Idols South Africa Recap: Holy ****
What a night. What a terrible night for a once promising season. It’s hard to formulate a coherent response to some of the results, so the less said the better – or not?
Let’s just get into a rundown of the night’s results.
The guys of the Top 16 performed “See You Again” before we get a recap of the boys’ performance evening. RJ’s top 4 are Karabo, Loyiso, Ruan, and Rhema. Say what? Rhema? Replace Rhema with Thami and you’d have the four most solid guys of the night, vocally.
Phila, Lungisa, and Ruan are first to find out. Phila is going home. Ruan is also going home. Lungisa is surely the first guy through. Predictable. What. Okay. Lungisa did not get the votes. He wasn’t in my Top 4 performances of the night, but I was certain he’ll get through based on a large following. There goes a wildcard spot, already.
So, Rhema was likely going through, along with Karabo, Loyiso, and Thami, you’d think. Rhema going through is a big injustice considering he massacred Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”. His sob story must have struck a chord with some viewers.
Siphelele and Loyiso are next. Siphelele is through. What. Again, I ask what? Siphelele has no business going through. He’s no star. Loyiso joins him in the Top 10. Thank fuck. Loyiso gave the best performance of all 16 contestants. If he isn’t here for the long run, I’ll be disappointed. And pissed.
Rhema, Karabo, and Thami remain. Rhema goes through. Utter disappointment. Siphelele and Rhema making the Top 10 is something that once seemed unimaginable, but apparently, the voters don’t know star quality for shit. These two did not show any hint of star potential, screwing up two of the biggest songs of the year. Thami will be going home, and Karabo received, pretty likely, the most votes. Yeah, more than likely. Karabo is through. Thami has to wait.
With the boys’ results going as they did, the girls must be shaking in their panties. What in the tone deaf fuck is going on here?
The girls perform, or rather lip sync, to Echosmith’s “Cool Kids”. Nothing about the night so far is cool, girls.
Proverb informs us that the girls received over 2 million votes – over 200k more than the guys. Again, I ask, what in the fuck?
RJ’s Top 4 are Mmatema, Nadia, Dineo, and Nina. Again, I agree with three of his four. Nina, however, has no shot of going through. The other three should be locks. Mmatema and Dineo were sitting pretty.
Bridgitte and Amanda are up first. The two of them gave the worst performances of the Top 16, so both should go home, but Amanda might sneak through. Amanda is in. Awful. Just awful.
The only highlight of the show at this stage was Shekhinah and Kyle Deutsch’s performance of their hit single “Back to The Beach”. More so because of Shekhinah’s lovely and beautiful tone, but the two of them together work well together. It’s awesome when previous contestants come back to perform a hit and don’t lip sync.
Nadia, Dineo, and Shenay are next up. Dineo will go through, and the other two will go home. Nadia, also, deserves a spot in the Top 4, but it’s just not in her favour. Shenay is the first to go, and Nadia sadly follows. Dineo is the second girl through.
Mmatema, Nina, and Elwira are the last to find out. Predictable – Mmatema and Elwira will go through. Yes, Mmatema is through. Elwira is through. Nina is told to “wait”. No chance for a potentially very strong singer.
Finally, time for the wildcard spots. Lungisa is assured. No doubt. The second spot is a tight race between Ruan and Thami.
Bridgitt and Shenay are called up to be sent home, followed by Nadia and Nina, but Nadia is SAVED. So gender equality it is.
Phila and Ruan are next. They’re going home. Ruan deserved a spot on merit, just a pity not enough people can appreciate what he does.
Lungisa and Thami are the final two. Why do we need a long drawn out process? Lungisa will get that final spot – not because he gave a stronger performance two weeks ago, no, but because of how well he did during theatre week. He looked like the favourite up until his first live performance, where Thami gave a more solid and measured take of a surprising song choice.
Lungisa gets SAVED and nabs the tenth spot in the top 10, and he falls to his knees, in tears, unable to speak. They call Nadia a drama queen, but Lungisa just snatched that title. He’s likely going to make a long run, at least a few weeks. It’ll be interesting to behold. He needs to get serious – stop the drama, stop the dancing, and just sing.
It capped off a night that would go down as one of the worst Top 10 reveals in Idols history.
Disappointing and shocking, but the real sadness stems from the fact that this is Idols after all, and shit like this should be expected by now. This Top 10 is likely the least diverse and least interesting group the show has had in years. It’s a shame.
Bring on The Voice.
Please.
