A new reality singing competition debuted on FOX January 4 with “The Four”.
What sets this series apart from other singing competitions is that the four top singers have already been chosen but can lose their spots to talented challengers.
The panel of judges – DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor, Sean “Diddy” Combs, and record executive Charlie Walk – determine who of the contenders is talented enough to earn the right to challenge “The Four”. In order to earn a challenge, a singer must get a yes from all four members of the panel.
Winners of a challenge is determined by audience vote.
Diddy noted that they weren’t looking for the next pop star, but the next superstar.
Grammy Award winning singer Fergie is hosting the series.
“The Four” that have been chosen to occupy the chairs…at least on night one…are Lex Lu, Blair Perkins, Elanese Lansen, and Ash Minor.
Fergie noted that the panel had been assembled to aid the winner of the competition with their career. The winner will receive a contract with Republic Records.
The first contender to vie for a challenge was Tyler Griffin. Tyler only got three yes votes fro the panel who thought he did a good job.
Next up was 16 year old Zhavia. Khalid noted that she looked and moved like a young icon and Charlie felt like he was hearing the future. Diddy noted that this show was different and karaoke would not work here. She got four yeses and the right to challenge one of “The Four”. Zhavia chose to challenge Elanese Lansen. Singing first, Elanese sang in both Spanish and English. The audience chose Zhavia to become one of “The Four” sending Elanese home.
Since she won the challenge Zhavia is safe for the night and cannot be challenged for the rest of the show.
Next up was Anthony Hall whom Diddy noted looked like a white Jesus. Charlie said that they were there to help but at the end of the day it was all about the artist. Anthony only got two yes votes and did not earn the right to challenge.
Illakriss chose to perform an original song and despite Charlie saying that Illakriss was not wha the show is about, earned four yes votes and the right to challenge one of “The Four” singers. He chose female rapper Lex Lu who said that Illakriss looked like a cake walk. Lex Lu won the right to hold on to her seat after the audience voted for her over Illakriss.
Valentina Cytrynowicz chose Lorde’s “Green Light” for her performance. While Charlie saw a real artist on the stage, Diddy didn’t like it and Khalid said that you can’t act at being a superstar…you have to be it. With tears in her eyes, Valentina learned that she did not earn the right to challenge one of “The Four”.
The final contender of the night was Saeed Renaud who chose the Whitney Houston song “Run to Me” for his performance. Khalid noted that one of “The Four” was saying, “I’m outta here.”After thanking Saeed for setting the bar, Diddy said that he wanted to see a challenge. Diddy got his wish when Saeed got four yeses and chose Blair Perkins as his challenger. Charlie thought that Blair deserved to keep his seat and Diddy felt that both singers had something special; but it was the audience who decided that it was Saeed who won the challenge.
Only Ash did not get challenged on this first night of competition.
Think you have what it takes to challenge one of “The Four”? Go to thefourmusic.com and apply for an audition and you could be singing as early as next week.
photo credit: By Zzubnik – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4076569