Things are heating up on Vodafone Icons: Mixed Edition as the competition draws closer to its finale, after the fourth eviction on Sunday evening. The show started with all the groups performing ‘Jamming’ by Bob Marley. But soon after performance came the dreaded news of eviction from host, Benny Blanco.
Making the ‘bottom 2’ after receiving the least number of public votes were the groups, Waves and Sharps. Ms Naa said that Waves had the vocal ability, while Sharps was still struggling to work together as a group. She voted to save Waves. Appietus agreed with Ms Naa that Waves had the vocal ability and he also voted for the group. Gena West found Sharps to be weak. She said that she remembered the individual members of Waves from the auditions, but she was yet to be moved by them collectively as a group. She also voted to save Waves.
Just after surviving eviction, Waves open the live show with ‘Turn Your Lights Down Low’ by Lauryn Hill and Bob Marley. I liked the vocals of Joshua in particular. Ms Naa loved the performance; she was particularly pleased with the bridge and adlibs. Appietus described the performance as nice and on point, with good vocals. Gena said it was a good opener for the night and she was particular impressed with the vocals of Joshua but felt the opposite for Gertrude. Gena remarked that she wanted to feel Gertrude’s performance more, so she would believe in her.
One of the judges’ favourites, Black N Peach was next with ‘Always on My Mind’ by Da’Ville. They had very good harmonies and phrasing. Their performance was very believable and original. Appietus said the performance was on point, he liked the harmonies and everything thing about it. Gena said the performance was believable and very good, adding that Black N Peach never disappoints her. Ms Naa commented that even better than not disappointing her, the group step up their performance week after week.
Ginger performed Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’. It sounded nice and it was a cool blend of male and female vocals. I also liked the bridge in their performance but wasn’t impressed with the way the song ended because it became a bit noisy. Gena felt their passion but said they weren’t vocally excellent. Appietus said he was disappointed in their vocals at this stage of the competition. Ms Naa said Richard delivered and Sandra looked cute with her smile but added that with a few weeks to go, they should have been better. She said the song wasn’t challenging enough and so they should have ‘killed it’.
The last group to perform was another favourite, Vybes with ‘Back to My Roots’ by Lucky Dube. Their performance was packed with energy and great choreography that made their performance look authentic and believable. I liked their arrangement on the song and I felt like I was watching a professional band playing live on stage. Appietus said he liked the energy, stage performance and described their performance as fire on stage. The judge of many one-liners also called it awesome and beautiful. Ms Naa said she was speechless and that she had witnessed something special – the birth of a new star. She called the group her new favourite. Gena said the group had unquestionable talent and she loved them. She said their vocals weren’t clear in the beginning but their performance was so good that she didn’t mind not hearing them well.
The reggae themed night was brought to a close with a performance of Inner Circle’s ‘Sweat (Alala lala Long)’ by the evicted group, Sharps. With only 4 groups remaining in the competition, the public has the power to vote for their favourite group to stay in the competition by texting the group name to short code 1738. The Vodafone Icons Mixed Edition airs every Sunday on Metro TV 7:30pm and at 8pm on TV3 e.tv Ghana, Skyy TV, 4Syt TV, Crystal TV, GH One and Hitz TV (MultiTV).
