"It was just a tribute to the class and all the memories we shared," the North Dakota teen said.
A high school senior stunned her graduating class when she stepped up to the podium and belted out her own lyrics to Lady Gaga's "Shallow" instead of giving a speech.
Sydney Helgeson was a star, born when video of her exploded on social media and media outlets started calling.
"It's been crazy," she told InsideEdition.com. Asked why she thinks her performance went bonkers, Helgeson laughed. "It's not really your traditional graduation speech," she replied.
She revamped the Oscar-winning song from the third remake of "A Star Is Born" for the 2019 class of Bismarck High in North Dakota.
"On this special day in our lives, graduation speeches are a tradition," she told her classmates. "But when words fail, music speaks."
She titled her rendition "Tomorrow."
The first verse: "Tell me something class, are you happy that today's the last? Or do you need more? Are you ready to go out that door?"
The teen said she was inspired by the "Shallow" parody performed by Alicia Keys and James Corden on "The Late Late Show" to commemorate Keys hosting the Grammy Awards in February.
To perform at her graduation, Helgeson first had to audition, something she's not really shy about doing. She has been singing since she was 4 and starred in her school's production of "The Sound of Music."
Her fellow graduates were thrilled by her performance, she said. "A bunch of people came up to me after and said it was really cool," she said.
Her sister sent the video to "Good Morning America," not expecting much to come from it. "But they called," Helgeson said.
The song, she said, wasn't designed to create this big of a fuss. "It was just a tribute to the class and all the memories we shared."
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