(L-R) Ben Logsdon, Roodlyne Altidor, Nick Burt, Ciara McMahon, Raijene Murchison, and Kara Magnuson will compete tonight, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. in the second round of Nazzy Idol. Photo by Canaan Hess.
On Monday Nov. 3 SGA once again held “Nazzy Idol,” a singing competition among ENC students. Round One included 12 contestants who sang various love songs in duets to garner judges’ votes. At the conclusion of the night, six contestants were chosen to continue to the next round and six were sent home.
The competition began with Cameron Smith and Caitlin Schesser singing “Half of My Heart” by John Mayer, followed by Kara Magnuson and Raijene Murchison singing “Stay” by Rihanna. Daniel Cantrell and Emma Thies were next, and sang “Love is An Open Door” from Frozen, followed by Sam Kish and Mathew Gilbert who sang “I Must’ve Done Something Right” by Relient K.
Ben Logsdon and Roodlyne Altidor sang next, performing “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat. Closing out the show was Nick Burt and Ciara McMahon, who did their rendition of “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat.
Assistant Chaplain JD Brenke, Resident Director of Spange and Willy Priscilla Ozodo, Vice President for Student Development Jeff Kirksey, and President McGee were the judges for this year’s Nazzy Idol. They judged the contestants on both individual and team performance.
After giving feedback to each performer and discussing amongst themselves, the judges narrowed the remaining contestants to six. The remaining competitors are Magnuson, Murchison, Burt, Logsdon, McMahon, and Altidor.
Next week will be 80s themed for the competitors, but also for the audience. The audience is encouraged to dress up in their best 1980s attire, and a best dressed competition will be held at some point during the evening.
The organizers of Nazzy Idol, including Tyler Oates, focused on the rising interest in the competition.
“17 people tried out this year. We’re not trying to change this event that everyone loves, just trying to make it better than years previous,” Oates said. Oates hopes that getting the audience more involved in the competition will have a positive impact on Nazzy Idol for this year and the future.
Magnuson, one of the artists who advanced, commented post-show on her experience.
“We all have such different sounds so this year’s competition will be interesting to say the least. I look forward to the friendly competition and just having fun,” Magnuson said.
Round Two will be held tonight, Monday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. in the RCA.