The singing competition, Wheatley Idol, has been a long running-staple here at The Wheatley School, and after a year-long hiatus, it’s finally back with it’s newest competition that took place on Tuesday, November 9th, 2021. Here, contestants go through three rounds: first they go through preliminary rounds in order to compete at the actual competition, then, at the actual competition, contestants will sing one song to a select group of judges. The judges for Wheatley Idol 2021 were Mr. Jensen, Mr. Portante, and Mr. Watts. These judges were given the task to choose three contestants to proceed to the next round. Finally, after all three contestants are done singing their second songs, the final decision is up to the audience.
Hosted by Joyce Chen and Hasan Suleman, the competition started off with Charlotte Iannone singing Numb by Marina, a soft ballad song. Next was Priscilla Shin, who sang When Will My Life Begin by Mandy Moore, from the iconic Disney movie, Tangled. Dainelle Joshua was next with her soft and velvety performance of Adoni by Avalon. Then there was a musical performance from Jace Yagoda, where he sang Pulled by Andrew Lippa, followed by an emotional performance of Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi from Pavithra Eswar. We then had an original song called To the Moon, performed by its original composer, Maliha Ayaz. Following Maliha’s performance, Krittika Prajapati who sung First Burn by Lin Manuel-Miranda. After Krittika sang, Ian Kim blessed our ears with Bruno Mars’ original song When I Was Your Man.
After these eight initial contestants sang, the judges picked Charlotte Iannone, Krittika Prajapati, and Jace Yagoda to be placed in the second round. Each of these contestants gave their all for their final performance. Charlotte Iannone sang Good 4 U by Olivia Rodrigo. After her song, Krittika Prajapati sang Shake it Off by Taylor Swift. Lastly Jace Yagoda sang Waving through the Window by Ben Platt. After these three contestants performed, it was finally left to the audience to decide who would win Wheatley Idol 2021. In the end, Charlotte Iaonnone (from Class of 2022) was declared the winner, where she sang her finale song Careless Whisper by George Michael.
Congratulations to our 2021 winner, Charlotte Iaonnone!