Rising Stars edging closer to final show — Top 4 to be announced Sunday
Published:Saturday | September 10, 2022 | 12:07 AMAaliyah Cunningham/Gleaner Writer
The 18th season of ‘Digicel Rising Stars’ is heating up. The popular talent showcase returned to Television Jamaica in July after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The top-10 finalists were selected from video auditions via the Digicel BIP app in early 2020.
According to the show producer, Sharon Schroeter, this Sunday’s show promises to be even more exciting as ‘Rising Stars’ draws closer to selecting a winner.
“On this Sunday, the top-four will be announced, and there will be a little twist. They will be performing songs from the year they were born or from 2019 to 2022, so some very recent songs. So we have a lot in store for next week,” Schroeter told The Gleaner.
While not giving too much away, she said viewers can expect a number of surprises. “I won’t confirm who our guest judge for next week will be yet,” she said. “That is a surprise, and we will be having guest performances from previous ‘Digicel Rising Stars’ contestants.”
For this year’s staging, Schroeter believes that there have not been many issues except for the fact that many Jamaicans have just begun to tune into the show.
“The only thing is that public missed the audition shows, so that had an impact [because] for one, many people did not get a chance to really know that the show was on [and] a chance to really know the contestants, but things are definitely picking up, and we are doing our best to keep the momentum going, and so people will know that Digicel Rising Stars is here and we are just all about looking for the next star,” Schroeter said.
Last Sunday’s show saw the top-five competitors singing their hearts out onstage in hopes of capturing the praise of the judges and the hearts of voters who will ultimately decide who walks away with $1.5 million in cash and prizes and get a shot at stardom.
In a dramatic result show, 17-year-old Brianna Warren and Grenadian Robert Ewart were eliminated. Both were asked to deliver the performance they prepared for the main show, but Ewart’s belting out of Michael Bolton’s How Am I Supposed to Live Without You brought tears to the eyes of those in the studio audience and possibly viewers at home and earned a standing ovation from judge Alaine. The rendition definitely started the night off on a solemn note as it highlighted the intensity of this stage of the competition.
The top-five contestants hit the stage later that night to perform tunes from the ‘this or that’ theme. Each performer would have randomly selected a year and genre from a hat on which their song selection would be based. Mozain Sutherland, a wild card contestant, hit the stage first with ‘70s classic, Let’s Stay Together by Al Green. His performance showcased his dance moves and vocal ability; however, resident judge Anthony Miller made it clear that he would have preferred he left the dance moves behind during his commentary.
Oshene Watson went up next with her take on Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, but struggled to hit all the right notes, which left the judges advising her to choose her songs carefully. However, her gorgeous red dress and sleek ponytail never disappointed and received the stamp of approval from all the judges.
Hanover native Shaunette Cameron took to the stage performing Lukie D’s Missing You. Though a powerful voice, the rendition was not memorable for her vocal ability, but more for when Anthony Miller said he believed she should have been eliminated.
The fourth performance of the night came from Ramon Johnston, who gave a powerful recital of A Change Is Gonna Come, initially performed by Sam Cooke. His performance satisfied the judges. Interestingly, he had originally selected dancehall, but told the viewers he knew he would not do the genre justice.
Finally, Brandon Williams hit the stage with the category 2000-2010 R&B. He selected the song Master Blaster by Stevie Wonder and gave a scintillating performance that earned him a rowdy round of applause from the audience and generally good critique from all the judges.