Week 2 of Topper Idol took place on Feb. 10. Contestants were tasked with singing songs from the ‘80s. The judges were switched this week with sophomore Madison Linzy, Housing Area Manager Camille Irvin, and Residence Life Area Coordinator Yodev Ocasio taking on the role. Yodev took on the role of host as well. A socially distanced audience was excited to see each singer give it their all.

The show started with Autumn Duckworth and her rendition of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics. Autumn, once again, accompanied herself on the guitar as she did in the first round. The next performance was Sarah Booth powerfully singing “Open Arms” by Journey which left the entire room stunned with her voice control.

Third on the lineup was Charli McConnell and her version of “Lay All Your Love on Me” by ABBA. Charli was not the only one to prepare an ABBA song as Alexia Schmader followed with a cover of “The Winner Take It All.” Just like last week, there were some technical difficulties. Three-fourths of the way through Alexia’s turn, the song stopped playing. She took time to recover while Emily Rudy sang “Faithfully” by Journey, and returned shortly after, stronger than before. The last performance of the night was Dominic Smith who sang “Mountain Music” by Alabama while also accompanying himself on guitar. Dominic had to send in a recording of himself due to the weather making it too dangerous for him to come in person, but he still did an incredible job.

After each contestant sang their heart out, the judges took about ten minutes to deliberate who would be moving on to the next round. When they returned, they announced that Autumn, Sarah, Charli, Alexia, and Emily would be moving on to Round 3. The next round’s theme is Broadway songs.
The recording of the competition can be found on the West Liberty Residence Life Twitter page (@WLUResLife). If the weather and COVID permits it, the next round will take place on Feb. 17.