Digicel Rising Stars host Yendi Phillipps (centre) is joined onstage by the contestants. - Ian Allen

As the Digicel Rising Stars 2009 talent competition entered the televised, in-studio stage at the Courtleigh Auditorium, New Kingston, on the weekend, host Yendi Philips noted the influence of last year's winner, Cameal Davis.

She said that there was a lot of girl power among the eight contestants who performed their favourite songs, the other seven Rising Star hopefuls having their turn before the cameras and the television audience.

Sunday's studio show will be repeated during this week on TVJ. Voting is open and three of the eight contestants will drop out on Friday's results show.

significant change

One significant change for this year's televised stage of Digicel Rising Stars is the position from which judges Anthony Miller, Nadine Sutherland and Clyde McKenzie (who gave their responses in that order) are seeing the contestants, as they are now positioned in front of the audience. And one of the women made good use of the change, Kydean Mantock pointed pointedly at the male judges as she did Whitney Houston's Saving All My Love For You, to cheers from the crowd.

She impressed them, too, Miller saying she was the "best of the bunch so far" and McKenzie saying "Whitney is a difficult person to master. You did well".

chuckles

There were chuckles when he said that they would have to figure out which one of them Mantock was saving her love for.

But it was Brown Sugar, performing just after Mantock, who swept the judges away with her rendition of Jasmine Sullivan's Lions, Tigers and Bears, their response making her cry.

"She has an interesting vibe," Miller said, adding that she is "certainly confident" and also complimenting Brown Sugar on her voice. It was a clean sweep of compliments for Brown Sugar, as Sutherland said that while she likes Sugar's personality "I like more that you are a good singer".

"That was sweet," Clyde McKenzie said, mentioning that her sweetness may just be causing some diabetes.

Ruthhanna Grant

The love for the ladies went as far as the female half of the niece and uncle pair, Crissy and Winston, who did The Prayer. Miller noted that while Winston struggled a bit, Crissy was "really good. I love your talent". Sutherland cautioned that a duo has to be careful each member is on the same level and they need to rehearse more to get it right. Still, McKenzie said he liked the duo and "I think you have more than a prayer of going through".

Angele Smith, who opened the performances, had the best moment for the relatively few men. He went for Al Green's So Tired of Being Alone and Miller noted his "nice song selection.

He gave it his all. It came across reasonably well. I'm not ascending to the stars yet". Sutherland said where he was required to coo he cooed and where power was called for he delivered, while McKenzie said if Angele continues singing like that his lonely days may soon be over.

buff teeth

But a woman also got the hardest blow for the night and one could almost hear the impact as Miller walloped Siren. In her postcard, Siren said if there was one thing she would change about herself it would be "my buff teeth. People say why I'm so serious, I have to keep my mouth shut".

unpleasant

After she had tackled Beyonce's Flaws and All, putting some drama into the delivery, Miller said "If she had shut her mouth and walked around I would have enjoyed it better. It became really unpleasant when she started to screech".

All three said that Princess Tia, who performed last and also took on Whitney Houston, fell short of her standard in doing Try It On My Own. Miller commented that Ruthhanna Grant's delivery of Alicia Keys' Superwoman was not a super performance at all" and Sutherland said "we have to be careful at this stage to choose the right song". McKenzie also said it was the wrong song for Ruthhanna, but "There is a good voice there".

Miller dismissed Stratdon's performance of Ne-Yo's Miss Independent as "very ordinary, but you chose a crowd-pleaser". Sutherland said it was "not bad" and she wants to see Stratdon grow in the competition, while McKenzie said the performance was "lacking in energy".