A two-year-old boy with Down’s syndrome became a viral sensation after he was caught on camera dancing and singing along to Alicia Keys.
Toanga Peita from New Zealand can be seen watching America’s Got Talent, bopping and singing along to Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire.
The video shows the adorable boy clapping his hands and swinging his hips while hitting the song’s high notes.
His mother, 42-year-old Miranda Shackell, said that her son was never interested in television but he loved listening to music.
Toanga’s adorable performance has earned him millions of fans online, with his video gaining over 14 million views on social media.
The two-year-old boy and his two brothers, 4-year-old Grayson and 5-year-old Dallas, always sing along to their favorite songs.
But the youngest boy took his singing skill to the next level by coping the performer’s auditions, hitting high notes like a true diva!
“Taonga loves music. He’ll ask ‘Bire! Bire!’ That means fire, as in ‘Girl on Fire’. He doesn’t watch movies or TV programmes, he’s not interested, but he loves music,” Miranda shared.
“His dad likes to watch people auditioning for Britain or America’s Got Talent and some of the songs will stick.
“That was one of the auditions that he enjoyed by Angelica Hale, from AGT season 12 in 2017. He’ll do all the actions as it’s just him copying her. We watch other videos and you can see him mouthing the words and anticipating the actions.
“He lets us know pretty loud and clear if it isn’t the right song.”
Miranda, a special educational needs coordinator, added: “Taonga has quite a good memory for lyrics, we’ll be in the car and he’ll start singing along and we think “Where did you learn that?”. It’s all part of his way of communicating and connecting.
“He also signs just about the whole of This Is Me in Makaton. Taonga’s communication is amazing, he’ll shout “Mama, dong! dong!” [meaning song] and he’ll sign it as well.
“I remember before I had children, we talked about The Wiggles and kid’s nursery rhymes and I thought “Not a chance, I’m not going there”. My kids do love some songs like Baby Shark, but they mostly like the music we like.”
The mother-of-three also said that music helps distract her son from what’s going on during medical check-ups.
“There’s been a few times when Taonga’s been in hospital and doctors and nurses are poking things in him and music distracts him from what’s going on,” she expressed.
“If you put the wrong song on, he’ll shout ‘No! No!’ He knows what he wants and how to communicate it. He definitely wears the pants in our house.”
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