By Menda Eulenfeld

Stop. Rewind. Click. Play. That’s the sound of 20-year-old Angel Jimenez describing herself as a child watching her grandfather singing from an old videotape. “I saw videos of him singing and was impressed with his talent.”, said Angel Jimenez.

Although Angel’s grandfather Able Jimenez passed away when she was one years old, Angel credits the home videos as the reason she started to grow an interest in music.

By the age of eight, Angel was singing at local venues around her hometown in Kingsville, Texas.

This past February, the Kingsville native, who is studying choral music education at Texas A&M University Kingsville, decided to audition online for the Spanish language talent show on Estrella TV called Tengo Talento Mucho Talento.

Much to her surprise, she was called to fly to Los Angeles as one of the contestants for show.

This was her second audition for Tengo Talento Mucho Talento. The first time she auditioned was as an H.M. King high school student. “I have to give credit to my high school choir teacher Susan Etzler. She was a big inspiration to me.”

Her audition on Tengo Talento Mucho Talento aired on Wednesday, April 6, on Estrella TV. “I spent about three days in Los Angeles, and everything was paid for by the show,” she said. “I auditioned in front of the celebrity judge panel on the second day.” Her biography was filmed to air along with her audition.

Once in front of the judges, all five passed her on to the next round. “I called my mom right away to let her know the results.” Angel continued, “It was really hard to keep quiet” about the result of the show to her friends and extended family. “It almost slipped a couple of times.”

Angel will be going back to Los Angeles to film the next round of the show titled Cuarto de Final.

Angel said she was proud to represent Kingsville, and even though she struggled with the communication barrier because she doesn’t speak Spanish, she said that she just tried her best.

“All I can say is go for it. It doesn’t matter where you come from or where you live. If it’s in your heart, then you should go for it.”

To view the episode on Estrella TV, go to https://estrellatv.com/programas/tengo-talento-mucho-talento/sobre-el-show.