Howie Mandel warned contestant against singing an original. No one knew him — but everyone knew his song

It might be a really proud moment for an artist when their work becomes very popular, even if people don't exactly know them. A man experienced a surprising and hilarious moment when he went to Canada's Got Talent as a contestant. Although people didn't know him, everybody, including the audience and judges, knew his song. Judge Howie Mandel even warned the man that original songs might not perform well when he mentioned he would perform one, but he was soon left completely stunned. The clip of the performance was shared on Canada's Got Talent's YouTube channel.

The man, Daniel Powter, walked in as the panel of judges welcomed him. Mandel accidentally called the program "America's Got Talent" and was booed by YouTube star Lily Singh. The man introduced himself as Daniel and revealed he worked as a singer and songwriter. "What are you going to sing?" Mandel asked him. "I thought I would sing an original song that I wrote," Powter expressed. "So, I always think it's scary when people sing their original songs because if you pick something that's top 40 and you are playing it, you have to get people tapping their toes, and you kind of take that risk," Mandel pointed out. "And that's a big risk." The man agreed with him before the judge wished him the best of luck with his performance. 

When the man sang the first line of his song "Bad Day," there were gasps of surprise from the audience. People immediately recognized the song and started cheering for the singer. Recognition soon dawned on the judges as well, including Mandel. The man even went among the audience to sing. The audience was waving their phones’ flashlights and enjoying the performance. When he reached the chorus, all the judges cheered for him. The man received a huge round of applause when the performance ended.

"You know what buddy, Daniel, now I know you are Daniel Powter, right?" Mandel asked as the man simply chuckled in response. He added, "Can I tell you something, Daniel? You had a good day!" The singer shared that he had never gotten a chance to play in Canada, but he had toured a lot of places around the world. The man said, "Thank you for bringing me home." The audience screamed for the man when Lily Singh pointed out, "The real quip, what were you saying again?" She continued looking at Mandel, "If you sing an original people won't know the words." Mandel admitted, "You got me, buddy!" The judges said yes to the man in unison.

People took to the comments section of the clip to share their thoughts on the incident. @kennethemberzo9733 wrote, "You made a song that got 200 million plus views on YouTube and still counting, but still they don't recognize you - is the best worst feeling." @keylargo2001 commented, "Danial stopped writing songs because he became addicted to alcohol and d***s. He’s not only home to Canada but home as a sober person." @vourn75 shared, "I grew up with this song... Ever since it was released in 2005 it became a motivational song for me...Salute Daniel Powter."