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Cape Town – Channel24's independent critic rates the top 9 Idols performances.
Sjoe! Last night’s Idols episode was a nerve wrecking affair.
I’ll dub it the torture chamber. In a cruel twist to add tension and possibly crack the Idols - the eliminated contestant had to wait right until the end of the show to hear their fate.
After the 9 safe contestants performed Nadia and Amanda (de ja vu right) were left waiting to hear which one of them would sing.
And just like that it was adious to Nadia leaving Amanda to perform.
Seriously, who can perform after that rollercoaster of emotions!
Not cool Idols people, not cool!
Moving on ...
For this week’s theme, Songs with Strings the Idols were mentored by new The Voice SA coach, Kahn and accompanied by the Urban Strings orchestra.
First to take the stage was Karabo, who took on Adele’s hit, Rolling in the Deep. This performance was a yawn-fest, there was no charisma, no spark just him standing on the stage singing. He lacked stage presence and dare I say it he reverted back to that 'dishwashing personality'. (sorry, not sorry). He’s going to have to do a bit more than just rely on his voice to carry him through.
Rating: 2/5
One trick pony Siphelele stuck to his recipe of choosing a local song yet again. While I admire him trying to keep it a hundred percent local his performance was flat and lacked the depth to sing this powerful song.
Rating: 1/5
Loyiso chose a relatively unknown song this week, in truth it was a bit of a gamble. He handled it will delicacy at the more vulnerable parts of the song and showed off his impressive range at the high notes and that smooth falsetto sealed the deal!
Rating: 3/5
Elwira was the first girl to be announced in the top 9. After last week’s flop she came out voice belting. And therein was the problem in her performance, she sang the entire song the same way. She also needs to work on her enunciating.
Rating: 2/5
Lungisa was another contestant who had something to prove this week. I don’t know what it is but I just don’t get the hype about him. He’s an okay singer, he really did try with the Eric Benet song but he just doesn’t have the vocal capacity to take on those falsetto notes. In a sea of really good male performers he’s going to have to try a bit harder to stand out.
Rating: 2/5
Let me be real here, Mmatema is always going to have to live up to her Skyscraper performance. Taking on another Demi Lovato song, Warrior Mmatema gave her usual performance. I was bored. It’s starting to feel like she peaked way too early in this competition and now she has nothing new to show. We've seen good singers like her bite the dust in other seasons.
Rating: 2/5
Somizi has been #TeamDineo from day 1 and every week he harps about her brilliance. I don’t know what he has been sipping but he needs to go back and re-watch this performance. The sacrilege he committed by comparing her to Whitney Houston in her prime nogal! Dineo’s performance of Queen Bey’s song was a total fail. It was rushed, she swallowed her words and her phrasing was bad. It felt like she just wanted to get this performance over with. But with Somizi’s backing she’ll probably be here next week again.
Rating: 1/5
With Rhema’s inclusion in the top 9 all the guys were saved this week. I usually have a musical boner for him but this performance didn't excite me. It could have been nerves but there was something missing. His performance bordered on ‘over singing.’
Rating: 2/5
Poor Amanda. Her performance this week was totally overshadowed by Nadia leaving. I get why she shouted during her singing, probably trying to get the attention back to her. It was unfortunately a forgettable performance not entirely her fault.
Rating: 1/5
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.
