The vocal duo of Arkansas Tech University students Natari Irvin and Briya Alford captured the $600 first-place prize on the final night of competition at Tech’s Got Talent 2020.
Irvin and Alford performed a mash-up of two Ella Mai songs — “Trip” and “Boo’d Up” — at Witherspoon Auditorium on Friday, Oct. 2.
They had reached the finals by performing “Best Part” by H.E.R. and Daniel Caesar in the preliminary round on Tuesday, Sept. 29. They invested the next two days in creating the Ella Mai mash-up, and the virtual audience watching on YouTube rewarded that effort by voting Irvin and Alford as the grand prize winners.
“We were trying to figure out what to do after the first round, and we had really tough competition,” said Alford. “We wanted to do something a little out of the box that people wouldn’t really expect, so we found a cover that we used as inspiration. After that, we just kind of played around and it went from there.”
Irvin is pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching degree as a second-year graduate student. A native of Jacksonville, she serves as a resident director in the ATU Department of Residence Life. Alford is a sophomore vocal music education major from Conway. She is involved in the African American Student Association and ATU Choral Artists.
Junior Matt Moseley of Benton won $300 for second place. He performed the Luke Combs song “Beautiful Crazy” in the finals.
Sophomore Maddie Terry and freshman Dax Driggs, both of Alma, earned $150 for finishing third. Terry sang lead vocals and Driggs played guitar on “Rise Up” by Andra Day on Friday night.
Charles Moton, a sophomore from Pine Bluff, and Kacey Williams, a junior from Greenbrier, also advanced to the Tech’s Got Talent 2020 finals.
Tech’s Got Talent 2020 was conducted in a virtual format due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Video production was made possible by a collaboration between presenting organization ATU Student Activities Board and the ATU student television station.
Watch a replay of the Tech’s Got Talent finals by clicking on the link below:
