19th July, 2013
A significant record has been set in the on-going Glo X Factor music competition with the audition performance of 12-year-old Emmanuel Mensah becoming the highest watched video of any singing reality TV show contestant on YouTube.
The video has so far recorded 109,658 views on YouTube, eclipsing by far the number recorded by videos of other singing reality television show contestants in West Africa. The nearest to it was 20,185 hits on a contestant’s video in another music reality show.
His rendition of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Look To You’ was so powerfully and beautifully done that it left a judge in the show, Onyeka Onwenu, in tears. MI, another judge on the show described him as having the “most wonderful voice” he has heard in a long time.
The video has also attracted thousands of online comments in praise of the prodigious talent, with many asking for a waiver of the X Factor age restriction to allow Emmanuel to compete in the show. Though ineligible to compete in the show, being less than 18, Emmanuel, who hails from Ghana, decided to try his luck at the Kumasi audition of the show.
When Emmanuel began to sing, the judges and members of the audience could not believe that the sonorous, mature and beautifully controlled voice they were hearing was coming from the little boy on stage. By the time he was through, the audience and judges were on their feet, clapping.
Wiping away her tears, Onyeka hugged the boy tightly and planted a long kiss on his forehead. She said “I don’t know what we are going to do about the age limit. But I know they won’t break the rules, but don’t be discouraged, by the time you come of age to take part in this contest, there will be nothing stopping you.”
—Daniels Ekugo