As seven weeks pass and seven contestants were eliminated from the competition, the remaining three contestants of Ship Idol battle it out to make it to the final two.

With their nerves building in anticipation each contestant sang two songs on Wednesday, April 6, in Grove Forum. The contestants each sang an epic ballad and a song of the judges’ choice.

Judging the singers this week were Ship Idol founder Gerard Brumfield, Greek Life Director Emilee Danielson and last year’s Ship Idol Jean Martinez.

Kicking off the night was Peter Shuey who sang “Your Body is a Wonderland.” The judges often compare Shuey to John Mayer, so it is only fitting that they chose this song for him to sing.

Shuey started off with a shaky voice but redeemed himself and wowed the audience toward the end. Overall, the judges liked his performance but told him he needs to watch his facial expressions and try not to look bored.

Shuey’s second song of the night was “Stand By You.”

Judges told him to be more confident, and they would like him to be more shocking. “Drop some Kanye or some Rhianna on us,” said Danielson.

Bri Spayd was up next singing the first ballad of the night, “All By Myself.” Spayd started off strong but quickly began experiencing technical difficulties with her microphone which kept cutting in and out.

After the continuous problems, Spayd just stopped using the microphone and attempted to belt the song at the top of her lungs.

Host Jenna King, quickly jumped to the front of the room to grab Spayd another microphone. Once she got a working microphone, Spayd powered through the rest of her performance.

Despite the minor technical problems, judges were impressed. They said it was a good song pick, and it was a hard song to sing, but she did a great job.

“I got some chills on the high notes, other parts were ‘ehh’,” said Martinez. Danielson told Spayd that her diction and breathing have strongly improved. Brumfield said that she painted a beautiful picture, but needs to let go more.

This is exactly what she did in her second song of the night, “Wanted” by Jessie James, which was the judges’ choice.

Spayd gave the song everything she had. She performed with so much attitude and pizzazz. Her emotions and actions matched the meaning of the song, which is about trying to get a boy’s attention.

Spayd flirtatiously sang to her co-competitor, Shuey. She strutted right up to him, grabbed his hand and looked right into his eyes as she belted out this tune.

He reciprocated the gestures and played along. The crowd went wild with laughter and embraced her performance.

When she finished, everyone was cheering and screaming, and Spayd was beaming with a sense of pride, knowing she did a great job.

“Look at you getting down with your bad self,” joked Danielson. “This song was a lot of fun and you really engaged the audience. You were very entertaining.”

The third singer of the night was Jozalyn Gregor singing the judges’ pick, “No More Drama,” by Mary J. Blidge.

Gregor was very apprehensive about singing the song, and it showed in her performance.

Gregor occasionally forgot the lyrics, but made up for it when she belted out some powerful notes.

“You sang a couple epic notes, they were awesome,” exclaimed Martinez. Danielson said, “It was a good song for you, but you were really distracted with trying to remember the words, which took away from the performance.”

Brumfield was very enthused by Gregor’s performance, “You were working the Mary J,” he exclaimed.

Gregor was not very proud of her performance, but knew she had to bring it during her second song, which is what she did.

Gregor’s second song, “Take My Breath Away,” amazed the judges. All of the judges were proud of her for remembering all of the words.

Martinez expressed in excitement, “It was like ‘Bam!’ Those notes were amazing.”

Danielson said this was her favorite epic ballad of the night. Brumfield said the performance was so good it almost made him cry, and he invited Gregor to sing at his future wedding. The crowd was also enthused with Gregor’s performance.

After all of the performances, audience members went to cast their votes. This week the money collected from the additional voting tickets is being donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Shippensburg is working with the charity to send a 5-year-old boy to Disney World.

She announced that Spayd and Shuey would be competing for the title of Ship Idol next week.

The finale will be held on Tuesday, April 12, at 7 p.m. in the Tuscarora Room.

This round will be much different than the others. Those in charge of Ship Idol are expecting big things for the finale.

“It’s going to be big. There will be a lot of singing and a lot of beautifulness. It’s going to be so great we just have to make up words for it,” gushed Martinez.

“Oh my gosh! There’s going to be guest performances, people you would never expect to come up and sing are going to sing, last year’s idols and this year’s idols.

For next week I expect total Bri and Peter epicness. They’re going to light up the T-Room,” said Ship Idol board member Cassie Harrington.
“It shall be amazing,” said Ship Idol technical producer Kevin Battersby.

Those who put on the show are not the only ones pumped up for next week’s finale. The final two contestants, Spayd and Shuey are very excited as well.

“It should be really cool, especially since everybody from all 10 weeks will be coming back to sing,” said Shuey.

“I didn’t expect to get this far. I didn’t get kicked off the first week and the first few weeks are when it helps to have a lot of people you know to come vote for you, but none of my friends really came and no one really knew me because I’m a freshman. I’m totally shocked I made it this far. This is awesome,” exclaimed Spayd as she reflected on her Ship Idol experience.”

“It would mean to world for me to win. I love singing, I love music, and I get to come back to be a part of the committee, which I’m so excited for.

If I get second, it’s not that bad. I mean, Peter’s awesome. I gotta bring my A-game next week It’s gonna be exciting. Everyone’s singing with everyone, it going to be really great,” says Spayd as she talks about her excitement for the finale.

Spayd’s competition, Shuey is also excited and thankful for his opportunity to be a part of Ship Idol.

“It’s been a really cool experience. The first weeks seem so long ago, I had no anticipation of getting this far. It should be really cool, especially since everybody from all 10 weeks will be coming back to sing. It’d be humbling to win.”

For the finale the money will go toward the officer Henry Memorial fund, which is dedicated to an SU police officer who has passed away.
The fund will support diabetes research at John’s Hopkins Hospital.

“Everybody should come out next week. It’s going to be a really cool event. Even if you don’t know somebody who is competing, just come out to see good music because they’re will be a lot of great musicians there to sing. I think it will just be a really cool event, and I hope everybody comes out to see it,” said Peter Shuey.

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