The 12-year-old singer opened up to ET about the importance of her powerful song choice and getting support from her family.
On Tuesday's America's Got Talent finals, singer Evie Clair delivered a powerful tribute to her late father that brought many audience members to tears, and earned a lot of love from the judges.
ET's Denny Directo caught up with Clair backstage after the show, where she got candid about how she got through her emotional rendition of Louis Armstrong's iconic "What a Wonderful World," just two weeks after her father's death.
"I just prayed before that I would be able to do that and I feel like I really had strength from God and I know my dad was there," Clair said, adding that she could also feel the support of her family and the audience.
As for the song itself, Clair said it was a way to honor her father's memory. "That was my dad's favorite song, he'd always sing that. That would be the only song he would sing in public," she recalled. "So, that was kind of like a tribute to him."
Before her performance, the 12-year-old singer reflected on her father's legacy in a pre-taped package, where she shared, "My dad was one of the bravest people I knew. He always taught us to follow our dreams."
Clair -- who has previously opened up about learning how to sing to comfort her father as he battled late-stage colon cancer -- also explained that it was her father's lessons about persistence that encouraged her to continue on in her AGT journey, even after his death.
"My dad taught me, after I started something, to always finish it," Clair recalled during the show. "That's why I'm fighting to the end, just like he did."
Now that she's made it to the finals, Clair is just one step away from winning the show's $1 million prize -- however, with the loss of her dad, the young singer told ET that she and her family haven't really considered what they'd do with the money.
"We had a solid plan before. I was going to use the money to go find a better cure for my dad but now we don't know what to do with it," Clair said, adding that she'd "definitely" look at donating a sizeable sum to charities.
The brave young singer also shared some words of hope and inspiration for other people who are going through a difficult time in their lives, and explained how she turned to her faith to help her move forward.
"Just know that God is on our side, he doesn't abandon us. These hard things don't happen because he doesn't love us, he does this because he loves us. He wants to make us stronger," Clair shared. "He wants to prepare us for even harder things down the road, even though it seems like this is the hardest thing that could possibly happen."
After her tearful performance, Mel B -- who recently lost her own father and has spoken before about her connection with Clair -- told her she was sure her father was proud of everything she'd accomplished.
"I know you're dad's up there, looking down on you, and he must be so, so proud," Mel said. "Because what you just did was beautiful. It was so pure and so raw."
ET recently spoke with the former Spice Girls star who opened up about her emotional connection to Clair's story. Check out the video below to hear more.
The America's Got Talent finals results show kicks off on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.