Charlottetown twins Ava and Lily Rashed have advanced to the semifinals in the U.S. reality show “America’s Most Musical Family’’.
The 16-year-old daughters of David and Sue Rashed performed Lady Antebellum’s “What If I Never Get Over You’’ on the show, which was broadcast on YTV in Canada.
Ava and Lily were “absolutely ecstatic’’ when host Nick Lachey asked them how it felt to move on to the next round, adding that “this is our dream come true’’.
The show was taped in August in Los Angeles. When things started out, Ava and Lily were competing against 29 other families for a recording contract with Republic Record and $250,000 in cash.
Prior to their performance, the twins spoke about how their father, who plays keyboard in the P.E.I. rock band Haywire, had inspired them growing up. The show even flashed a few pictures showing the band back in its heyday of the 1980s and ‘90s when it was selling hundreds of thousands of albums across Canada.
The judges — 1980s pop star Debbie Gibson, media star David Dobrik and Grammy Award-winning artist Ciara — all said they loved Ava and Lily’s performance.
Gibson said she loved the country tune they performed.
“What I love is that you guys have a modern look, you’ve got style (and) your sound is reminiscent of the old-school (country) like Dolly Parton. I could hear that true vibrato in there . . . (something) people tried to change in me. Don’t let anyone do that to you.’’
-Debbie Gibson
“What I love is that you guys have a modern look, you’ve got style (and) your sound is reminiscent of the old-school (country) like Dolly Parton,’’ Gibson said. “I could hear that true vibrato in there . . . (something) people tried to change in me. Don’t let anyone do that to you.’’
Gibson went on to say that the twins “have such a purity’’ to their voices.
Each episode features five families singing one song each. The judges choose three families to remain in the competition. One of those families is eliminated by voting from the studio audience while the other two advance to the semifinals.
David Rashed said even though they know the final results, he and Sue were still nervous watching their girls perform.
“It was stressful as anything,’’ David laughed, “but, they’re eating all of this up and having a great time.’’
Ava and Lily are already garnering international attention. They’ve received coverage in a Lebanese newspaper, and the link to Ava and Lily’s performance the show posted to its website had more than 30,000 views as of late Monday afternoon.
David said he is still waiting to hear when Ava and Lily will perform on the show again, but it will probably be in the next week or two. It airs on YTV in Canada at 9 p.m. AST every Friday.
And, once again, the Rasheds are still sworn to secrecy on how they did.
