‘Clash of the Cover Bands’ Recap: Meghan Trainor Calls Tina Turner Impersonator “Perfect”
Casey Durkin/E! Entertainment Reading Time: 3 minutes
The second episode of Clash of the Cover Bands premiered the ultimate tribute to the showstoppers in the music industry. Within this episode, we saw Annika Weaver who performed as Cher and Lori Mitchell-Gay who performed as Tina Turner. Before the singers took to the stage, the judges talked about what they consider to be a show-stopping performance.
Cher, Tina Turner Tributes Blow Judges Away
Before performing, Swedish singer Annika Weaver explained her love for Cher. Annika was a stay-at-home mom for a while, but is now chasing her dreams, and she was a splitting image of the icon.
Meghan Trainor and the other judges were just as shocked as I was when she shared this was only her second gig. In the look and voice categories, Annika had it down, but the judges decided she lacked stage presence. There were a lot of specific things that they wanted to see out of this tribute singer.
Lori on the other hand knew she was a performer before she even figured out what her talent really was. She has been performing as Tina Turner for 20 years now. It was extremely obvious that she’s a seasoned performer when she took to the stage. The judges were grooving along with her during her first performance on the show. She got a standing ovation from the audience and judges.
“A showstopper for me is watching someone leave their heart on that stage and I felt you give us everything,” said Trainor. “You’re perfect I don’t have anything else to say.”
The other judges also commented at how on point Lori was compared to the icon. Ester Dean expressed that this singer could use to be mentored by their vocal coach to take her act to the next level. The Tina Turner tribute performer was coached by Kuk Harrell who coached Fix You, the Coldplay cover band. We saw Harrell pushing Lori’s voice to sound just like Turner’s.
Annika got paired with the show’s stage presence expert, Ray Leeper. We first saw Leeper last week when he coached Unforgettable Fire, the U2 cover band. Last week, he mentioned that he has worked with Cher in the past, so this matchup was perfect. We saw him dance with the singer and break through her shy stage presence.
Both Singers Improved, Judges Face Tough Decision
After their coach sessions, both singers improved immensely. When they were battling head-to-head it was extremely obvious that they were neck and neck in the compeition. Immediately after the battle, the judges shared how proud they were of both artists. It was obvious they had a tough decision ahead of them.
“I feel like we’re seeing Tina Turner and Cher changing outfits, running back and forth on stage coming out giving their all laying it out,” said Dean. “That’s what Tina does that’s what Cher does, that is what a showstopper does.”
Before announcing the winner, Adam Lambert reminded the performers that you’re never too old to chase your dreams. After that, the judges announced Lori as the second winner of Clash of the Cover Bands. She went home with $10,000, a performance on The Jimmy Fallon Show, and the chance to compete to be crowned the ultimate cover band at the end of the season.
After the first episode I was very disappointed to say the least. The second sealed the deal. The live performance must be a lot different than what my friends and I see on the television. Annika looked like Cher, sounded like Cher and Moved like Cher. Lori was reaching way to far to portray Tina Turner. She did not have the look, she did not have the sound and her moves was far from “spot on”. Personally last night was the last time I will view this program. The first two episodes gave the “W” to the weakest performers… Read more »
hi, i would like to know the name of the song that was played in the background when they announced tina turner won her battle. Im in Sydney Australia.