Eleven contestants on Sunday competed in round one of the Guyana Talent Search virtual semi-finals while round two is slated for tomorrow night.
This week’s episode allowed viewers to vote for their favourite contestants in the comments. The finale will see only ten contestants going forward and they will be selected based on the people’s choice.
The contestants competing in round one were Logan Simpson, Shevon Persaud, Kaysheena Singh, Tishara Nunes, Malisa Sirpaul, Curtela Lewis, Darius Austin, Nia Williams, Nia Allen, Darrel Levans, and Winston Alexander. They all received votes, but the favourites so far seem to be 11-year-old pianist and singer Logan, young dancer Kaysheena, and singers Shevon and Nia Allen.
In previous episodes, judges had asked Logan to put more power in his vocals and he did, excellently executing a cover of Emeli Sandé’s “Read All About It” this week.
Shevon, dressed in glittering white gave an effortless performance while Kaysheena performed a mesmerizing dance to popular Bollywood song “Cham, Cham”.
Nia Allen, who has gained a following of fans, having been outstanding week after week, did a phenomenal cover of Beyoncé’s “Listen” and received a stand-ing ovation from Judge Joel Ghansham.
Another exceptional performance was given by Curtela who seemed to be the star of the night as she performed Kelly Clarkson’s “What Doesn’t Kill You”.
Meanwhile, it was easy to see which performances the judges enjoyed. Darius’s steel pan solo of the Dancehall song “Lighter” by Jamaican singer Shenseea had the judges dancing in their seats.
Malisa who also did a great performance of “Treat You Better” was said by Judge Tamika Marshall to be the “total package”. Tamika felt the singer had definitely found her image, but Joel said he believed she had performed better in previous episodes.
Forty-year-old Darrel covered Stevie Wonder’s “Lately” this week. However, he erroneously paused during his performance before recomposing himself and finishing the song. Judge Akelo Elliot said he did not connect with the performance as he would have liked, which he believes was owing to his song choice.
Speed painter Winston Alexander did a portrait of Judge Poonam Singh in glitter while playing her song “You Are” in the background. Poonam said she felt honoured and loved his painting. However, the other judges agreed that the painting was not a “wow factor” for them.
Nia Williams did a spoken word piece about a father who was admired by a daughter who considered herself “daddy’s girl”, but as the child grew she saw another side of her father, as he beat her mother painting her in colours “red, black and blue” with every hit. During her presentation, a father/daughter duo danced.
Tishara did a piece called “Flying Solo”.
