NEIU held its annual talent show this past Thursday to a crowded audience in the auditorium. While this year’s show improved in several areas over last year, like emcee Arick Lockhart’s amazing job hosting, it lacked in one very critical category: talent.
Each audience participant was given a double sided sign that read “!! LIGHTS OUT !! Try again next year!!” and “!! LET IT SHINE !! !! YOU’RE A STAR!!” Pamphlets, which listed all of the performers, immediately informed the audience of a lack of diversity, since one could speculate that singing is the only talent NEIU has to offer.
Although there were non-musical acts, they were far fewer than those consisting of singing and acting; in fact, every award this year went to musical acts. With 19 performers, one would expect to see more than five that didn’t incorporate song in some way.
Sadly, many of the music acts weren’t even good enough to justify their heavy numbers. For instance, a contestant who sang a Spanish cover of Robbie Williams’ “Angel” ruined one of the greatest pop songs of the 90s. The only crime worse than that is the recycled 90s prom dress she wore while performing.
The worst performance, however, had to go to the cover of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” While the audience had been conservative with the “!! LIGHTS OUT !!” side of their signs, the singer’s bedroom karaoke performance changed this. It was especially sad since, prior to her performance, an original standup comedy routine that ran over the four-minute time limit was cut short (something that one could only wish had happened to the Queen performance).
Also performing in the talent show were two female impersonators. While the argument could be made that this is a talent, it’s perhaps not best showcased with performers that actually sing, but rather at, as audience member Miguel Salgado suggested, “Tuesday night at Roscoe’s.” Poorly moving your lips to a song and thrashing your body and fake hair about may be entertaining, but it doesn’t compare much to a powerful performance with substance.
However, there were some amazing performances that got justly awarded. The award for “Most Unusual Act” went to Sevan Loughran for his original song “Beyond Problems,” which criticized commercialism, globalization and British Petroleum specifically as he had two BP canisters on stage during his charged performance.
Matthew Hayes was given an honorable mention for his genius mash up of Oasis’s “Wonderwall” and “Airplanes” by B.O.B., which received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Xavier gave perhaps the most emotional performance of the night, singing “El Triste.” Rios started out a cappella and then switched to playing piano, all the while remaining composed and controlling his voice. He was hands down the best contemporary vocalist of the night, warranting him third place, as well as a huge crowd reaction.
Second place went to the last act of the night, The Young Heavies, a rap group whose rap “Super Swag” received loud screams from many of the female audience members. The group used the stage better than any act that night and had such tremendous energy that even the show’s emcee got on stage and danced.
The honor of first place went to talent show veteran Aldo Perrelli, whose performance of the “Aria of Conte Partiro” proved that appreciation for classical music isn’t dead. While it wasn’t the most unique act, it proved that talent isn’t doing something new—it’s doing something well.