Bladen County winners prepare to head to The Apollo
Nov. 14—ELIZABETHTOWN — The Road to Apollo came to Bladen County on Sunday night and 23 contestants performed for their chance to compete at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY.
There were two categories, one for adults and one for children, to compete in the coveted talent show. The Apollo Theater tradition of letting the crowd's cheers decide the winner was put to the test by some extraordinary talents. Only one talent out of the 23 was jeered off the stage, leaving Executive Producer Captain Newborn with a difficult decision to make.
After several rounds of cheering to try to determine a difference in the amount of applause for each contestant, Newborn decided that there would be two winners from each category that he was willing to take to the Apollo, though there is typically only one.
The winners for the children category were Saeed McElveen and Xia Smith. McElveen set the tone of the competition by being the first act to perform and he sang "Talking To the Moon" by Bruno Mars. Smith performed a flawless rendition of Lauryn Hill's "Killing Me Softly With His Song".
The winners in the adult category were Regina McIntyre and Chariti Smith. McIntyre sang "I Won't Complain" by Rev. Paul Jones and Smith sang "idontwannabeyouanymore" by Billie Eilish.
