"I feel like, obviously, since a couple years have passed, it has changed," he tells Entertainment Weekly. "And I feel like doing things like this, [with] people seeing me in a different light and seeing me do the things that I love to do and I'm truly happy doing, I feel like it's a much better way for people to see me."

Tom Sandoval's quarterfinals performance failed to impress America's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell. After Sandoval, 43, and his band The Most Extras delivered an energetic rendition of "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd on the reality show's Tuesday,