Idols SA announces top 6

On Sunday, Mzizi said goodbye to her fellow competitors Nqobi, Berry, Karabo, Daylin Sass, S'22kile and Kevin, who will to fight for a place in the last five of the competition.

The show stepped up with the seven contestants performing two songs each as they fought it out for a spot in top 6 of the televised competition. The participants also received promises of recording deals and songs written especially for them.

The theme for the first half of the show was a playlist by Kalawa Jazmee Records boss Oskido, who joined Idols judges Unathi Nkayi and Randall Abrahams as a guest judge. Oskido and Idols SA have reached a deal that will see the top five contestants walking away with a Kalawa Jazmee Records deal. The theme for the second half of the show was Swedish songwriter producer Max Martin’s songbook.

Berry, Kevin and Daylin Sass were the standout performances of the evening. Berry reduced Unathi to tears with her performance of Amanda Black’s ‘Power’, while Abrahams said her performance was inspired from the beginning. Oskido called it a killer performance. Berry continued to impress the judges in the second half of the show, with Oskido remarking that “they needed a berry” in their stable after she performed Katy Perry’s ‘Dark Horse’.

Kevin’s first performance of Sun-El Musician’s ‘Ubomi Abumanga’ prompted Randall to remark that he could see him in the final, while Oskido said it was a super performance. Unathi called him a producer’s dream after he wowed her with Bon Jovi’s ‘It’s My Life’, with Randall also commending him.

Unathi declared Daylin Sass the top performer of the week after asking him to record his rendition of Lira’s ‘Something Inside So Strong’ and praised his second performance of Zayn’s ‘Pillow Talk’.

Nqobie walked away with the promise of a song written especially for her by Zonke after impressing Oskido with ‘Feelings’, with Abrahams agreeing she had done a great job. Oskido said he was ready to record a cover of Mafikizolo’s ‘Ngeke Balunge’ with Karabo, even though Abrahams was not convinced she had delivered a great performance and saying that she was not improving fast enough. S22’Kile also struggled to impress the judges.

Abrahams said Mzizi’s exit from the competition was a sign of the high stakes at play. “Sia really impressed at first, but later we could see he was struggling. This is why at this stage of the competition I keep on stressing the fact that the remaining contestants cannot afford to be complacent. They did a great job this evening and I can’t wait to see what they do next week,” he said.