The NCDC finals are taking place at 9 p.m. this Saturday, April 21 at Dordt College in the B.J. Haan Auditorium.
Three groups from both colleges made the cut and will be performing in the finals. The Northwestern finalists include “Abbey and Darby and we’re just doing this for fun”, Casey Perez and Nick Heider who will be facing off with Black and Yellow, Kingfinch and The Keychangers from Dordt.
Abbey Slattery and Darby Skillern sang a rendition of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” that saved them a spot in the finals. Stedmon Bryant helped Casey Perez lock in her bid by providing electronic beats for her vocals to “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” by Michael Jackson. Nick Heider clenched his finals spot via video presence, singing “Hey Ya” by OutKast.
Each vocalist will have the opportunity to perform two different songs at finals.
Once all twelve performances are complete, attendees will be able to text in their votes. Unlike the previous rounds, the winner will be announced as soon as the votes are counted. The first place winner will receive a $500 check on the spot, and this year the runner-up will be awarded $250.
A Dordt singer or group has taken home the title the last six out of seven years. Slattery, who is competing in a duo this year, is the most recent NW champion, taking home the title in 2015. Brett Randolph, last year’s champion from Dordt, is also in the running for a possible two-peat this year under the name Kingfinch after singing The Lumineer’s “Angela” to save his spot in the finals.
Bethany Muyskens, large events coordinator for NW’s Student Activities Council, hopes for a victory this year.
“Dordt has some strong groups, but I hope to see a Raider win the title,” Muyskens said. “Come to the finals for a night full of music and friendly competition!”
Junio Matt Scott, one of the emcees for NW’s preliminaries and semi-finals, was impressed by the Raider talent on display.
“The talent at NCDC was very impressive, and we really enjoyed listening to the NW students perform,” Scott said.
Co-host junior Brant Vermeer joked, “The [Dordt] emcees will definitely be funnier than the NW ones.”
As with the semi-final rounds, there will be prizes and giveaways for participants from the crowd.
The B.J. Haan Auditorium is on the south side of Dordt’s campus and is accessible from 5th Street.
