Strong performances at Tastee Talent elims
A television reality show not withstanding, this year’s Tastee Talent Trail, witnessed the smallest crowd in its 31-year history on the first of three elimination shows at its Cross Roads headquarters on Wednesday.
However, staying true to its long-standing tradition of discovering the best in entertainment, and that includes not only singers, but the whole gamut of the performing arts, there were some strong performances from the remaining eight contestants.
Vying for the $1-million first prize were Colas, Shelly-Dean Bartley, Jermaine Bryan, Supreme Blazers, Romario English, Lorna Gordon, Andre Lee, and Crisna Brown.
If crowd reactions and comments from the panel of judges — Oral Tracey, Amelia ‘Milk’ Sewell and Tami Chynn replacing Audrey Reid — are any indication of the frontrunners are clearly between Gordon and Andre.
The format of this phase of the competition, required that each contestant appears twice, and both Gordon and Lee were the two most consistent of the lot.
In her first appearance Gordon with the strongest voice connected with audience and judges alike in a high-performance of The First Cut is the Deepest. On her second stint, she challenged that statement with Beyoncé’s If I Was A Boy.
Regardless of the outcome of this contest, it is safe to say, as it has been doing for the past three decades, Tastee has given birth to another musical star. And the same can be said of the promising deejay Andre Lee. Without doubt, the most original and innovative contestant of the night. In his first appearance he came on strong with Mi Nah Vex, but was even stronger the second time around with Mi Nuh Have It.
When this extremely talented hopeful from the Rockfort Community in east Kingston shall have recorded this tune, the lyrics, which amusingly calls for an even-handed approach to expenses incurred in relationships, should prove that he has it in more ways than one.
There were other strong performances from the group of eight finalists. Such as the high-energy dancers Supreme Blazers who were just that, blazing from start to finish with the most extraordinary dance routine. Colas is a group more of spoken words performers making history interesting like in their second appearance with the item Busta-Mr Mante. However, there is much room for improvement. Shelly-Dean Bartley did well, well enough to lead one to conclude that it was not the last of her.
First impression is lasting, but Romario English in his second outing failed to live up to the standard he set in his first performance when he raised a few eyebrows, as he did Dreaming accompanying himself on guitar. Jermaine Bryan and Crisna Brown did enough to show how they reached this far in the competition. The second elimination will be next Wednesday, December 1.