Staff Writer
CARIBOU — She may be too young to attend a PG-13 movie without parental supervision, but 12-year-old Isabelle Pelletier of St. Jacques, N.B. proved to an audience of over 800 that age is not at all indicative of talent; the girl can sing. Pelletier performed three times during the first ever Northern Star international competition, presented by the United Way of Aroostook County.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Isabelle Pelletier, 12, of St. Jacques, N.B. didn’t just perform during the Northern Star Competition last Sunday, she knocked the audience off of their hypothetical feet and had the judges giving her a standing ovation before the last chords of the song had even been played.
After her second performance of the evening, during which she sang “Hallelujah” by Alexandra Burke, the judges were giving her a standing ovation before the song was finished, and the audience was quick to join them on their feet. Competition Judge Samantha Boutot was nearly too choked up to give Pelletier her critique, and while the critiques from Boutot and famed ‘mean’ judge Scott Voisine were in French — and incomprehensible to anyone without a strong understanding of the language — judge Annie Charles told Isabelle that her performance had given her goose bumps. Voisine agreed that he “had goose bumps on his goose bumps” from her performance.
Pelletier’s third performance of the evening was to the song, “Non, Je ne Regretted Rien” by Edith Piaf, which she first sang for the judges during the regional competition in Fort Kent, and a second time at the beginning of the finalists show; while it was the third time many had heard her sing the song, Voisine commented on her song repetition after her performance at the beginning of the Feb. 28 show:
While he spoke to Pelletier in French, he explained to the audience, “I told her that normally I’m critical when someone sings the same song that they sang at the regional final, but she has such a great voice that I could never possibly get tired of her,” Voisine said. “She could sing the same song to me every afternoon for the rest of my life and I’d be happy.”
Pelletier has been a vocalist since she was 5, and her father even joked that she was singing before she was talking.
While Pelletier was clearly the Northern Star that shined the brightest, (and the word ‘prodigy’ was buzzing around the auditorium), she did have some very talented competition, including the other two finalists, Wyatt Jenkins, 17, of Houlton and Megan Ouellette, 17, of Clair, N.B.
Jenkins was voted into the finals by the audience and Ouellette advanced to the finals on the judges’ vote; both Jenkins and Ouellette are talented musicians who were clearly on top of their game for the show.
Jenkins first performed “Feeling Good” by Michael Bublé, and his performance had the judges, the audience, and himself feeling pretty good.
“You should be feeling good,” Voisine told him. “You picked Michael Bublé — that was very ambitious — and you handled the lines well. You like the jazz thing … you’re a good crooner,” he added.
For his second performance, he traded his tux for an acoustic guitar and solidly performed “Firefly” by Jimmy Needham in a style that Boutot found reminiscent of alternative icon John Mayer.
Ouellette started building her rapport with the audience when she sang the high-energy Dixie Chicks song “Sin Wagon.”
While the judges agreed that Ouellette used the stage well and gave a top-notch performance, Voisine posed a question to her.
“So Megan, you know what?” he asked, “You were awesome.”
That awesome performance was what led the judges to advance Ouellette to the finals, where she switched over from a country song to a little R&B as she performed “Falling” by Alicia Keys.
Charles questioned whether Ouellette was in the right place, as she told the youthful artist that she should be on American Idol.
“Alicia Keys can’t sing that as well as you do,” Voisine said. “That was flawless, amazing, beautiful, range like there’s no tomorrow … I’m thoroughly impressed.”
Six other finalists also made it past the regional competitions and showed their stuff on the Northern Star stage.
Zacharia Harvey, 16, of Houlton had the crowd going wild with his performance of “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson, and Boutot even anticipated seeing him in the final three.
Not only did Harvey dress the part, he had the dance moves to back it up.
Charles could have sworn Michael himself was in the house and Boutot commented that he had the whole package, but while Voisine was impressed, he wasn’t entirely pleased.
“I’m going to be honest,” Voisine, warned, “I don’t think that it was the best vocal performance of the night, but you had the whole package. You’re very strong on stage and you had a very great presentation; I think you did a knock-out job,” he added.
Jordan Buckley, 12, of Westfield showed off her pre-teen pipes as she sang “Walk Away” by the cast of High School Musical 3 looking like she belonged on stage.
“You’re so comfortable on stage, it feels like you’ve been there for 30 years, but you’re only 12!” Voisine exclaimed. He also noted some pitch issues, but all in all, it was an excellent performance.
Alyson Michaud, 16, of Caribou softly performed “Temporary Home” by Carrie Underwood with a voice that Boutot called sweet and angelic.
Lance Albair, 33, of Woodland performed “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban. The judges agreed that it was a nice performance, though Voisine noted some pitch issues.
Even though two of the contestants expressed that they were a bit under the weather for the show, their musical stylings still contributed notably.
Stacy Coltart, 39, of Madawaska sang “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin; while the judges liked her performance, and Voisine expressed that though he’d like to party with her, “when you’re singing really loud, it sounds like your yelling the music, and sometimes more is not always better.”
The judges did agree that Coltart has a strong stage presence and a powerful voice.
Jason Shaw, 35, of St. Thomas, N.B. perplexed with his fast-talking performance of “Sold the Grundy County Auction” by John Michael Montgomery. Charles and Boutot asked him how he did it, while Voisine commented that he wasn’t sure whether Shaw was singing fast or yodeling slow.
“Everything was great about that performance,” Boutot told him.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming out [to the show],” said President of the United Way of Aroostook Bonnie Foster. “This was a fabulous show and I’m so glad that you all participated; you did a wonderful job.”
The Northern Star competitions, in total, raised around $25,000 for the United Way of Aroostook.
