You and Me (Plus Everyone In Between Us)

Chic Cowboys of Corniness

That same drug-like feeling. Now I can understand why people feel like they're born to be on stage and perform. They leave everything out there because it feels so magical.

My mind was still on, but the weight of nervousness had finally been lifted off of my shoulders. I didn't have to worry until I was standing on the stage again, seeing if I was being eliminated. I didn't have to be nervous until then.

Now I could be present.

I watched as Halle presented Nebula through the screen backstage, and I was buzzing with excited energy for them. I hadn't even seen them perform, but I knew it was going to be good. They have such an amazing stage presence.

Their intro video rolled.

Grace starts "Don't Start Now" on a powerful note, as she's surrounded by backup dancers in colourful outfits. Janelle stands behind her, back-to-back. I instantly begin cheering. There's no music, but her voice remains powerful.

It looks like the theme for their performance is chic cowboy. Everyone wears Western-like outfits, only they're colourful and bejewelled.

The music kicked in and Grace started the song off in the verse, tipping her colourful cowboy hat while keeping up with intense choreography flanked by her backup dancers. Her voice is soulful and deep but still keeps the hype energy of the song.

The camera flips to Janelle on the other side, in a pink cowgirl getup singing the second part of the verse. They split off into a beautiful two-part harmony in the pre-chorus and slowly walk toward each other, before exploding into the chorus in choreography.

I find it incredibly strange they're singing a breakup song despite being obsessed with each other but with each their own.

Once it got to the chorus instrumental, Grace started off in an intricate voguing choreography before Janelle went, before they went together. I went crazy and hooted at them and loudly clapped.

They finished in a fierce ending pose, and I got up and clapped for them, feeling the intense passion inside of me.

Brian started by giving them feedback and telling them how they sounded like pop stars and weren't afraid to be eccentric. Andre said that he loved their energy, their talent, and their willingness to do their craft. Fairouz, however, said that she finds them to be too much at times and says that they have good vocals, but she would love to see a stripped-down performance of them.

I disagreed. Wasn't she the one who said she wanted something different? Once they got backstage, and I crushed them in hugs like they did to me.

"That was amazing! Don't listen to Fairouz! She isn't ready for you!" I complimented excitedly. "You guys, that was such an amazing performance!"

"Thanks!" Grace said. "I loved performing that. It was so fun!"

"It was funner with you," Janelle breathed, before planting a kiss onto their lips. Grace melted into it. I kind of wanted to look away, but it was cute.

"Save that for later," I said. "I just hope people vote for me. I won't be surprised if you won."

Janelle laughed in response. "Yeah. Boy, am I winded! That dance number did a literal number on me."

"Same," Grace said. "You're so lucky, Ezra. We danced once and now they want us to dance every time we perform. At least you got to stand on stage."

"Yeah, but I can't dance, so I'm sure they wouldn't have asked," I said as we sat down. "Plus there's not a lot to do with 'Call Out My Name'."

"True," Grace agreed.

Lina, the opera singer, does the impossible and performs yet another opera rendition of "Bad Romance". Her backup dancers are all covered in black suits that enclose every part of their body so they look like shadows. It's iconic yet again.

Insomnia, the boy band, all sat at separate sections of the audience, before running up to the stage to sing "Whisper" by Dilemma, but they've taken punk rock out of it and started singing it in a cheesy boy band kind of way. It was kind of corny, but they were giving smouldering looks to the audience so the women cheered. Andre seemed to like it at least.

Halle introduced the next performance as a former contestant hoping to gain redemption, and everyone already knew it was Ray. Her interview recounted last season's experience and wanting to improve and showed why she should win. She mentioned Andre, and I'm sure the Randre shippers would be going crazy again.

The afrobeats track to "Woman" blared through the speakers, with Ray beginning it in a dance number. She wore a head microphone and sang sweet melodies into it. I bet she could breathe and people would go feral. I'm guessing that's why they made her second-last. It was probably a way to keep the viewers watching.

She managed to sing and dance at the same time, without running out of breath the whole time and finished with a soundtrack of applause.

The judges gave detailed feedback, except for Andre, who was probably trying to keep the Randre shippers at bay.

It's not like I even cared.

But we were just friends.

Adjacent friends.