Adina rules the waves as new ‘Star Of The Future’

On the night that it mattered most, Adina did everything right. It was not just her voice that won her the title but her attitude when she came on stage. She carried herself like a star and performed like a star.

For an event that had been billed by the Ghana entertainment media as a clash of talents, the final show of the third edition of Stars of the Future was anything but that, as 18-year-old Adina Thembi-Ndamse virtually flew right past her competitors to be crowned the winner at the National Theatre.

There was considerable agreement between the audience and the judges with the choice of Adina as the winner judging from the cheers in the auditorium last Saturday.

On the night that it mattered most, Adina did everything right. It was not just her voice that won her the title but her attitude when she came on stage. She carried herself like a star and performed like a star.

In the end, what seemed like a difficult job for the judges, Bibie Brew, Zapp Mallet and Doreen Andoh in having to choose from among four talented young men and women became very easy because it was clear from all indications that the one who had stood out was Adina.

The one contestant who gave Adina some competition and came close to spoiling her party was Anita Djan who came in second. She performed very well on the final night as she had done throughout the duration of the show but Adina, saving the best for last, outdid her to emerge the winner.

Daniel placed third while Ike placed fourth. For her prize, Adina gets a recording contract and a Dacia Logan saloon car; Anita takes home a cash prize of GH¢ 800 while Daniel and Ike each get GH¢ 400. One added bonus is that all the evictees will receive GH¢ 200. The contestants competed in two rounds; in the first, they sang songs by various artistes and in the second, they performed their own compositions.

For someone who had done such a great job throughout this season, especially in the last two weeks before the final, Daniel’s performances on the night were not his best.

In the first round, he sang Paul Simon’s Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes and he started out very well, roping in the audience into his act but somewhere in the performance he had some pitch problems when hitting his high keys.

The judges did not mince their words when they told him he should have done better and that he should spend more time singing than trying to please the crowd.

In the My Song category he sang My Desire. It was quite an inspiring song and though the performance was not very smooth, it was definitely better than his first and the judges told him so when he ended. Doreen even encouraged him to try to reprogramme it for public release.

Ike had been the happy -go-lucky guy in this competition; he always came on stage to entertain his audience and no matter what the judges said, he did not seem bothered but last Saturday he was too serious.

For his first performance, he did Freddie Meiway’s song, Nana and since the showman in him thrives on the audience’s cheers, he was a bit thrown off when they were unresponsive to him which affected his show although his voice was very much present.

The judges felt that he might have gotten away with doing audience participation songs but that he needed to let his real voice shine through. He was the only one who did an African song for the My Song segment titled Africa Yele.

He had a very good message and dealt with some topical issues like the need for peace in Africa and the need for all to do their best. He sang with a passion and one could see that the song was very dear to his heart.

If there is any contestant who might be feeling the loss most, it should be Anita because here is one girl who right from the start of the show had done so well and had sang her heart out every week to the admiration of most people including the judges. She had been highly tipped to win the show so to come so close and lose out must have been painful.

She sang Alicia Keys’ No One during the first round and as usual, she was at her best, communicating with the audience and making good use of her voice. The judges could not criticise her much and Bibie just said that she could sing anything because of her great voice.

Her own song titled, Tomorrow was good and she performed it very well. She sang so soulfully that after she was done, Zapp told her he was lost in her performance.

The kind of comments the judges made about Adina’s two performances definitely gave an indication of who the winner was going to be. She was on fire during her rendition of Rihanna’s Umbrella, even coming on stage with an umbrella although she did not use it to the maximum effect like Rihanna did in the video.

She also danced for the first time in the show and she won the whole auditorium over to her side. The judges were so impressed and could not stop praising her.

She turned the heat on even more when she did her own composition, Home Is Where the Heart is. It was the best song of the night, with some very powerful lyrics. She put herself so much into the song and her emotions were so evident the audience just bought into it.

If there was any doubt that she deserved to win, she laid them to rest with that act and that is why the cheers were so many when her name was announced.

The show was well produced even though at some points the microphones seemed to have folded up.

Chris Attoh is definitely one of the best MCs around and he proved that last Saturday as he steered the show smoothly, just like he had done from the commencement of the show and he definitely deserves kudos for a great job done. Hopefully, he will still be around for Season four.

If the songs that Season II winner, Justice, performed are the kind on his debut album, then he is set to be a winner. He turned the auditorium into a church hall and got the audience on its feet throughout his show plus he has still got the voice. So did Becca.

But the artistes who really set the place on fire were Tinny and hiplife sensation Asem. The whole auditorium was on its feet while they were on stage. Tinny took the audience through all his albums playing snippets from each and ended with songs from his latest like Kaa Bu Ame, while Asem gave a very good account of himself with his hit song, Give Me Blow.

The final show was a fitting end to what had been a very exciting and entertaining and nerve wracking journey of three months. Stars of the Future is organised by Charterhouse and sponsored by MTN, Coca Cola, Castle Milk Stout, Close Up, Somovision among others.