Press Release
Unathi performing with Gordon Chambers during the live show.
Idols SA Season 10’s newly minted Top 11 performed “Songs from the Movies” tonight, live from the Opera at the State Theatre in Pretoria.
Sunday night's show was the start of a long journey for one particular singer who – at the finalé on 23 November – will be named South Africa’s tenth Idol and walk away with an impressive prize package comprising:
o R350 000 cash from
M-Net and
Mzansi Magic
o An installed DStv Explora decoder and three months DStv Premium subscription worth R4 219 from DStv
o R350 000 cash from Samsung, plus a 24-month SmartHome Supreme contract that includes a 55 inch Samsung SmartTV, wi-fi router, a 3G mi-fi router, a range extender, and 100GB data
o A R247 300 Ford Fiesta Titanium with award-winning 1.0 (1 Litre) EcoBoost engine
o R40 000 worth of fashion from Truworths
o A R118 000 package from Shure including the Shure ULXD 4DE Digital Dual wireless system, two ShureULXD2/Beta58 Digital handheld transmitters, a Shure PSM9TERA Inner Ear Monitoring system, Shure SE425 earphones, and a RR4USED Road Ready rack to house equipment.
o And a R60 000 voucher from Yamaha to spend on any musical instrument of their choice.
To prepare for their first performance in this long journey to the finale the Top 11 this week worked with musical mentor Gordon Chambers, the American singer-songwriter who has written hits for the likes of Usher, Beyoncé, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin.
The Top 11 was so inspired after attending the premiere of the movie “Being Again” last week that they kicked the show off with a group performance of a song from the movie, Adam Levine’s “Lost Stars”.
Nelspruit singer
Bongi Silinda (23) was up first with Tina Turner’s classic Bond Theme “GoldenEye”, from the 1995 Bond film of the same name. Gareth Cliff noted that she certainly wasn’t lacking in ambition. “I have to say I’m impressed, he said. “I didn’t think you could do some of the things that you did. And I think you impressed the audience”.
Unathi Msengana complimented Bongi on her command of such a legendary song and called her “Queen Bongi”. And Randall Abrahams noted that this is not his favourite Bond song, though – his favourite Bond song is “Nobody Does It Better”,
To vote for Bongi fans can text her voting number for the duration of the competition,
01, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Cape Town performer
London Louw (24) got to show off his dance moves with the Destiny’s Child anthem “Independent Women”, from the “Charlie’s Angels” soundtrack [2000]. “Wow!” Gareth laughed. “The fact that you sang ‘Independent Woman’ and you did what you did and you are who you are, is going to mess up some conservative people’s gender ideas!”.
“That was brilliant,” Unathi said. She was impressed that London had lost his in-ear monitor and couldn’t hear himself, “but you kept it going and you kept the performance going”. And Randall thought it was a great performance, “but I said at the start of the show there was no room for error,” he pointed out. He thought London could have “snapped it out even more” at the start of the song.
To vote for London fans can text his voting number for the duration of the competition,
02, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Vincent Verhoog (25) from Cape Town chose Seal’s cover of the old Steve Miller song “Fly Like an Eagle”, from the 1996 “Space Jam” movie soundtrack. Unfortunately Gareth thought the performance was a little bit flat, “energy-wise”. But Unathi couldn’t disagree more. “It was your best vocal of the season!” she exclaimed. She thought Vincent was very centered and sexy.
Randall advised the young singers to research their songs and the artists who originally performed them, so that they can get the edge on their competition. ”This was just a performance,” he sighed.
To vote for Vincent V fans can text his voting number for the duration of the competition,
03, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
21-year-old Musical Theatre student
Tumi Morobane performed her interpretation of Faith Hill’s stirring ballad “There You’ll Be”, from the “Pearl Harbor” soundtrack [2001].
Gareth thought that Tumi focused so much on hitting the high notes in that song that “the low notes fell out”. But Unathi pointed out that the lower register can be very difficult for a singer and she thought Tumi did her best.
But Randall said he must be living in a parallel universe because in his universe, “I thought the low notes were good, I though the high notes were good, I thought you were great!”
To vote for Tumi fans can text her voting number for the duration of the competition,
04, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Former Centurion hairdresser
Ivan Roux (24) chose the Prince song “Kiss”, which was sung by Prince himself in his 1986 film “Under The Cherry Moon” and by Nicole Kidman twenty years later in the 2006 animated hit, “Happy Feet”.
“I love that song,” Gareth sighed. He said it was hard to hit the “sweet spot”, as he called it, between the sexiness of Prince’s version of that song and the cheesiness of Tom Jones’, “and you did it,” he praised Ivan. “I can’t fault you on anything,” Unathi said.
But Randall did not think it was sexy and cool, like Prince’s original version. “You have to sing sometimes ahead of the beat, sometimes behind the beat – that’s what makes it sexy and cool,” he lectured.
To vote for Ivan fans can text his voting number for the duration of the competition,
05, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Kyle Deutschmann (27), the chiropractor from Durban, was a little more current with the Imagine Dragons hit “Radioactive”, which featured on the soundtrack of the 2013 sci-fi drama, “The Host”.
Gareth thought it was a great song choice, “and I thought you delivered, dude”. “So commanding, so believable, so radioactive!” said Unathi. Randall thought it was a brilliant song choice and that Kyle was really good this week.
To vote for Kyle fans can text his voting number for the duration of the competition,
06, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Professional musician
Musa Mashiane (27) from eMalahleni and his kazoo kept it old school with the Ray Charles classic “I Got A Woman”, which was of course featured in the 2004 Academy Award-winning film about the blues legend’s life, “Ray”.
Gareth thought you need a lot of courage to take on an old school song like that and make it work, but he thought it was very good and might earn Musa huge credit from people who might see him in a different light now.
“At the start I thought it was wrong for all the right reasons, then I thought it was right for all the wrong reasons,” Randall grinned, “and then finally I thought, Hallelujah! It’s right for all the right reasons! “That was unbelievable!” Unathi reiterated.
To vote for Musa fans can text his voting number for the duration of the competition,
07, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Lize Mynhardt (21) from Stellenbosch went with a classic anthem from a classic movie: the Righteous Brothers love song “Unchained Melody” from the 1990 film “Ghost”.
Gareth said it was risky to take on such a classic old song but in Lize’s case it paid off. “I was worried that you peaked in rehearsal, but you peaked right now, that was absolutely beautiful,” Unathi choked up.
Unfortunately Randall did not agree. “For me this was terribly ‘cabaret’ and probably your worst performance,” he said. He said it missed the soulfulness that this song demands.
To vote for Lize fans can text her voting number for the duration of the competition,
08, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Vincent Bones (29) from Pietermaritzburg performed the second Prince classic of the night: “Purple Rain”, from His Purpleness’ 1984 movie of the same name.
“Superb!” Gareth said. “I don’t know what to say – it’s one of the few versions of ‘Purple Rain’ that I’ve ever loved as much as the original. Unathi was tearful. “I’m just so happy for you,” she told Vincent. “That refrain right at the end is going to get you lots and lots and lots of votes,” Randall said.
To vote for Vincent B fans can text his voting number for the duration of the competition,
09, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Cape Town music student
Roxy McVean (19) channeled her inner Rihanna with the 2007 hit “Shut Up And Drive”, which has featured in many movies including the 2008 drama “21”, the 2008 comedy “The House Bunny”, and the 2010 computer-animated hit “Wreck-It Ralph”.
Gareth noted that Roxy seemed very intimidated by the audience, but “they love you!” he reassured her. “Get over that, we focus on next week,” Unathi consoled her. “This performance was just flat, it didn’t have that spark that was necessary to make that kind of song work,” said Randall.
To vote for Roxy fans can text her voting number for the duration of the competition,
10, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
And Durbanville’s own
Demi Lee (24) closed the show with the Aerosmith classic “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”, from the 1998 asteroid melodrama “Armageddon”. “You missed a few things,” Gareth sighed. “I don’t think that was a good performance”.
Unathi thought it was good vocally towards the end, but she hoped it wasn’t too late. Randall thought she was lost from the opening line onwards. “That performance is not the performance of a winner,” he declared.
To vote for Demi fans can text her voting number for the duration of the competition,
11, to 37400, or dial *120*33033#. Fans can also vote for free on WeChat or on the Idols mobi site or on the Idols X website at
www.mnet.co.za/idolssa.
Even though they don’t have a vote anymore, all three judges thought that Musa had delivered the best performance of the night.
Voting for the Top 11 performances opened at the start of tonight’s show and closes at 22:00 on Tuesday, 22 September. The results will be announced in next Sunday’s Spectacular [27 September], when two of the Top 11 will be sent home.
The remaining Top 9 will then perform some of the worst Season 10 Wooden Mic songs “As They Should Have Been Done”, with guest star AKA.