Last Saturday, the top six MTN Y’ello Star finalists took the judges to the dance clubs with their amazing Electronic Dance Music performances. They all brought their A-game, blowing away the judges with their fun renditions. Banky -W, Omawumi, and Malik Yusef each agreed that the fight to the finish was going to be fierce if it was anything like Saturday night’s gala show.
The night started on a tense and suspenseful note as four of the remaining ten contestants lost their right to perform after being judged by the doors. David Garland, Jesse D, G-Isaac, Storm, Oiza and Meyi were up for possible relegation, but the fans saved only Storm. The judges shared their sadness about the four of them being dropped out of the running to be the MTN Y’ello Star. They were especially sad that Nigerians didn’t save David, who until last week had been topping the charts.
Omawumi was especially sad that David was out of the running. She said, ‘I’m really sad, especially about David. He could have gone on to win this show, so it’s just really shocking that Nigeria voted him out.’ Banky W and Malik Yusef agreed with Omawumi that David always seemed like the winner from the start, but others like Oiza and Meyi, and Jesse-D are also very special.
The relegated contestants got a chance to perform on the Y’ello Star stage one last time. David Garland reminded the fans why they would miss him with his performance of Dua Lipa’s New Rules. Oiza and Meyi also performed another song from the artiste – ‘Don’t start now’. G-Isaac and Jesse D brought it back home with songs from African artistes. They performed ‘Ma Girl’ by Toofan featuring Patoranking and ‘The Sound’ by Uhuru and Davido respectively.
They chose to stay on in the hub and finish their courses with the Berklee School of Music and Henley Business School. While they will no longer get a chance to win the MTN Y’ello Star capacity-building show, their journey is far from over. They still get a chance to learn from some of the greatest music and business minds, a first of its kind in Nigerian Reality TV.
Caesar began the Top-6 EDM showdown with a solid performance of Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s ‘Symphony’. Freeborn took it to another level singing Mafikizolo’s ‘Khona’. Her performance left very little to error, but Omawumi reminded the soul singer to use her stage space better.
Gideon blew the judges away with his new arrangement of Sean Tizzle’s ‘Mama E’. He had the judges whooping and bopping. Banky-W praised him saying, ‘It’s very difficult to sing a song that fast and show that type of vocal control.’ Fay Fay Diamond also looked stunning as she performed Rihanna and Calvin Harris’ ‘This is What You Came For’.
Dotti performed his version of ‘The Money’ by Olamide and Davido. Omawumi noted that he had a way of adding his lyrics to every song he played on the show. Storm rounded up the night with a somewhat shaky performance of ‘Get Up’ by Sarz featuring Flash and DJ Tunez. Malik Yusef noted that he had residual jitters from being saved earlier in the day and he allowed them to get to him.
For the first time since the first gala show, the judges refused to score the contestants and chose to leave the decision of who makes it to top three up to the fans. They, however, said that the scores from the night were neck and neck and sent them off with some words of advice.
The hosts, Tobi Bakre and Hilda Baci reminded the contestants that they have one more chance to thrill fans at the Sunday gala before voting starts. The big question on everyone’s lips is who will the fans save and make it to the top three? Only time and excellence will tell. Luckily, excluded contestants will remain in the Y’ello Hub to continue their musical education delivered by acclaimed faculty members.
