Auditioning for a singing show like “American Idol” or “The Voice” must be a very scary experience. You don’t want to end up in the “Blooper Reel” of the first couple of episodes, where people basically say, “What were they thinking?” That makes you look bad.

Then there was what Christian Burrows did on “The X Factor” in Britain. Burrows started out by singing a John Denver song, which was not very personal. Cowell stopped him and told him to sing something more personal. The teen said he had written a song about a brother who had died when he was only two years old. He got a nod from the music mogul, and then he sang a song that was so emotional that it made two of the judges cry. Even Cowell seemed to be touched.

Because it was true, the song, in which Burrows lamented what never happened between the two as they grew up, hit home. It was a mess. We saw Burrows’ parents crying in the waiting room. They must have been thinking about how much their late son would have liked to see this.

This young man is going to do well in music because he can connect with people. Cowell is probably the most grumpy person in the world. People watch all of these singing competitions to hear him make fun of the singers. This showed a different side of him, though. Maybe being a father himself has changed him.

I liked that Simon let Burrows sing his song instead of just saying “Next!” and moving on. We were all helped. This young man has it all, and I hope he does well in his work.