On Tuesday night (2 November) L'loyd Cele missed out on
the winning Idols title in a close encounter with the season's winner
Elvis Blue.One moment it seemed either of them could win, the next the title went to Elvis; and the next Elvis announced that he was sharing the cash prize with L'loyd - a vice-versa agreement they'd reached before the finale.
I caught up with L'loyd, first thing, the morning after:
Tashi: Have you been offered an album deal yet?
L'loyd: Officially no, I haven't.
Tashi: Has there been talk about it?
L'loyd: No, there hasn't. I'm actually going to phone Universal to find out if they're going to offer me a deal and if not, I know there are gonna be a couple of other doors that are going to come knocking.
I'm not gonna sit back and wait until somebody approaches me, and then go to Universal to find out if they're going to take me - I'm just going to get onto it as soon as possible.
In fact by today, if not today, tomorrow, I'm thinking of phoning one of the guys from Universal we've been working with to find out if they're going to offer me a deal.
Tashi: Good-good. That was going to be my next question: what are your plans moving forward?
L'loyd: I don't want to waste time having to wait for somebody to come to me and offer me a deal. I really want to get myself out there and I believe there's a lot of people that are interested in me. They're just waiting for the answer to that question, if I've been offered a deal yet. I'm sure that once they find out that I haven't been, they're gonna start knocking on my door.
Before that happens I want to find out from Universal if they're interested in me and if not, I'm a free man because I have a three-month kind of a contract with them. Between now and three months Universal kind of owns me, they have first preference to me in terms of an album.
Within that three-month window period, if any other recording company offers me a deal in that time, Universal has to step in and say whether they want to let me go or give me that same deal.
Tashi: What sort of an album will it be?
L'loyd: I have an idea of what I'd like it to be but I'm not sure if the recording company I sign up will advise me to actually go that route because it's a bit of an unusual route.
It's going to be a very versatile album, with music for everybody. When I'm talking everybody, I mean different race groups, I'm even thinking about collaborating and doing something with Steve Hofmeyr and I've spoken to him about it and he was quite excited about it yesterday.
Tashi: I'm gulping.
L'loyd: There's people like him and Loyiso, and other artists as well, even Khan I've spoken too and he's quite interested in working together because I've kind of rearranged some of The Parlotones' songs - like the one Push Me To The Floor.
That's one of the songs that I want to have on my album so I'd like to feature him there and give credit to the man because it is his song after all. It'll feature some of the artists I've really grown close to during the Idols experience.
The songs that you do on Idols are the ones that people know you for so I think a smart idea would be to do some of them, with a lot of your own songs that you've written yourself too. A combination of songs that I've done on Idols and songs that are my own original written songs.
Tashi: The reason I gulped at Steve Hofmeyr is because he has a reputation for smacking journalists, Just so long as he doesn't smack you!
L'loyd: *laughs* Ja no, it's something we've spoken about, it's not confirmed but these are some of the ideas I have for collaborating. There may be other artists in our country as well who are interested in doing something with me.
Tashi: Why haven't you entered the show before?
L'loyd: To be honest with you, a lot of friends said I should enter but I've never really felt it was the right time. I feel that timing is a very important aspect, especially to enter competitions like this.
You got to be at the right place at the right time, and when it's your time, things do fall into place. You feel the peace inside of you as well. I think it was the right time for me.
I cannot explain why or how, but I really felt inside of me that this was the time for me to do this and I felt that I was prepared as a musician, as a singer.
I've been studying music, I'm a self-taught musician, I've been teaching music as well, I really felt that I'd come to a place of maturity. I'd gained a lot of skills, a lot of experiences over the last few years and all of those things came together at the right time.
Tashi: Will you be relocating to Jozi now?
L'loyd: We haven't really decided on that, my wife and I. I think it's going to be determined by the number of gigs that I'm going to be getting. I need to sit down and plan things very carefully and look at the outcome - see what the response is like from Johannesburg, from Cape Town, from Durban and take it a step at a time.
Tashi: You opened for The Parlotones during the run of the show - which international act would you most like to open for?
L'loyd: Well, at the moment there's Daughtry and U2 and it would be a great honour for me to open for them because they're both my international artist role models. Any opportunity to open for any international artists who's respected and known, locally and internationally, would be a great honour for me.
I'm really not that choosy in terms of who I'd like to open for, but if a door had to open, and it's somebody that I know and everybody else knows as well and they're popular, I would love to be a part of that.
Tashi: And your all-time dream act to open for?
L'loyd: The late Michael Jackson would be, because he's always be the greatest inspiration to me. Also, people like Stevie Wonder - he's also been very, very inspirational to me. U2 is also one of the greatest bands I know of - I love them to bits.
Tashi: I wonder what'll happen with that - Elvis has also mentioned U2 and after Jody won she opened for Celine Dion so that could be news in the future.
L'loyd: That would be awesome.
I asked L'loyd what his Signature move is. This is one. He has two ...
Tashi: What’s been the one thing that's been the
most life-changing thing for you being on the show?
L'loyd: I've learnt to appreciate the people that are very, very close to me. I've missed my wife and I've missed my son a lot.
Without being with them and without seeing them, I’ve grown fonder of them. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and I realised that the times that I did have with them, I never really took the time to appreciate them enough.
Now when I don't have the time with them - when I do see my wife for an hour or two hours - that time is the most precious thing to me. I want to hold my son and my wife and just kiss them every single second. I want them to know how much I appreciate them. The competition has really matured me as a husband and a father and as a person as well.
To have people really appreciate your talent and to come up to you and tell you how much they believe in you and support you, it really does make you feel good. I've grown to really appreciate people in general as well.
Tashi: Did your wife stay in Durban and go through for some shows? How did it work?
L'loyd: My wife couldn't be here for every show because financially we couldn't afford it so every two or three weeks she'd come up. Also it was very difficult for her to travel with my son, just being on the aeroplane with a baby and the luggage and pram. Also, getting accommodation when she was over here because of all of that was at my own expense.
Tashi: Was it quite a lonely experience?
L'loyd: It was kind of. Even though there have been a lot of high's and excitement, there have been those low moments where I really wished that my family was right there with me, just to be with them, just to talk to them and just wake up in the morning with them.
Ja, there have been those lonely moments but they've all been worth it and I'm proud of where I've come and where I am and I have no regret for having to be where I am.
EndsRelated linksA catch-up with Elvis Blue.