When you hear of the number 10, good things come to mind. In football, you have legends like Diego Maradona and Pele who wore the iconic number. In relationships, a 10th anniversary is regarded as a milestone and the people concerned take it really seriously. Yet Idols SA has turned 10 and even though we are now in the top five stage, it really doesn’t feel like a cause for celebration.
The lack of star power was evident from the outset. During the auditions, there was a distinct lack of performers capable of capturing our hearts in the manner their predecessors did. We might want to blame the contestants for this, but that would be unfair as they do try their best. The problem is that they just don’t match up to what we have come to expect from a group of Idols hopefuls.
You must remember the year that Khaya Mthethwa played his keyboard in the KZN audition room and sang a John Legend song. He got Unathi so excited, she begged for an encore. He went on to trend on Twitter throughout the season, whenever he was on stage. It was no surprise when he won the competition and he is still doing well today. Sadly, there is no-one who possesses that calibre this year.
Remember the dynamite Zoe, who started off slow but blew up in the end? At first, she hid behind her hat and hair because she was possibly not sure of herself. Then, when she could almost taste victory, she blossomed into a proper performer and propelled herself to number three in the finale. Let’s face it, there is no-one with her kind of energy this year.
Then there was Mr Elvis Blue, who didn’t let the colour of his skin box him into any kind of music. He sang all the songs from Mafikizolo to the Parlotones. He garnered even more fans when he performed his own composition and proved he was more than just a pretty face. He was what Robin Thicke was in Lost Without You, so raw and relatable. There is no need to even go and find out what he’s doing now, as he is everywhere.
Remember Tshidi? Our own Whitney and Jennifer Hudson bundled into one. Like Zoe, Tshidi started off unsure of herself, but in time we all felt her presence. No one this year has given us this kind of magic.
From the production side, things have never been better. The State Theatre in Pretoria is a huge venue which has been a great home for Idols SA, so the show looks great on TV.
The producers still succeed in providing us with incredible footage – a mixture of off-the-cuff and planned material, as with the judges’ quirky remarks and ProVerb riding a bike on the stage.
That said, you still need a stellar pool of talent to make the 10th anniversary memorable. So it’s now up to class of 2014 to up their game.
Singing is not enough – it has to be the kind of singing that does things to us, singing that gives us goosebumps, that plays with our emotions, that shows us why we should buy your music. Only then will we have something to celebrate.
• Idols SA airs every Sunday at 5.30pm on M-Net (DStv Channel 101) and Mzansi Magic (DStv Channel 161).