[Miss] Jamaica's Got Talent

Forget the varied public appearances, the "grip n' grin" expressions, the forced charm even if you're rubbing them the wrong way.

The Talent segment is the way into the real Miss Jamaica World 2013 contestants, and alst Saturday's showcase at the Spartan complex revealed a lot in the concept but sadly not so much in the execution. The evening began and ended with drama: Arriel Brown's thought-provoking but overly long presentation on race and class, set to Etana's "Wrong Address" and then the best of the night's offerings (see more below)
The best was saved for last as first Ashley Miller(right), known to the demographic as the co-host of TVJ's "Intense" staged a clever but bouncy and heart-fel
t dance skit involving a suited male mannequin, delivered to the beat of Chronixx' Smile Jamaica. She was "pipped at the line" for best over all performance (in my opinion) by  contestant #25,  Jenaae Jackson (below
left), who




showed true star power as the ghetto girl Bo-Quee-sha   returning form "foreign" with all her hot things purchased, and confronting her no-good man, Tony. Despite a slip into sanctimony near the end, Jackson's melodrama was fun, fierce and authentic, qualities not sufficiently present in most of the other routines. There was even a risky but ultimately harmless and fun fire-eating routine, from Jessica Campbell,

which had  the judging panel - and most everyone else - rather skittish, given the wood floors and low-hanging fan blades.  

The preparation continues towards the Grand Coronation come July 21, but you'll hardly get a better or more diverse look at the entrants than this