Okay, as promised… my thorough (albeit delayed) recap of last night’s episode of Sunday Best… generally: good show.
We FINALLY got to see Donald Lawrence on camera. Everyone was saying he was the backstage coach/mentor, but we hadn’t seem him YET, so I’m glad he got some screen time.
Ann Nesby ended the show with her performance of “I Found A Place,” the single from her latest album, The Lula Lee Project. Alright jazzy lady! Great voice, great look. Fine for me.
The wildcard contestant was Zebulon Ellis, which I was actually okay with. I was slightly disappointed cuz I wanted to see more of Clifton Ross III, but it’s cool. I think Clifton will do well, in God’s timing, in spite of that. Plus, Zebulon ain’t a bad vocalist anyhow!!
Zebulon Ellis – “A Song For You”: He has a nice voice and he did well, but I didn’t enjoy this performance as much as others probably did. The melody is classic, so I didn’t want his rendition to be so varied from the original. It’s cool to “make it your own,” but… I dunno. BeBe said “you took it away from Donnie [Hathaway]“. I firmly disagree. No one has ever taken ANY song away from Donnie Hathaway. Again, though, good vocalist.
Jessica Reedy – “Just As I Am”: She is just so doggone incredible to me! She looked great (again) and brought the sincerity, the worship, the rawness (with a polished presentation)– again, I want my album NOW. I agree with BeBe when he said “tone will tear me down.” It is ALL about this woman’s tone and choices. She rocks and I cannot wait to hear more from her. She’s my favorite and I’m sure y’all know that by now.
John McClure – “You Are My Life”-etc.: An incredibly great song from Fred Hammond, which turned into a medley of sorts. Not the best we’ve heard from him. It was very very good, but it didn’t provide the same “wowwww” factor as the other contestants have been giving us. BeBe said it well: “quiet storm,” meaning that he didn’t give it to us with all the stomps, shouts and whistles that other contestants give, but he did well. But was it well ENOUGH?
Latice Crawford – “Reach Out And Touch Somebody’s Hand”: I did NOT like the song choice until the vamp, which she killed, as usual! Her voice was hoarse, but she yanked those notes from SOMEwhere. She’s awesome, and there’s no denying it. I hope her voice holds up for the coming shows.
Dontavies Boatwright – “How Great Is Our God” [Editor's Note: I JUST talked about this song in my first Across The Aisle post about Chris Tomlin, remember??? Click here to see that again]: I like his voice a lot. I wanted him to deviate a bit and play with the melody more– it’s a simple worship chant, so there was plenty of room to be more creative with it. That said, I want him in the industry, kinda to become the new generation of soaring crooners in gospel. We like you, Dontavies.
Y’Anna Crawley – “Waiting On The World To Change”: This song wasn’t built with the room to kill it like Y’Anna has demolished songs in the past, but she MADE spaces in which to demonstrate her ability anyhow! That makes for a great artist, in my opinion. She was polished and seasoned, as always, and she looked great. Great job.
So, those were the contestants. I think I feel some kinda way about the show having them do so many mainstream/R&B songs… there’s AMPLE material in gospel music to have these gospel singers sing gospel songs on the gospel talent competition. And I’m not hating on other genres cuz my iPod is full of a wide range of music, AND I’m not saying that the songs couldn’t be re-interpreted to be about Jesus… but… we haven’t run out of gospel stuff yet, have we?
In any case, the finalists were Jessica Reedy, Zebulon Ellis, Latice Crawford and Y’Anna Crawley. I’m incredibly pleased, though I kinda wasn’t expecting four contestants to be finalists (thought we’d go down to three), nor was I expecting Zebulon to be among them, quite honestly. Still, great show and I’m cool with all of the judges picks. EACH ONE of these singers are phenomenal vocalists and could hold their own on most stages, so I’m kinda excited to see what happens.
SUPER SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT to my awesome guest Twitter-er. This special individual kept the conversation fresh and stimulating and I appreciate it! Thanks! 
Some of you have already let me know your thoughts on my earlier post today, but what does everyone else think???
@EJ Although we didn't see Cliff on Sunday's Best last night, he came to my church yesterday morning and blew us away for Easter Sunday.
EJ, I'm totally with you on the mainsteam/r&b tunes. I'm also with you on seeing D. Lawrence finally! By the way, he's supposed to be on Praise the Lord tomorrow (tbn).
Knocking Dontavies out made me an ex-viewer. I just disgusted.
@EJ and luda Im with the both of you in reference to mainstream/r&b songs. I was thinking the same thing while watchin the program last nite. My question is this though, the show is called SUNDAY BEST, are they actually looking for someone that sounds like a "Sunday" singer or do they really want somebody that can flow "outside the church" as Tina stated during the audtion process?
EJ, I really think the ultimate goal of the show is to find someone who is comfortable in a myriad of arenas, not limited to the church. I spoke to an artist about this last year, and he strongly felt that Shari should have won since she was more of a "Sunday" vocalist than Crystal Aiken, which is understandably a bit biased because it abates the power of the traditional vocalists. Every gospel singer doesn't want his/her songs played on the dance floor--lol (shout out to a Lillian ad lib). Maybe they should call it "Contemporary Sunday Best."
@EJ. I generally can go with you and I know Jessica Reedy is your girl. No doubt, she is golden. I didn't think her presentation was as polished as previous performances. She looked super, it seemed like she had problems with word and note placement. She may have been nervous because of the type of song. I don't think it was her best night. In terms of Zeb singing A sONG FOR YOU, UMMM, no one, anywhere, will ever steal anything from Donnie Hathaway, nuff said. I've seen somewhere where people had issue with Zeb saying that he was picturing to whom he was singing. What is the problem with that? They gave him the song, should he have been thinking about JESUS?
I called the finalists before they even announced them. Not saying I have it down pack but given the judges I know the "sound" they are looking for. Overall I didn't really care for most of the song selections but here's my thoughts. I thought Zeb was okay. In my opinion he did MUCH better than what he had done in the past which is why he made it. Jessica was pretty good. I think there like for her and her testimony is helping her to stay. I'm not saying she isn't good because she is but you can still here the nerves and inexperience. Y'Anna and Latice are MY GIRLS!!!! I think it will be between the two of them with possibly Latice taking it because she doesn't sound "too churchy". Again remember the judges and they type of music they make. John and Dontavies were good but not great. Ya know how the audience claps when Kirk is calling out the names of the contestants... I'm always yelling at the tv like "Stop these are the ones going home!" And I was right about this on sunday.
EJ, you are right on point with your comments. I posted something similar on BET's forum. It's called Sunday's Best, not Friday Night's Best or Valentine's Day Best. My understanding is you have bring something that would rock the house on Sunday for the Lord or arena if you prefer. I know we can appreciate the talent offered in the secular world, but I'm looking for something more than talent and good vocal performances. I think that many in the Gospel Music Industry idolize the notoriety that many secular artist get when they shouldn't. I noticed that the only two that song Gospel/Christian based songs were eliminated!! Interesting! Granted, all 6 contestants were pretty amazing.
@djjoyful: welcome and thanks for commenting! yeah... i'ma need the winner of this competition to have some good ol' "anointment" on them! :-)
LOL :-)