Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - While many dreams will be shattered today – six to be exact – two of the youngest remaining Idols SA contestants, Yanga Sobetwa and Nosipho Silinda, are confident of making the cut.
Tonight six contestants will be axed from the show and 10 lucky ones will stay to battle for the number one spot.
Eight guys and girls, part of the top 16, have worked hard since the live shows started two weeks ago at Pretoria’s State Theatre.
The two youngest girls – Sobetwa and Silinda – did not show signs of anxiety when we visited them this week, straight after their rehearsals.
The Johannesburg house where the contestants are staying was quiet and chilled when we got there. The only people we could see outside were a security guard and two voice coaches.
The bubbly 17-year-old Sobetwa was energetic, full of life, very loud and welcoming.
Dressed in a black see-through body suit, paired with grey trousers, red ankle-high-heel boots and a black doek, she kept running around as if she was wearing sneakers.
Sobetwa said winning the competition would help her start her own business and release her first album, Siphephelo Sami, which has nine songs.
“I have always dreamt of having my own production company. [Releasing an album] depends on whether I win or I don’t.
“If I win, I have to start with what Idols has assigned me to, then I can do my own thing. But, if I don’t, the plan is to start my own business immediately and go on from there,” she said.
A native of KwaLanga, Eastern Cape, she said she fell in love with music in the fourth grade after winning her first primary school talent show competition.
“I wasn’t supposed to win, but the winners handed the prize to me, because they saw my potential.” she said.
From there, she was asked to sing at church, which is where she would sing the song that helped her win the school competition – Ntokozo Mbambo’s In the Shadow.
She said that if she wins, the first thing she would do is to give a tithe to the church. Then she would invest money and contribute to buying a house for her family.
Fortunately, the Grade 11 learner at Rhodes High School – the school is in Joburg – did not have to put her studies on hold while in the city preparing for the competition.
Silinda, who hails from Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal, is the chilled one; she doesn’t talk much but loves smiling and laughing. The 18-year-old said music was her life. She said her parents told her she could sing before she could speak.
She said being a part of the competition had developed her as an artist and winning would change her life. What has challenged her the most in the competition is getting out of her comfort zone.
“You know how it is when you are used to singing in a certain way and then you have to do different genres of music. But since it’s what I love, I try my utmost to perfect that,” she said.
After singing so beautifully last Sunday, tonight the pair will find out their fate in the competition.
Catch Idols SA every Sunday on Mzansi Magic, channel 161 at 17:00.
