WITH just two weeks to the end of Africa’s first televised karaoke contest, TecnoOwnTheStage, relief came the way of two of the contestants; Kenya’s Sikin and Pascal, who were adjudged to have least impressed the judges.
Both of them got a second chance at winning the coveted prize of $25,000, a recording deal, and a brand new TECNO Phantom 5 smartphone promised by the organisers, when they were asked to take to the stage one more time in the hope of proving to the judges that they were good enough to remain in the contest.
Pascal turned his charm on and upped his game when he came back on stage to perform New Flame, a song originally performed by Chris Brown, Usher and Rick Ross. The judges, Yemi Alade and M.I appeared impressed with his second offering, even though Sauti Sol’s lead singer, Bien, urged him to do something about his voice.
Sikin had her second chance, with Alicia Keys’ Falling, in a performance which earned her a declaration of love from Johnny crooner, Yemi Alade.
With that Yemi announced that no one was going to be evicted from the show and that all four contestants would return for another shot at glory in next Sunday’s episode.
The 11th edition of the show had kicked off with the usual tension, with Vimbai Mutinhiri being the only host, as her partner, Uti Nwachukwu was unavoidably absent. With the recent trend of hosting guest artistes on the show, Vimbai introduced Five Star Music act, Harry Song, who wowed the appreciative audience with his hit gyrating single, Reggae Blues.
Shapeera was the first contestant to take the stage. Fresh off her awesome performance last week, the Nigerian contestant continued her awesome run with a remarkable rendition of Adele’s, Rolling in the Deep. Her performance made a strong impression on the judges who implored her to remain focused and not to slip.
Nandy was the next in line with her rendition of Vanessa Mdee’s, Nobody. The Tanzanian’s performance was so good that Yemi Alade couldn’t help saying that she liked the fact that Nandy was “fighting again.”
This was followed by Pascal’s first performance of Sam Smith’s, Stay with Me. The Kenyan, who is the last man standing in the competition gave a good account of himself, albeit not quite good enough for the judges. Sikin, the other Kenyan had also done Zahara’s, Loliwe. The judges appreciated her delivery although they noted that she was playing it safe which was affecting her performance.
The four contestants were also asked to share their plans for the prize money should they win the competition.
For Nandy, she had no idea yet what she would end up doing with what was “a lot of money” while Sikin said she would, among other things, get a microphone and a mixer to help with her blossoming music career. Nigeria’s remaining hope in the game, Shapeera Makepeace said that she would use the money to get into the studio and produce some of her songs.
The grand finale is scheduled to hold on February 7, 2016.
