Elvis Blue and Lloyd Cele travelled a long road to the Idols finals.
But what happens once it is over?
No one knows better than past finalists, so we caught up with some of the Idols veterans.
The show’s last season ended with two Idols, Jason Hartman and Sasha-Lee Davids having to share the title after a technical problem resulted in a voting debacle.
A year later and, despite the rocky start, Hartman’s music career is flourishing.
His advice to Blue and Cele is to keep their heads down and focus on the task at hand - meeting fans, singing their hearts out and making sure they are seen.
“Knuckle down and focus on what you’ve got to do,” he said.
To the loser, whoever that may be, Hartman said he should not to think about having lost, but rather focus on the fact that he had come this far. “You are in the final already… get ready for the next couple of months as you are set to complete an album,” he said.
The youngest Idols contestant yet, Jody Williams, who was 17 when she blew the judges away, recently returned from Singapore where she and a number of international artists, including American rapper Sean Kingston, sang the theme song, Everyone, for the World Youth Olympics.
Williams, who has been the opening act for several international artists on home soil, including Celine Dion and British singer/songwriter Jay Sean, said it was amazing to share the stage with big artists.
Williams advised this year’s finalists to take it easy and not to focus on who was going to win.
“It does not matter who wins it. It is what you make of it,” she said.
Andriëtte Norman, the runner-up to Williams in the fourth season, has since recorded two albums, both of which achieved gold status, and has completed five music videos.
Karin Kortje, in a rags-to-riches story, won the third season of Idols, in which she consistently received the most votes.
Kortje said the Idols competition had opened doors for her and she felt she needed to give back to those who voted for her.
Gift Gwe, who was the runner-up in the 2005 season, has been working on his second album for the past year and hopes to release it soon.
“Idols was the start of my journey to stardom, but there have been ups and downs,” he said.
Learning the ropes in the industry was tough, he said.
He is now working at finding his niche and developing a style people will enjoy.
Last mentioned, but for ever first, is Heinz Winckler, from Stellenbosch, who was the first South African Idol.
Since taking the title he has recorded several English albums and released his first Afrikaans album, Ek Kan Weer in Liefde Glo (I Can Believe in Love Again) last year.
Winckler also runs workshops for aspiring singers in Joburg.
“Idols was a great kickstart to my commercial career… but there is a bigger test afterwards - to capitalise on the exposure.” - Weekend Argus