AWESOME FOURSOME FIGHTING FOR THE VOICE UK’S TOP PRIZE
Ahead of The Voice UK final, JANE HAASE looks at the singers on song for sucess
A FORTNIGHT ago, we were reintroduced to The Voice UK’s nine semi-finalists for 2020 in a special highlights show, after the series was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, after last week’s dramatic events, we are down to just four acts who will all be looking to succeed Molly Hocking and be named the champion.
But one thing you won’t see is a hug for the winner, as social distancing means the coaches cannot physically touch their acts.
Coach Olly Murs reveals: “If one of us wins the final, we’re not even going to be able to celebrate with our contestant, it’s all going to be from a distance. It’s going to be strange.”
The show’s winner will be decided by the virtual audience, watching the grand final from home. That lucky singer will scoop a prize of a recording contract with Universal’s label UMOD.
It was coaches Olly, Sir Tom Jones, will.i.am and Meghan Trainer who picked the final four who’ll be performing a brand new song during the live show. On Team Will is Gevanni Hutton who at 17 is one of the youngest in the competition.
A student, he moved to London from Jamaica two years ago. In the blind auditions he performed Romeo and Juliet hit Everybody’s Free by Quindon Tarver and blew the audience away.
Sir Tom is
championing Jonny Brooks, 28, from Derry in Northern Ireland who currently works as a janitor in a cathedral.
“I think the last eight months have told me I don’t want to stop doing this. This is something I need to do,” he said of performing.
Brooke Scullion, 20, also from Derry, is Meghan’s chosen act, while Olly’s is 17-year-old Dudley student Blessing Chitapa.
Blessing is the
favourite to win this year’s competition.
Her parents are pastors at the Cornerstone Fellowship International Church in West Bromwich, and she’s grown up in the church surrounded by music. Brooke performed Miley Cyrus hit Nothing Breaks Like A Heart to win a place in the final.
She says: “It’s obviously amazing to get
through. I feel as though someone’s looking over me and leading me in the right direction.”
Having released her debut single over lockdown, Brooke is excited for fans to see her “give it her all” one last time.
Once again, Emma Willis hosts.
This will be Meghan’s farewell appearance on The Voice UK, as she is expecting her first child. Brit Award nominee Anne-Marie will replace her when the series returns in 2021.
The Voice UK Final is on ITV on Saturday at 8.40pm
THE HUNT (15) ★★
HUNTERS become prey in a controversial satirical thriller directed by Craig Zobel which takes aim at preconceptions on both sides of the political and class divide in present-day America.
Anchored by eye-catching performances from Betty Gilpin and two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, this intentionally overblown showdown between workingclass “deplorables” and the wealthy “liberal elites” hunting them for sport doesn’t stint on the stomach-churning splatter.
Twelve strangers regain consciousness, in a forest clearing, supposedly in Arkansas.
When rifle shots ring out and a head explodes, the stricken strangers realise the wicked whispers online must be true – they are being hunted by the well-to-do.
Showing on Sky Cinema Premiere.