The competition is getting keener on ‘Icons: Diva Edition’ as the search for Ghana’s first super girl group gradually comes to an end. After last week’s emotional and unexpected double elimination of Breeze and Chilli, the remaining four groups will this Sunday slug it out for a chance to enter the grand finale slated for Apil 23. With allegations of favoritism (from choice of wardrobe for the girls to the group that Vodafone wants to win the contest) already making the rounds in the house, the girls would have to channel their energies into Sunday night’s show as one group  will leave the competition and miss out on a juicy recording deal and other amazing prizes.

Also on Sunday night, Vodafone, producers of the show, would announce the lineup for the second edition of the Vodafone 02 Live concert. The announcement would include one international superstar and a host of local artists. Already there are rumours that the international act could be Rihanna, Chris Brown or Neyo.  But I have I feeling that it won’t be Chris Brown since we all know how he behaves around women. Don’t forget that the winner of Icons will perform at the 02 Live concert, an perhaps have the opportunity to duet with the international act.

With so much at stake for the girls, I caught up with them during a rehearsals session to find out their experiences so far, as well as their expectations ahead of the grand finale. Generally the girls are enjoying the experience of being in the limelight and rocking the diva status. Most of the groups are confident of making it into the finale and ultimately winning the competition no matter how modest they tried to put. It was also clear that last week’s double elimination was too tough to bear especially since most of the girls had gotten used to Breeze, and therefore shocked by their exist.

Keshi 3, who was saved by the judges from eviction last weekend, seemed to have recovered from the blip although they acknowledged that the experience affected their performance on the night, “it made us nervous and we felt like we had to impress the judges so they wouldn’t regret saving us.” According to them, the experience in the reality TV show has been wonderful; they have loved the makeup, the clothes, the interviews, and they feel like stars already.

Keshi 3 was rather careful about expectations for Sunday’s show and chances of winning the competition. “We like to surprise ourselves and the audience, so we work hard to give off our best. We are not looking at the other groups as competition but we observe them at rehearsals and during the live performance shows so we know how to bring on our game. We hope that would see us through the Top 3 and eventually win the completion”. They however added that if they are unable to win, they would love to see Kyses walk away with the prize because they are closer to them than any of the other groups. Although Keshi 3 would like to perform with the international act at the 02 Live concert, making it into the finale and winning Icons comes first.

Kolors seemed more confident about making it into the Top 3 – “No doubt we are going into the finals. We believe we have worked hard enough to deserve that spot. We always listen to the judges, and do what they say. We hope that God will see us through the finals and then we will win it.” According to the group, their biggest highlight so far was coming close to eviction. The think it was a good experience because they were getting too comfortable with the praises from the crowd and the judges. It was a therefore a much needed reality check when they found themselves at the bottom.

Kolors is so confident they even joked that if they don’t win the Icons, then no one will win. They commented that the other groups are all very good, and acknowledged that “even our position is threatened but we are not shaken”.  So do they think they have enough fans out there voting for them? “We have an idea of our fan base through platforms like Facebook; we are popular out there.”

Also commenting on the 02 Live concert, they said: “it’s a life time opportunity. We will work hard to bring it on and from there who knows? We are very unpredictable, when we got into the competition we were all cool and some people thought we would be the first group to leave. But by God’s grace we are still here”.

Kyses commented that their experience in the competition so far has been good and although there have been a few hitches with their performances, they have always been consistent and they hope that their fans would keep voting for the group.  “If people vote for us and God wants us to win, we will. We are all good so it’s difficult to know who would leave this Sunday. We were very sad to see two groups leave last week. We were shocked that Breeze left, they were our friends so we are going to win for them.”

The girls are excited about the 02 Live concert because it normally takes artists a long time to get on a stage like that, therefore they believe that at such an early stage in their career, it would do wonders for them. They also recounted an interview at Y-fm as one of their biggest highlight because a gentleman came close to the entire group and wanted to talk to Kyses in particular. The girls said it was fun to have such recognition.

R&M also described the Icons journey so far as wonderful although it has been a bit more than what they had bargained for. They are happy that after a terrible start in the competition, they subsequently found their style that seems to have worked thus far. “We really beat ourselves up about our first performances and we felt very terrible because we were totally off. So at the second performance, we really tried, you could tell that we were trying to pick up from there.  We came home after the second performance, which is great”

The girls also commented on their decision to let one person do the lead singing, which seems to have improved their performances. “It’s a good thing because this is a performance show where we have two minutes to show people what we have. Everyone in the group cannot sing within the two minutes because that kills the flow. There are so many great groups out there that are doing well and only one person really leads in the singing. It doesn’t mean that the others can’t sing; if each of us made it this far it means we can all sing.”

They commented that putting them together in group was the best decision that the judges ever made.  They were confident that ‘in the name of Jesus’ they will win the competition.  They wouldn’t mention which group could be a threat to them, adding that the group they expected to win, Breeze, was no longer in the competition.

R&M also commented that they are looking forward to the 02 Live concert and can’t wait to show Africa what they are worth, adding that there would be no limitation on that stage unlike the Icons stage because there would be no time constraints, no prop issues or judges looking over their shoulders.  According to the girls, they are going to prove to the stars that just like they started from small beginnings, the group is starting small and would make it big.

Catch all the girls this Sunday as they perform two rounds of their own choice of songs and find out who gets the final boot 8pm on TV3, Net 2, Multi TV, Crystal TV, etv Ghana and Metro TV, with a repeat on GTV at 9:30pm.