Thai teen Nene Royal revives Muse's Hysteria on AGT
Nene Royal’s AGT callback performance puts Muse’s demanding 2003 rock track Hysteria and its celebrated bassline back in the spotlight
Thai teenager Nene Royal has put one of Muse’s most recognisable rock tracks back in the spotlight after performing Hysteria during the Judges’ Callbacks on America’s Got Talent 2026.
The 16-year-old from Phuket took on a song built around the fast, heavily driven bassline of Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme, making the performance a demanding test of speed, precision, stamina and control.
It followed Nene’s earlier appearance on the programme performing Zombie by The Cranberries, which helped establish her as one of the season’s young rock performers.
Why Hysteria poses a challenge
Hysteria comes from Muse’s 2003 album Absolution, where the bass takes an unusually prominent role in driving the track. Muse’s official discography places it among the core tracks on the album.
Rather than simply supporting the guitar and drums, Wolstenholme’s bassline runs persistently through much of the song, combining rapid repeated notes with a heavily processed sound. Guitar World has described the part as an example of the bassist’s intense sixteenth-note playing, while the supplied account notes the use of fuzz and distortion to create its thick tone.
That makes Hysteria an exacting choice for a live performance. Maintaining the pace is only part of the task: the player must keep the line consistent while preserving the force and character that make the original immediately recognisable.
A bassline recognised beyond Muse fans
The track has developed a reputation well beyond Muse’s own fan base. MusicRadar included Hysteria among its greatest basslines of all time, while Guitar World has also placed it on its list of standout bass parts.
Its prominence illustrates an important feature of Muse’s three-piece sound: the bass frequently carries melodic and rhythmic weight that would conventionally be divided between several instruments. Wolstenholme has previously explained that the trio format and Matt Bellamy’s approach to guitar gave him greater freedom as a bassist.
Nene introduces the track to a younger audience
Nene’s performances were framed as a potential bridge between younger listeners and rock music from previous decades, pointing first to her performance of Zombie and then to her choice of Hysteria. The “Nene Effect” echos via streaming or search data establishing a measurable revival of either song.
What is confirmed is that Nene brought Hysteria, a track from a 2003 Muse album, to the America’s Got Talent stage in 2026 as a 16-year-old performer from Thailand. More than two decades after Absolution was released, the performance placed its distinctive bassline before the programme’s contemporary audience.
