Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter
Sunday night saw the surprising exit of Sarai-Lee from the ‘Digicel Rising Stars’ competition, while JL and T’Rizzy went on to entertain the audience with three songs each.
It came as quite the shocker when Sarai-Lee was announced as the third-place contestant at the event that was held at TVJ studios on Lyndhurst Road in St Andrew. The young singer was expected to be one of the top-two contestants, but instead she had to settle for the runner-up spot, which saw her walking away with $400,000.
Following the announcement, the judges encouraged her to do voice training and return to school.
From then on, it was T’Rizzy against JL, with both bringing different styles to the table. For all three songs, T’Rizzy went old school, doing songs like Sam Cooke’s Cupid, Johnny Gill’s My My My and Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s Island In The Stream.
Pitch issues
The performances were generally well received, but there were complaints of pitch issues for some parts of the songs. While he got mostly good reviews, judge Anthony Miller said he wished T’Rizzy had done more recent songs.
“I think that duet (with Quani) worked. I just think you could show more range. I think you need to sing something more contemporary to get the younger voters on your side,” he said.
JL, on the other hand, brought loads of contemporary songs with Tarrus Riley’s Love Contagious, Chronixx’s Here Comes Trouble and a medley of dancehall songs. Although he was criticised for having what the judges say is an ordinary voice, he was lauded for his creativity and ability to command the stage.
Collaborative effort
But of all the performances, the audience and judges seemed to enjoy his collaborative effort with Young Kings as they did a medley of uptempo dancehall songs like Sufferer, No Letting Go, Overcome and Meet Me At The Party.
“You are a fighter; you never give up. Tonight you gave us a performance,” judge Denyque said.
Miller added, “A nice high-energy end to the evening. The problem is that Shamar (Young Kings) overshadowed you. I wish I could just put your performance in a microwave and heat it up.”
The show ended with a performance from guest judge Jah Cure.
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"Digicel Rising Stars" Surprising exit as JL and T"Rizzy thrill
