American Samoa’s newest singing sensation Paul Ieti has made the cut, moving on to the semifinals round of the nationally televised ‘America’s Got Talent’ series.

On his Facebook page, the 21-year-old Aoa native posted, “Thank you all so, so much. I’m speechless. Without you all I wouldn’t be here.”

American Samoans in the Pacific and all over the world were glued to their television sets to see Ieti’s debut performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York City last week.

The live show was the third of four quarterfinal rounds and Ieti was one of the twelve acts that took the stage that night.

Only five of the performers from each quarter – Ieti included – are moving on to the semifinals. Whether or not a contestant moves on to the next round of the competition is based on the number of votes they get.

Apparently, Ieti’s fan base extends far beyond the shores of his native island, with fans from Canada, the United States, and all over the world posting congratulatory comments on his Facebook page and expressing their support for him to win it all.

Not bad for a boy who started singing in the church choir at the tender age of six next to his mom, and grew up in a village nestled in the mountains of the eastern side of Tutuila.

The producers of ‘America’s Got Talent’ (AGT) took note of Ieti’s talent on the online YouTube channel, and offered him an audition on the show’s current season.

Ieti’s success on AGT so far is incredible, as he is up against grueling competition.

The competition started off with thousands of auditions, spiralling down to 48 contestants and after the next set of quarterfinals, the top 20 with Ieti included will be vying for the title and the grand prize of US$1 million.

Last week’s competition was filled with wonderful acts that included a nine-year-old piano prodigy, a magician with an assistant from the spirit world, a fifth generation circus performer and his dog, and a quartet of young men who took classical contemporary music to a whole different level.

Ieti was the last performer of the night, and he didn’t disappoint. He belted out his rendition of One Direction’s smash hit, ‘You & I’, with judges Mel B and Howie Mandel commenting that Ieti’s performance was the perfect way to end such a great night.

An American Samoa native, Ieti joined the army straight out of high school and now serves with A Company, 603rd Aviation Support Battalion, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade.

He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 where he would soothe his own soul and entertain his fellow soldiers with his beautiful singing voice.

In August of 2013, ABC News released an article about Ieti’s viral music videos that the soldier uploaded to Youtube while he was stationed in Afghanistan.

An average Ieti video has over 15,000 likes. He covers a wide array of songs – from Christina Aguilera to John Legend. The Huffington Post used a cover shot of Iet in uniform, garnering even more support for the modest Polynesian boy.

His cover of ‘All of Me’ currently has over 65,000 likes on Youtube, while his cover of ‘Stay’ is soaring with over 218,000 likes.

Ieti hasn’t seen his parents since August of 2012, before he was deployed to Afghanistan.

He hasn’t visited because of expenses, and told AGT that he’s had a hard time being in the competition without having his parents by his side.

He told American Forces Press Service if he won the grand prize of $1 million, he would buy his parents a car and a home, and save the rest.