Idols West Africa - Omodele goes home

Omodele Fatoki, the youngest contestant in the Idols West Africa top 10, is out! She was one of the two contestants who got the wildcard votes from the judges. Her rendition of "Here and now" by Luther Vandross started off quite well and she put some impressive twists in the song ... however towards the end, she kind of lost it and tended to go flat. Watching her previous performances, it's obvious she chose the wrong song. In an interview which she granted later, she said "I wasn’t feeling too well. I believe this is how far God wants me to go in this show and He has something bigger for me". A statement which displayed true team spirit. She will be returning to school to complete her studies in Internal Relations. We hope to see her taking her dreams and her voice beyond the competition.

The best performances of the day were Jodie, Eric and Timi. Jodie as usual did a great job singing Aretha Franklin's "You make me feel like a natural woman". I expected more though but she still outdid all other female contestants by a wide margin. Timi's performance abilities came out well during his performance of Luther Vandross' "Dance with my father" which he delivered with a combination of performance and voice skill. However, his start-off key was way too high and his voice went into a strain after the modulation. Despite that, he had the crowd singing along with him in no time. Eric's performance was another good one. He added a twist to the old Boys II Men classic "End of the road" when he included a "Call & Response" towards the end of the song.

Uche did a good job with John Legend's "Used to love you". He came on stage dressed the part, and put up a great performance. A slow classic song would be the best for him next ... so his voice can be heard properly. Temitayo & Omawumi seem to be sticking with the fast songs theme - which coincidentally don't bring out the best in their voice. Temitayo's voice doesn't seem like a good one for slows and she might well be better off hiding behind fast songs but Omawumi would be better trying a slower song which will bring out her voice dynamics. The theory is "The faster the song, the more you dance, the less breath you have and thus the more shaky and unstable your voice is"

Liberian "girl with a story" Jerrilyn's performance was better than her performance in the top 24, although it seems like her story is still working for her more than her voice. Mercy and Joan were great but not the best - Mercy strained a little towards the end of her song and Joan was just plain (no tricks, no surprises). They'll both need to step up their game in their next performances. Mercy will need to work more on her performance skills. She has the voice but her performance was just average. Overall, I think the last 5 to come up did much better than the first 5. Talk about saving the best for the last. My predictions for the top three contenders are 2 of the guys (Probably Timi and Eric) and Jodie - Jodie obviously has the best voice out of all the ladies and the three guys are just great.

Another contestant will be leaving the group on Monday. My predictions are either Jerrilyn, Temitayo, Joan or Mercy. I don't see any of the guys leaving soon. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the results are usually unpredictable and are left to the voters. I'll keep my fingers crossed and wait for the performances. I hope we get to see some pleasant surprises. I see the Idols West Africa contest creating a change in the Nigerian music scene within the next few months as dropped contestants take their music beyond the competition. Watch out!

NB
For those who didn't get a chance to watch the performances, you can still do so on the Idols West Africa website here. You can also view some clips of interviews with the Top 10 contestants here. Have Fun.