Simon Cowell loves them. And it’s clear that “America’s Got Talent” fans love them, too.

The Birmingham Youth & Young Adult Fellowship Choir moved one step closer to victory on the NBC reality series this week, securing a spot in the semifinals.

The Alabama vocal troupe, more than 30 members strong, performed on AGT Tuesday night during a round known as the quarterfinals. The choir offered joyful vignettes of two songs: Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” and Kirk Franklin’s “When I Think About Jesus.”

(Watch the choir’s performance in the video below.)

The energetic troupe closed the two-hour episode, delighting the show’s four judges — Cowell, Howie Mandel, Sofía Vergara and Mel B — and earning applause from the studio audience. Cowell, in particular, appeared to be wowed by the choir and its director, Ahkeem Lee, lavishing the singers with kudos.

“That was fantastic,” Cowell said on Tuesday. “That’s called lighting up the room, lighting up the sky. I mean, seriously, that’s what a great choir should do, right? Every single one of you played a part.”

Folks who watch “America’s Got Talent” evidently agreed with Cowell, voting the choir into the semifinals. Results from overnight voting were announced on Wednesday’s episode.

“It feels amazing,” Lee said when the choir was announced as a semifinalist. “These young people have worked really hard.”

The Birmingham Youth & Young Adult Fellowship Choir is now among acts that will perform again on Sept. 16, hoping to gain viewer votes and a spot in the finals.

The choir has been a favorite on AGT this season, earning a coveted “Golden Buzzer” from Cowell during its initial audition, which aired in July. The choir’s performance of “Joyful, Joyful” impressed the notoriously tough judge, and allowed the singers to advance directly from the auditions to the quarterfinals, skipping any cuts in-between.

(Watch the choir’s audition in the video below.)

The choir, founded in 2015, is a nonprofit organization that “aims to provide a creative space for youth and young adults to share and develop their musical talents through proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” according to its website.

Director Lee talked about the troupe’s origins during a video clip that aired on Tuesday’s episode.

“I started the Birmingham Youth Fellowship Choir at the historic 16th Street Baptist Church,” Lee said. “The whole idea was providing a place for youth so they could feel safe. Ten years later, we’re still here. If anything, it has blossomed into something even more. … It has been a massive outpouring of love from our city and now we are back and we are ready to do some great things on stage.”

1/22

Birmingham Youth and Young Adult Fellowship Choir Will McLelland/AL.com

In the next round of “America’s Got Talent,” the number of acts will be trimmed to six via overnight voting by viewers. The semifinals are set to air on Sept. 16-17.

The finals for Season 20, scheduled for Sept. 23-24, will feature the top vote-getters from the semifinals, a Golden Buzzer wildcard (to be determined next week) and four acts that moved directly from the quarterfinals to the finals.

If you watch: The semifinals of “America’s Got Talent” airs on Tuesday, Sept. 16, and Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. CT on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.