Fox’s new talent competition, “The Four: Battle For Stardom,” debuted last night. Hosted by Fergie, the show features a panel of experts that includes Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled, Meghan Trainor and record exec Charlie Walk.
For those who don't know, the series premise has four singers, chosen from earlier auditions, forced to defend their spots on the show as they are challenged by singers determined to replace them. The challengers first audition for the judges and if they all are impressed, they then get to compete against one of the “The Four,” with the audience deciding the winner.
When we get to the final episode, the final four remaining contestants face off against each other until a winner is chosen. That winner will then get help from the judges with their career, along with radio play as an iHeartRadio “On the Verge” artist.
- As for “The Four,” they included Lex Lu, a female rapper, R&B/pop singer Blair Perkins, “sassy Latina” Elanese Lansen and British singer/songwriter Ash Minor.
- The show opened with The Four performing Justin Timberlake’s“Can’t Stop The Feeling,” and the competition began.
Their challengers this week included:
- Tyler Griffin, a 24-year-old from North Bergen, New Jersey, who performed “Talk Dirty” by Jason DeRulo, and totally impressed Trainor, but not Walk, who quickly established himself as the meanie on the panel, calling Tyler good but not great. In the end he only got the approval of three of the four judges, which means he didn’t get a chance to challenge.
- Zhavia, a 16-year-old R&B singer from Los Angeles with a nose ring and dreadlocks, who impressed the judges with her rendition of Khalid’s“Location,” which earned her a chance to challenge one of The Four, picking Elanese for the sing-off. Elanese chose to sing the Luis Fonsi/Demi Lovato tune “Echame La Culpa,” while Zhavia sang FrenchMontana’s “Unforgettable,” and successfully rose to the challenge, with the audience voting Zhavia the challenge winner.
- Anthony Hall, a 28-year-old from Delray Beach, Florida, who performed a bluesy version of Portugal. The Man’s “Feel It Still,” which didn’t impress the judges getting the approval of only two out of four.
- Illakriss, a 21-year-old from Dallas, Texas, who performed a rap to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Lets Groove Tonight,” who didn’t actually impress all the judges, although Diddy gave him props for his originality. Lex basically convinced the judges to let him through so she could “eat” him, and her rap to DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts,” did just that.
- Valentina Cytrynowicz, a 19-year-old from Los Angeles, who sang Lorde’s “Green Light,” and was sort of imitating her, which Meghan seemed to point out, and Diddy didn’t like at all. Needless to say she didn’t get to challenge The Four.
- Saeed Renaud, a 37-year-old R&B singer from Brooklyn, who sang Whitney Houston’s “Run To You,” which made Meghan cry, and impressed the other judges as well, which of course, led to a challenge. Saeed chose to battle it out with Blair, who performed Sam Smith’s“Stay With Me,” which wasn’t enough to beat Saeed’s take on John Newman’s “Love Me Again,” earning him one of The Four’s chairs.