It's been a big fortnight for Nene Royal. The 16-year-old from Phuket, who took this year's America's Got Talent grand prize, opened for Avenged Sevenfold in front of roughly 10,000 fans in Singapore on Monday. Two days later she was swapping mosh pits for chandeliers, playing a government banquet for 400 of the planet's top financial officials.

The occasion was the welcome dinner for the IMF-World Bank Group annual meetings, hosted in Bangkok this week by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul at the Santi Maitri Building, Government House. Nene — whose real name is Rattikarn "Praew" Amloy and who is still a high-school student — was personally invited by the prime minister as a showcase of young Thai talent and a bit of musical diplomacy aimed at the visiting delegations.

She wasn't the only act on the bill. The evening folded her set into a broader line-up of Thai culture: performances by National Artists, the Sorkrao Symphony Orchestra, and a traditional Joe Louis small puppet theatre show — a centuries-old Bangkok art form that's rarely seen on such a stage.

For her own slot, Nene leaned on the song that started it all: her cover of The Cranberries' rock anthem Zombie, the audition performance that first caught international attention on AGT. She followed it with Som Sarn, a classic hit from beloved Thai rock band Loso, giving the ballroom crowd a taste of homegrown Thai rock alongside her viral moment.

Anutin praised the teenager as an emblem of "Thai youth power" — a one-person argument for the country's creativity on a global stage. It also fits neatly with Thailand's current soft-power push, which leans heavily on music, food, film and festivals to draw visitors beyond the usual beach-and-temples itinerary.

Why should a traveller care? Because Bangkok's live music and performance scene is having a moment, and it's not just for locals. International arena acts now route through the city regularly, intimate rock venues cluster around areas like RCA and Thonglor, and traditional performance — like the puppet theatre showcased at this dinner — still finds an audience at cultural centres and the Aksra Theatre. If your trip happens to line up with a major conference season or festival, you might catch world-class entertainment you never planned for. And keep an eye on Nene Royal herself: a teenage Phuket girl playing stadium supports one night and a state banquet the next is exactly the kind of rising act worth seeing in a small venue before she's too big for one.