Idols South Africa Recap: The Top 3 Mostly Stumble, Siphelele Mostly Laughs
There’s no way getting around it: last night’s show was shit. It’s safe to say that the Top 3 live show was the weakest night of the season thus far.
Sure, the elimination didn’t suck. When Mmatema and Rhema were announced safe, it was clear that Karabo ain’t going anywhere either – Siphelele was going home. His fantastic comeback this season was coming to a grinding halt. It was the right result, after all. Siphelele had the least impressive run of the four remaining contestants, and his luck had to run out sometime.
So you’d think that the rest of the night would run smoothly, three good singers battling it out for a place in next week’s final performance show. What could go wrong? Almost everything, apparently.
The Top 3 performance show delivered two, only two, good performances. Karabo’s rendition of “Let’s Stay Together” was very solid and soulful, and Mmatema stole the night with a great performance of Mafikizolo’s “Happiness”. Rhema spent the night devoid of any soul, and then he forgot lyrics to a fun Jackson 5 tune. If there’s any justice at all, Karabo and Mmatema would be in next week’s final – they deserve it.
It’s awesome that the Top 4 were mentored by X Factor winner Ben Haenow in London. A very nice down to earth guy with a great soul infused rock voice who beat out Fleur East for the title last year. Karabo is basically Ben Haenow, Mmatema is Fleur East. The talented nice guy beats the girl with superstar potential. That’s how it works. It seems to be a universal talent competition fact.
Okay, there were two duets to start off the night. No grades for the duets, though.
Mmatema and Rhema – “Love Me Harder” by Ariana Grande and The Weeknd
I wasn’t a fan. Their voices didn’t go well together, and the song choice didn’t suit them either. What I did like, though, is how they played off one another. They performed the song well, but the vocals did not do anything for me.
Karabo and Siphelele – “Thando” by Loyiso and Lloyd Cele
Predictably, a much stronger duet from the 2 guys. Siphelele in his element is very good, but he’s a one trick pony. It was Karabo’s voice that really shone through, beautiful and crisp. His voice is really, really good. I was quite impressed by the duet. Their voices predictably fit together like a glove. It was great.
Round 1:
Rhema – “Adorn” by Miguel: B-
Similar to his rendition of “Sexual Healing” last week, it had the vocals – mostly – but none of the soul. He doesn’t have Miguel’s sex appeal, and without that, the song falls flat. The sex appeal and soul of the track were completely lost here. Parts of the vocal were nice, but Rhema just doesn’t have ‘it’.
Karabo – “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green: B+
Now this is a voice with soul, Rhema. The soul is just ingrained into Karabo’s voice. The verse was a little sleepy, but once the chorus arrived Karabo caught fire, and it got better and better as the band came in. Was his performance as smooth as to go with his vocals? No. I wasn’t sold on that. I was however sold on his vocal. It was very solid.
Mmatema – “I’m Every Woman” by Chaka Khan: C+
This was always going to be a very tough song to perform, and Mmatema proved why. It just felt like the song was getting away from her, and for the first time it felt like she was screaming rather than singing in her higher register. The backup singers did a great job, but there was a disconnect between Mmatema and them. As a whole, it felt a little flat. It was definitely her weakest performance of the season.
Round 2:
Rhema – “I Want You Back” by Jackson 5: C-
Rhema’s night went from bad to worse. His performance quality just lacks any stage presence. He was back to looking uncomfortable on the stage, the up-tempo song clearly got the better of him. Even the vocals weren’t strong, Jackson 5 also a step too far. He forgot the words during the first verse and didn’t recover after that. It’s surely unforgivable. Somizi thought he made it too easy on us – assuming Karabo and Mmatema will be the Top 2. You would think.
Karabo – “Umthwalo Wami” by Zahara: B-
He struggled through the first verse, going off-key in his lower register, but – again – once the chorus came and the song reached its peak Karabo got going a little. It wasn’t a strong performance, but it was still better than the night’s overall standard. It didn’t reach the heights that it should have and just fell a little flat. The crowd went insane, though. Somizi said he wants to forget this performance, and thought he won’t win based on this. Randall said Karabo might get some of Siphelele’s votes – and he’s right. Karabo will, but I don’t think he needs it to win.
Mmatema – “Happiness” by Mafikizolo: A-
Like RJ said, this song is more about getting the feeling right. I think she did that – and more. She sounded fantastic. She needed a performance like this, and it might just get her into the finale. This lifted her above Rhema by far. She was on fire, and she looked great, sounded great, and worked the stage like a pro. The girl got down and was in it all the way. This was the performance of the night. Mmatema the star was finally back. It was a showstopper performance.
Should go home: Rhema
Will go home: Mmatema
