Chaotic. Hectic. A whirlwind of expectations, upsets, and all-around enjoyment that the 2024 show choir season has finally arrived. No matter which way you put it, one thing is for certain: This 2024 competition season has kicked off with an absolute BANG with upsets in every single southern competition. Again, while Auburn’s ground-breaking upset over Homewood will be covered in the Comps of the Week Recap, here we’ll look at what happened during the Jackson Prep Masters and South Jones Invitational.
2024 JACKSON PREP MASTERS RECAP
(@ja_showchoirs)
Jackson Academy Encore decided that their 2023 results at this same competition would not be repeated. Jackson Academy, grabbing the Best Vocals and Best Choreography captions, won a Grand Championship against the heavily favored Brandon Brio (who won Best Show Design, preventing a sweep). This marks Jackson Academy’s first win since the end of the 2020 season, ending over a three-year GC drought. Brandon landed in both second and third place overall with Brio and Bellas (their girls group), respectively. Columbia won small mixed over Morton and made finals for the first time since 2012, where they beat Jackson Academy, Pearl River Central and Pisgah to take second overall. Final placements are as follows:
GC) Jackson Academy “Encore” (Best Vocals, Best Choreography)
1RU) Brandon “Brio” (Best Show Design)
2RU) Brandon “Bellas”
3RU) Biloxi “Sound Surge”
4RU) Columbia Academy “Premiers”
2024 SOUTH JONES INVITATIONAL RECAP
(@westjonesimagination)
Since the 2019 season, West Jones Imagination has only lost the South Jones Invitational once, that lone time being last year (where they still managed to snag the Best Vocals caption). They made sure to continue this trend in 2024, sweeping the entire competition all while playing the role as underdogs. Northeast Jones Gold Horizons managed their own upset as well, taking down Northwest Rankin The Ambassadors for second place overall while being a division lower than the aforementioned. Similar to how Brandon came home second and third at Jackson Prep, NWR came home third and fourth between The Ambassadors and The Allure (their girls group). The Ambition, NWR's mens group, made its debut and was second in the single-gender division behind The Allure. Overall placements are as follows:
1st) West Jones “Imagination” (Best Vocals/Best Choreography/Best Show Design)
2nd) Northeast Jones “Gold Horizons”
3rd) Northwest Rankin “The Ambassadors”
4th) Northwest Rankin “The Allure”
5th) West Marion “New Era”
LOOKING FORWARD
With the dust settled after only the first week of southern show choir, competition season is in full swing. Two of the major regional powers have fallen, and we still have two full months of competitions to get through. 2024 is looking to be one of the most competitive and interesting seasons yet to date. Next week in the south, we have four events going on, with the 2024 Jackson Academy Show Choir Invitational headlining the bunch. There, Homewood The Network and Brandon Brio both look to bounce-back with a win, one against another, all while Tupelo Synergy looms in the distance along with other groups, all looking to make their 2024 season debut. Yours truly will be on the scene for this competition and I, along with many others, cannot wait! Happy 2024 show choir season y’all!
Next Week’s Events:
Jackson Academy Show Choir Invitational (Jackson, MS)
Mississippi State Show Choir State Contest (Poplarville, MS)
Enterprise Southland Show Choir Classic (Enterprise, AL)
Albertville Diamond Classic (Albertville, AL)