4-year-old girl's passionate rendition of Disney's 'Moana' song goes viral
"I was in utter disbelief," her mom, Michelle Neshin, told ABC News.
— -- Meet 4-year-old Sophia, who absolutely stole the show at her pre-K graduation ceremony.
Her passionate rendition of “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s “Moana” is completely glorious, equipped with jazzy arms flying in the air and several pops of the hip, and has already racked up 11 million views on Facebook.
“She has a huge, huge personality,” Sophia’s mom, Michelle Neshin, told ABC News of her dynamic daughter. “She’s usually spunky and has a corky personality but that was something else even for her. And right before the graduation when it was just about time to walk, she said, ‘I don’t want to do it. I’m so scared. There’s so many people in the audience.’ On the way there she was super excited but when she lined up to get her diploma she was in tears. But she quickly got over that.”
Sophia’s class performed two songs from “Zootopia” prior to this closing number from “Moana,” which definitely took the cake.
“I had never seen them because they were a surprise for the parents,” Neshin of Miami, Florida, said of the performances. “At the end, the lady comes on stage and said, ‘The kids would like to come out and say goodbye and do one sweet number to thank everyone.’”
And although “everyone else was sweet and calm,” her mother said with a laugh, Sophia, on the other hand, “was not.”
Neshin, 28, said she was in “utter disbelief” at her daughter’s over-the-top emotion while singing.
“It didn’t really hit me until after the graduation when all the parents went and found their kid and gave them flowers and people were coming up saying to me, ‘Is it awful I stopped videotaping my own kid to video yours?’”
Little Sophia loved her time in the spotlight and said her favorite part of the ceremony was when she was “singing and dancing” because it made her “happy.”
Needless to say, that’s now the internet’s favorite part too.
The family congratulated their vivacious daughter with a bouquet of flowers and a trip to get hibachi food for dinner because she likes “when the guys cook in front of you.”
But the best part about her newfound fame?
“A family friend left her a cookie cake at the door with a little note thanking her for bringing joy and laughter today,” said Neshin. “That, to her, has been the biggest thing so far. It’s all about the cookie cake.”
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.