Shania Fillmore

I had absolutely no idea what I was in for when I told a student in my youth ministry that I'd go with her to see Shania Fillmore on January 6th. All I knew was that she is a country singer. What I didn't know is that she is 15, from Moncton, and was one of the top 6 on last summer's The Next Star on YTV. It's sort of like Canadian Idol for kids. While I was at the show I researched the show on my iPhone, and I actually found a couple episodes to watch online over the weekend. Neat show idea. The kids on there were all cute as buttons.

So anyway. The Capitol was full of young children and their parents, or middle-aged people (I'm assuming friends of the family). I would say 90% of the concert was Shania and JD (another Next Star finalist from Ontario) singing to back-up tracks [kind of karaoke style]. JD did bring out his guitar (affectionately named Kevin) for a few songs which I was excited about. But vocally Shania can sing far far better than him. I was quite impressed with the vocal power of Shania; for 15 she has a pretty decent set of pipes. You can tell they are just beginning though and have much to learn and experience... It honestly felt like we were in the room with the judges on the TV show, with the lack of band and everything. But it was cute to see all the kids so excited about them, and it was a completely harmless night of fun. Since they only have one original song each, the night was mostly covers. Some I was less excited about (...Bieber...) but then Adele & Lady Antebellum happened and I was happy.

The student I was with was on cloud 9, and that's what truly matters :) We met Shania & JD after the show and she was so excited she could hardly stand still! It reminded me of my first Hanson show. :) I was joking around that I'm going to try and get Shania to come to our youth group/church... I mean she's in grade 10 and goes to the same school as some of my students. Just doing my job :)

So, yep, my first YTV star experience. Will it be my last? Probably. But I enjoyed the company I was with. :)