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Last week’s group
of ten on the Nigerian Idol showcased some of the best contestants the
show has so far presented, which is somewhat tricky, considering that
only two will get to stay. At least five were unquestionably superb.

The contestants
have gotten better each week with undeniably powerful voices, but a lot
still needs to be done in the area of stage presence. Only one or two
managed to pull off a convincing interpretation of the songs they were
given to sing. Adetoun who rendered a Whitney Houston number, ‘I Have
Nothing’, in her beautiful alto, performed it more like a war song,
instead of the heartfelt plea that it was supposed to be.

For some weird
reason, Chioma who sang Toni Braxton’s ‘Unbreak My Heart’ was
horrendously off-key despite her strong voice. My favourites were
Kesiena, Amaka, Rachel and Emmanuel. Kesiena sang Chris De Burgh’s
‘Lady in Red’ and managed to get Audu Maikori, who once admitted to
hating the song, to suddenly fall in love with it. He also displayed
great control over what could have easily been a passable voice,
moulding it around the song and came out sounding better than some of
the others who had more classic voices.

Rachel simply put
sent shivers down my spine with a tune made popular by Shirley Bassey.
Once again, Yinka Davies’ ear for jazz and the blues, a genre in which
she has managed to distinguish herself, was once again displayed as she
gave kudos to contestants who managed to pull off songs in this genre.
Leonard’s performance of Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me To Moon’ song threw
Davies into a state of orgasmic laughter after which she declared her
love for the dapper young man.

After witnessing this bevy of talents, it felt kind of sad to know
that their fate lies in the hands of voters and no longer the judges.
With this particular group of ten, it would have been better that the
judges choose the two that got to carry on. Seeing from the past weeks,
the contestants with the best voices/performances often do not get to
move further up in the contest. Nina and Emmanuel triumphed in the
viewers’ votes and will now join the top ten. Hopefully, the best
voices will make it through this week.