Evvie McKinney Becomes The First Winner of ‘The Four: Battle for Stardom
After six weeks of competition, Evvie McKinney became the first winner of The Four: Battle for Stardom.
The 20-year-old singer from Memphis went up against Candice Boyd, Vincint Cannady and the fan-favorite, Zhavia. McKinney started off with a high energy performance of Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" and unanimously won the first round of the finale. She then went after Zhavia and challenged her in the next round. While Zhavia was the fan favorite, her performance of Rihanna's "Man Down" wasn't enough to beat McKinney's rendition of the Bill Withers classic, "Ain't No Sunshine."
McKinney's finally faced off with Boyd, who knocked Cannady out in the previous round, for The Four crown. Although Boyd did a beautiful rendition of Rihanna's "Stay," no one could deny the power that came out of McKinney's performance of "Glory" by Common and John Legend. And after Meghan Trainor, DJ Khaled and Diddy deliberated, they couldn't deny McKinney the trophy and named her the winner. She was so surprised that she couldn't help but get down to the ground.
What a beautiful moment! 👑 So proud of you, @evvie_music! #TheFour pic.twitter.com/e1VsrTtXaL
— The Four (@TheFourOnFOX) February 9, 2018
"I just thank god for this moment because I've wanted it for so long. Thank you!" McKinney tearfully said with tears in her eyes.
McKinney only joined The Four during the fifth week of competition (February 1), which was the last round before the finale.
"My father was an R&B singer," McKinney revealed when she initially introduced herself to the panel. "All of my brothers and sister sing. My father is the reason I'm standing on this stage right now. He's the reason."
She received four blue rings from the panel after doing a tear-jerking performance of Andra Day's "Rise Up." McKinney then challenged Kendyle Paige and blew her out of the competition by singing "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You" by Aretha Franklin.
"What I saw up there tonight was inspiring," Diddy said of McKinney's second performance. "I love your singing voice. But then you had the audacity to come up in front of me, one of the most soulful black men in the world, and sang some Aretha Franklin. Aretha is very, very picky. She has a high bar to vocals, and I just know that she would proud of the way you represented her tonight."
Congratulations to Evvie McKinney! And luckily for us, The Four will return for season two in the summer!
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