman

Dancing Ductwork aka Ductman

This talented street performer was spotted at an intersection in Mexico, entertaining passersby by dancing in a costume made from three large, flexible duct tubes. The more you watch it, the more you wonder which limbs are in which section.

Daft Punk Talkbox on a Steel Guitar

Daft Punk Talkbox on a Steel Guitar

Daft Punk were masters at incorporating talkbox and Vocoder effects in their music. Nashville-based musician Russ Pahl shows off his skills with an excerpt of the robots’ track Within, performed on a pedal steel guitar, with his vocals processed through an analog talkbox. We also enjoyed Russ’ otherworldly tune Butt Call from Mars.

Insanely Good Musical Impressions

Insanely Good Musical Impressions

French vocalist Sarah Schwab is a master of musical impressions. We’re not familiar with all of the singers she mimics, but her imitations of Kate Bush, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, Cher, Cyndi Lauper, Sia, and others are uncanny. Check out her Instagram channel for more, including her take on Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bicycle to Unicycle and Back

Bicycle to Unicycle and Back

Iñigo Arroyo is a master of BMX flatland freestyle and a professional circus performer. In this short clip, he shows off a neat stunt where he removes the front wheel of his bicycle while riding, continues to balance on it as a unicycle, and then reattaches the wheel. Watch this longer video for more of Iñigo’s balancing badassery.

Taekwondo Tile Breaking

Taekwondo Tile Breaking

Talented taekwondo artist minsungimdang shows off his power and precision as he jumps into the air and breaks four ceramic tiles with his feet while performing a backflip. He got a boost from his teammates, but that doesn’t make the feat any less impressive.

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Man of Constant Sorrow: Low Bass Cover

Man of Constant Sorrow: Low Bass Cover

If you’ve seen the Coen Brothers’ film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, you’ll immediately recognize the song I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow, made famous by The Soggy Bottom Boys. Singer Geoff Castellucci sang all parts of the American folk classic and embellished the track with his impressive low bass vocals.

Master of Shadow Puppets

Master of Shadow Puppets

Shadow Ace wowed the judges and audience on America’s Got Talent Season 18 but failed to make the finals. He made the cut on the show’s 2024 Fantasy League, and we think he deserves top price for his immense shadow puppetry talent, as demonstrated in this spirited performance of A$AP Ferg’s and Nikki Minaj’s Plain Jane.

The Human Drum Machine

The Human Drum Machine

The drum parts in rap and dance tracks are often performed using drum machines or samples. Groveman Drums has mastered the art of playing these rhythms live on his drum kit. His versions of Run D.M.C.’s Peter Piper, Salt N Pepa’s Push It, and Missy Elliot’s Work It are as stellar. There’s also compilation of some of his other performances.

Gou Miyagi: Timescan 2

Gou Miyagi: Timescan 2

Skateboarding sensei Gou Miyagi is a master of the grind. Thrasher Magazine takes us to Miyagi-Do for a lesson in balance, precision, and style with an entertaining demo reel from the unconventional freestyle. If you never saw it, check out Gou’s classic video from Heroin Skateboards.

Thunderstruck on Electric Harp

Thunderstruck on Electric Harp

Kristan Toczko is a talented harpist with a knack for playing popular music on a classical instrument. Here, she shows off her skills with a brief performance of the famous guitar intro to AC/DC’s Thunderstruck on an electric lever harp. By connecting it to distortion pedals and retuning the harp, she was able to closely replicate the sound of the original.

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Playing Piano on a Bass

Playing Piano on a Bass

When is a bass not a bass? When it’s a piano, of course. Musician Charles Berthoud demonstrates what that sounds like with a fingerstyle bass rendition of Scott Joplin’s ragtime classic The Entertainer, incorporating some insane flourishes.

Paper Planes Piano Cover

Paper Planes Piano Cover

Musician Alban Claudin shows off his performance and production skills with a great live cover version of the M.I.A. track Paper Planes. Though without the vocals, it could almost be called a cover of The Clash song Straight to Hell, which M.I.A. sampled heavily. His version of Doja Cat’s Paint the Town Black is wonderful too.

Painting Inside Bottles

Painting Inside Bottles

Most portraits are painted on canvas or paper. This skilled artist paints on the inside of glass bottles. The process doesn’t just require a steady hand and precision but the ability to think about images in reverse. While the results are impressive, this isn’t a unique talent – the practice of painting inside small snuff bottles dates back to the 17th century in China.

Don’t Stop Believin’: Vocals Only

Don’t Stop Believin’: Vocals Only

The Journey song Don’t Stop Believin’ is a true classic – and it wouldn’t have been anything without Steve Perry’s talents. NetMusic shows off just how good his singing was by stripping away most of the music and allowing us to hear Perry’s isolated vocals. Neil Schon’s guitar solo is also a treat.

Sandip’s Got Talent

Sandip’s Got Talent

Dancer Sandip Brahamin won Romania’s Got Talent’s originality prize for good reason. His dance style is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. His trademark move looks like something from a stop-motion animation as he spins his feet in a circle and shakes his head back and forth like a wind-up toy on speed.

Making Cotton Candy without a Machine

Making Cotton Candy without a Machine

Most cotton candy is produced by spinning heated sugar in a special appliance until it forms thin strands. But this talented candy maker shows how a traditional Chinese cotton candy can be made by spinning hot, caramelized sugar in the air and inserting a skewer of caramels in the middle to catch the candy floss.

Name That Beatles Tune with Jack White

Name That Beatles Tune with Jack White

Jack White says he can name any Beatles song after listening to it for just one second. In this clip posted to the musician’s YouTube channel, he proves he’s not lying. We got a few of the more recognizable ones right, but Jack knows their entire catalog.

Loop de Loop Bullseye

Loop de Loop Bullseye

We thought the only way to land a dart on a dartboard was to throw it through the air. This skilled “dartist” shows how it’s possible to place a dart right in the bullseye by tossing it into a vertical loop, where it spins around and hits the bullseye. If you have any doubt this was real, here’s the original How Ridiculous video.

Pizzicato Master

Pizzicato Master

Violinist Dmitry Rotkin lets his fingers do the talking in this brief pizzicato jazz improvisation, inspired by Duke Ellington’s It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing). His finger-plucked performances of Misirlou and his original composition, Mad Fingers Pizzicato, are incredible as well.

The Double-Decker Floating Push-up

The Double-Decker Floating Push-up

Doing push-ups and planks requires a good bit of upper body strength. Calisthenics athletes Andry Strong and Eryc Ortiz show off their power and control by performing a push-up without their legs on the ground and with Eric balanced on Andry’s neck. And then there’s this move.

Pool Trick Shot Artist Shows Off

Pool Trick Shot Artist Shows Off

Florian “Venom” Kohler is one of the world’s best pool trick shot artists. As he’s perfected his craft, he has developed over 10,000 tricks and techniques to make billiard balls do his bidding. WIRED met with Florian to demonstrate some of his wildly inventive trick shots. His mastery of ball physics is truly something to behold.

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