MTN Nigeria’s new capacity-building and music talent reality show, Y’ello Star came to an end on Sunday, December 13, 2020, after five weeks. Unlike other reality music shows where the format is ‘winner takes all’, Y’ello Star saw five ‘winners’ emerge.
The show started with online auditions where thousands of Nigerians sent in their entries. After a careful selection, 40 auditionees made it to the National Finals. Only 14 made it to the main show. The process of finding the 14 finalists was long and winded, but it helped the judges find the creme of the crop. Through relegation, they slowly became the six that made it to the final gala.
The 14 finalists were already winners long before the show came to an end for this season. In line with the capacity building objective of the show, MTN exposed the contestants to more knowledge about music and its business. The ICT company partnered with Henley Business School, London and Berklee College of Music, New York. They enrolled the contestants in an online music training program from the prestigious Berklee College of Music. They also registered them for a creative entrepreneurship program at Henley Business School. The 14 finalists received their certificates for those courses during the closing gala.
While the 14 finalists already have this advantage and a chance to enter the Nigerian music industry with all the information they need, the top six gained even more. Asides from the consolation prizes they will all receive, they all get to fly to New York on a full scholarship for Berklee College of Music’s 2021 Summer Music Program.
The organisers of MTN Y’ello Star initially announced that they would only give scholarships to the top winners of the competition. That changed after they found out that Freeborn, who is arguably the best vocalist on the show, never went to school. The mother of three dropped out of primary school. She received her first certificates from Henley Business School and Berklee College of Music after completing a course in the Y’ello hub. She received only 1% of the total votes and came in sixth, but MTN has made sure that she will get the chance to enjoy some formal education and a chance to travel overseas.
This means that Dotti, Storm, Gideon, Fay Fay Diamond, Caesar, and Freeborn will be flying to New York in 2021 to attend the fully-paid summer music program. This will enable them to become well-rounded artists who can thrive anywhere in the world. It will be exciting to see how the contestants progress to stardom as they dream to become greater than those already making Nigeria proud across the world through music.
