After weeks of seeing the contestants tirelessly campaigning, the anxious wait was finally over. However, before enjoying the thrilling roller coaster ride of Jamaican talent, I had to get past one large obstacle. The question that caused a wave of crippling fear and anxiety to fill my living room.

“Who will stay and continue into the Top Eight and which two will be heading home?”

When the angelic host Dr. Terri-Karelle Reid showed up on that stage in her dazzling hot pink jumpsuit ready to announce which two contestants would be going home that night, I was held captive, and desperately hoping for the suspense to be over with. Then the video clip showing which two contestants would be leaving the competition unapologetically flashed on the screen and my heart sank. Regrettably, we had to say goodbye to two of my favourite contestants for Dancehall/Reggae night: KiiShea and Casey.

Upon seeing such powerhouses eliminated, I felt totally disillusioned and was ready to stop watching. However, after such disheartening news, like a ray of hope barreling through dark clouds of dismay, the first wild cards of the season, chosen by the beautiful judge Alaine, were announced.

Sherlon Russell and Hakkeem Green were the special chosen ones. They both had one song, one stage and only two minutes to fight for the special ninth spot and what a battle to the death it was! Singing Taurus Riley’s human nature, these two gave one of the best wild card performance I have ever seen in a long time. Hakkeem was such an infectious ball of energy on that stage and had the audience in his hands with his extremely charismatic performance. Even though Sherlon was not as energetic as Hakkeem, he did not need to be as his voice was far superior. His angelic tenor voice worked perfectly with Human Nature. Sherlon took the song as his own and did multiple vocal aerobatics that got the audience on their feet and left me in awe. It came as no surprised when Alaine selected Sherlon as her wild card, securing his place in the Top Nine.

With the nine potential stars selected it was finally time to for the musical journey. Under the theme Sweet Sixteen the contestants take us back to the time period of 2003/2004. Sadly, most of the performances for this theme didn’t leave a lasting impression.

After such a wide range of performances, I ranked each act based on their vocal prowess, emotion and overall connection with the audience. Even though some stars were extremely dazzling and radiated with talent, some were depressingly dim.

9. Shanique Salmon

The absolute worst performance for the night. Singing her version of Toni Braxton’s “Spanish Guitar”, instead of making me feel loved as if “I [were] in [her] arms like a Spanish Guitar”, Shanique lulled me to sleep. For such a romantic and soulful song, Shanique made Tony Braxton’s spicy love song blander than a Caucasian meal. Not to mention the complete disconnect with the audience throughout the entire spectacle. The only highlight of her performance was when host Sanjay read twitter’s live reaction to Shanique’s poor rendition. Hearing one twitter user say “Shanique dat wasn’t even a patois guitar” replaced whatever boredom Shanique’s wearisome performance bestowed unto my spirit with immense amusement and hearty laughter. It is clear that Shanique’s voice fits perfectly with reggae and should maybe try and chose songs that matches her amazing voice. If Jamaica decides to keep her in for another week it would be best if she chooses a better song next week so that we can get a chance to see the brilliant talent she keeps hiding with bad song selections.

8. Dahly

There is no doubt that Dahly is an amazing singer. She has such a warm personality and a voice that can fill your heart with emotion. However, her rendition of “A moment like this” was absolutely dismal. It was evident she was trying to establish a connection with the audience throughout the song, but it just didn’t happen. Moreover, the overall performance was just not the best vocally and was littered with off-notes. As judge Anthony said, “It just sounded off, it really is. It sounded dowdy and old-fashioned.” This truly was not Dahly’s best performance, but hopefully she gets to redeem herself in the next round.

7. Brian

Brian has one of the most unique voices in this competition. However, he keeps selecting such predictable songs each night. As soon as Terri-Karelle announced that Brian would be singing Buju Banton’s “One to One”, a wave of disappointment washed over me. The song vocally fits, Brian really well and he does a very good job at getting the older members of the audience rocking. However, as a younger viewer, I was hoping for something different and surprising that would instill some spark of entertainment inside of me. Instead Brian delivered a mediocre performance that felt as basic as adding one to one.

6.  Raihanna

Raihanna is one of the stars of this competition and her performance this show shone brighter than a diamond. She was not only vocally pleasing but also “visually pleasing” as Judge Anthony said. Raihanna gave a rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, that felt a bit vocally out of her league. Nonetheless, Raihanna’s bright yellow dress popped magnificently on her dark chocolate skin making it extremely hard for me to look away from her performance. It would’ve been nice, however, if Raihanna opened her eyes so that I could be even more enticed by her performance and just overall connect with the audience.

5. Celicea

Celicea has been such a trail blazing ball of talent since this season began. Even though she may be only 17 years old, she is without a doubt one of the strongest vocalists in the competition. However, “Since U Been Gone” may not have been the best choice of song for her. There was an evident disconnect between Celicea and the song that created an even further divided between her and the audience. Nonetheless, Celicea still managed to keep up vocally with such a demanding song and her overall passion while on stage made her extremely likeable.

4. Laveka

Dedicating her song to cancer survivors, especially those who lost their hair during the cancer treatments, Laveka sang the Christina Aguilera’s popular song “Beautiful”. Laveka has an incredibly unique tone that made the song even more beautiful. She did an excellent job. The only issue I had with her performance was that it needed more dynamics. It was beautiful yes, but it just stayed on a plateau. There was no exciting moment that got me out of my feet. Nevertheless, an extremely good job!

3. Oryan

Singing Mario’s “Let Me Love You”, Oryan was one of the few contestant that sent that warm comforting nostalgic feeling running through my body. A vibrant and youthful performance that had the contestants, and even the judges, singing along to such a beloved song. An excellent performance as usual.

2. J-Lue

From the bleak disappointing ashes of bad choices, like the majestic phoenix, J-Lue has been reborn! After her earlier performance before the Top Ten I didn’t see her making it pretty far due to her extremely poor song choice. However, her performance for this show proved me wrong. Singing “Concrete Jungle”, J-Lue energized the crowd with her powerful voice. This song selection was one of her best yet, and it was such a delight to see her grow into the performer she is today.

1. Sherlon

Due to the fact that he was eliminated before even making it to the Top Ten, I did not have high hopes for Sheldon and was ready to receive a mediocre performance. However, he quickly shut my mouth as soon as he opened his and began to sing. The angelic sound that came out of his vocal cords was like warm honey being poured out of a jar, each note perfectly falling atop the other to form the sweetest music. Singing an extremely emotional rendition of “Flying Without Wings”, Sheldon gave one of the best Digicel Rising Stars performances that I have seen in a long while. When he reached the climax of the song, Sheldon hit a high note that touched my soul. The power of his voice reverberated through the TVJ studio. It was evident I wasn’t the only one moved by Sheldon’s incredible vocals as I saw the entire audience, and even judge Alaine, on their feet in utter awe at the awesomeness on stage. “Unnuh get up again! Get up again!” Alaine yelled immediately after his performance. I pray Jamaica doesn’t make the mistake again and keep him in the competition for a long while. I am desperately looking forward to hearing many more soulful performances from Sheldon that will manage to get me out of my couch and on to my feet Sunday after Sunday.

Overall, this Sweet Sixteen themed episode was filled with many exciting moments keeping me hooked from start to finish. The contestants managed to transport me back to the era where baggy pants were the #HotBoy summer outfit and where the indestructible Nokia’s dominated the world. Let’s hope the next show is even better than this!

 — Nathan Walker