Idol Hopefuls Succumb to Nerves! by Laurel E. Anderson
(first published in the Kanata Kourier, Friday, June 25, 2004)
Nerves, nerves and more nerves. Last Wednesday night's Idol contestants were a basket of nerves with Ottawa-Gatineaus own Annie Lefebvre self proclaiming to be the most nervous. On June 16th, the first group of eight semi-finalists took the stage at the John Labatt Centre in Toronto to sing it out for two coveted positions in the final ten. Ben Mulroney was on hand to introduce the singers and guide them to the off-stage green room after performing and this proved to be a tough task. With sub par performances, most of the contestants were not happy after hearing what the judges had to say about their two minutes on stage. I am sure that they could not help but think how the judges opinions might influence the voting public.
The strongest singer of the night was Jessica Mitchell of London. She was the most comfortable on stage and her charisma shone through. The judges agreed that she was the best of the night but except for Sass, the other judges feel that she is weaker vocally than most of the other singers. Our new Greatest Canadian Hero, Joshua Sellers and his curly, blonde mane, doesn't have a great two minutes but seems to make up for it with his personal charm and pink shirt but it doesn't work on mere Ramawad rocks the house with a solid performance and the following endorsement from Zack, "you're the class of the field, you rock."
Annie's up next and I can feel myself stressing for her, hoping that she pulls it off. It has been obvious up to this point in the competition that she has an incredible voice but will the nerves set in? Annie sings To Dream the Impossible Dream much to the chagrin of Zack and Jake. They don't like the song choice and feel her nerves got the best of her. Sass pipes in and tells Annie that she has such a sweet and lovely voice but you just can't help but wonder if this is her way of saying goodbye to Annie.
Andrae Ennis made the top twenty-eight last year but he bombs big time with an uneven pitch and lots of off-key moments. Brandy Callahan is up next and while her nerves came through at times, she was able to overcome them with her huge voice. The other contestants sing and before you know it, it's over and the phone lines get set to open up. Ben closes the show, reminding everyone how and when to vote but I personally think that he was subconsciously questioning his choice of attire for the evening. I got the striped shirt look but could not get past the chino meets khaki-like blazer thing he was wearing.
While it's obvious to me who should make the final two, I am surprised when the results come in. My votes were for Jessica, Raj and then Annie. But I was way off. Joshua and Brandy make the cut and the other competitors are left to wait it out until the wild card round, where two singers will get a second chance like Ryan Malcolm did last year.
By the time this hits the paper, the second group of eight, including Ottawa's own Filomena Pasqua, will have performed and the top two results will be fresh off the press so I will speculate as to who makes the cut. I am betting on Mohanza Kelly, of Toronto and I hope to see Ottawa's Filomena right up there beside him. Stay tuned to Canadian Idol 2, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CTV. Rockland's Constant Bernard is up on June 30th against another of my favourites, Theresa Sokyrka and on July 7th, Ottawa's Rebecca Abbott gets a chance to wow the judges and move on to the finals of Canadian Idol 2.
Laurel is a writer living in Kanata. She does not sing karaoke.