Contestants Really Fight for Their Spots on ‘The Four’
Although some of you may think there are too many singing competitions out there, FOX felt that we needed another one, The Four: Battle for Stardom. But after seeing the premiere episode on Thursday night (January 4), this one is pretty different.
Fergie, who hosted the new series, quickly clarified the difference by saying, "The only show where every show is like the finale." The premise? Four previously chosen contestants -- rapper Lex Lu and singers, Elanese Lansen, Blair Perkins and Ash Minor -- sat at their coveted seats as they watched and waited for other artists show off their talents. If panelists DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor, Diddy and Republic Records president Charlie Walk all liked the performance by giving it their votes, then the challenger chooses one of the four to battle and knock them out of the competition.
But before the games bagan, Lex, Elanese, Blair and Ash opened the competition with a high energy version of Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling."
Tyler Griffin was the first to challange "The Four." Taking on Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty," the 24-year-old from North Bergen, N.J. showed all his talents by singing, dancing and rapping. Although the crowd was grooving along, Republic Records president Charlie Walk marked himself as the bad cop by saying that Tyler was good but just not as great as those in the four seats. He's clearly going to be the one to ruffle many feathers on this season and proved it by giving Tyler a red ring and stopping him from getting to the battle.
Meanwhile 16-year-old Zhavia quickly picked up the blue rings from all the panelists after her performance of Khalid's "Location."
"This is why I'm here," DJ Khaled. "Not only did she sing amazing, her swag was incredible, like a superstar. You look, sound like, move like a young icon."
After she got all the praise, the Los Angeles singer picked Elanese to battle. The Boca Raton, FL. singer chose the Luis Fonsi and Demi Lovato's "Echame La Culpa." While she was Elanese performed effortlessly, it didn't seem to go faze Zhavia, who performed French Montana's "Unforgettable." No matter what the panel thought, in the end, it was up to the audience to vote. And they went with Zhavia, which meant Elanese was out of the competition and locked the teen singer's spot for the night.
Rock singer-songwriter Anthony Hall also couldn't get enough votes to move forward in the competition. Hip-hop artist and producer Illakris did battle Lex, but she blew him out of the water with her rhymes on DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts."
But spirits started to lift up when Saeed Ranaud took the stage. The Grammy-winning musician and songwriter from Brooklyn gave a powerful performance of Whitney Houston's "Run to You." It immediately had Meghan tearing up and even put a smile on Diddy's face.
"I've never had this experience in my whole life. I just got lost, and it was you and myself," Meghan said.
Saeed naturally received votes from all the panelists and challenged Blair for his spot. Blair performed Sam Smith's "Stay With Me." And while he did great, Saeed showed off his lower register and versatility with his version of John Newman's "Love Me Again." And despite Blair's perfect pitch, the crowd had fallen head over heels for Saeed and knocked Blair out of his spot. Meanwhile Ash was the lucky one and didn't have to battle anyone but said that he was ready for next week.
So be sure to come back next week to find who'll challenge Ash's spot on "The Four," and what other new drama will unfold.
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