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Cape Town – Wowee! Ladies and gentlemen we finally have a competition.
Hands down last night’s Idols episode was one of the best so far in the season.
The contestants brought their A-game and even the judges had some disagreement! Yes, it was all very entertaining!
Oh, and then there was Randall who took a page out of the hip hop artists handbook and decided to wear his sunglasses inside during the entire show as an ode to an 80s song by Corey Hart, I Wear My Sunglasses at Night. #makeitstop #epicfail #notcool
It seems like the producers have decided to stick to torturing the contestants with this new elimination method. Good for ratings, not so good for the contestants.
This week it was the end of the road for Elwira. This wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am elimination is a bit heartless, don’t ya think?!
On to the performances.
This week was 80s week. The contestants were mentored by Jennifer Rush (who looks nothing like her 80s self mind you). Rush is best known for her most popular song, Power of Love.
First to take the stage and to be relieved from the waiting game was Loyiso. Let’s just put things in perspective: He was born in 1999! Every week he has made really clever song choices and this one hit right out of the park. He was so comfortable and in his element and once again showed off his incredible voice.
Rating: 4/5
Amanda took on the SA classic, Paradise Road. There were some rocky patches in her performance especially at the high notes and at the key changes. One thing I have to give her props for is that she is always fighting to stay on the stage. However, she concentrated so hard on being technically perfect that it came across to me that she wasn’t really enjoying her performance. Let go girl!
Rating: 2/5
Lungisa decided to turn things up a notch. He really went out on a limb doing an a capella performance of Cindi Lauper’s, Time After Time. I’m sorry to say but the backing vocals totally stole his shine. Everyone and their mama commented on how good they were. They carried the song for him; he didn’t have to do much work. Which Randall pointed out he didn’t capture the audience. I totally agree with Mr A. My rating is strictly thanks to the back-up vocals.
Rating: 3/5
If Twitter is anything to go by I wasn’t the only one surprised to see Siphelele make it to top 8 (sorry, not sorry). His performance of Lionel Richie’s, Say You Say Me was bland and boring. The only entertaining part of his performance was the action at the judges table thereafter. Somizi suggested he only do vernacular songs, while Unathi said it’s a disservice to tell him not to try. It’s good to see that finally the judges aren’t all kumbaya with each other.
Rating: 1/5
Rhema was the performance of the night! It’s like some kind of switch went off inside him, he is coming into his own it is nice to see his confidence grow every week. He was absolutely brilliant, pitch perfect and the way he smoothly went into the key changes. Fire!!!
Rating: 5/5
Dineo had a tough act to follow after Rhema’s show stopping performance. She has a good voice but it’s just not that powerful. She really struggles with the high notes and key changes. It was just an OK performance and she will probably be voted to top 7 next week.
Rating: 2/5
Oh man, I really felt for Karabo last night. I think all that waiting got the better of him. He just wasn’t present during his performance, something was way off. There was nothing wrong with the singing he’s heart just wasn’t in it. Shem.
Rating: 2/5
Mmatema closed the show with Brenda Fassie’s Weekend Special. I said it last week, I’ll say it again she really is living off that one standout performance. Her performance was OK she had the moves down but there are better singers than her in this competition. She’s really going to have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to impress this viewer. She gets a three because of her dance moves.
Rating: 3/5
Watch all the performances here.
DISCLAIMER: This is an article written by an independent critic. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Channel24.
