Dotti emerged the first-ever winner of the MTN Y’ello Star talent and capacity-building show after a massive finale gala on Sunday, December 13, 2020.
At the penultimate show on Saturday, December 12, 2020, the hosts of the show, Tobi Bakre and Hilda Baci took us through all the amazing performances the top six had on the show from the opening gala. It was clear that it would be difficult to choose a winner of the competition. Y’ello Star judge, Malik Yusef reiterated this fact at the finale saying, ‘it’s almost impossible to figure out or choose who will be the ultimate.’
Every person who made it to the top six: Freeborn, Dotti, Fay Fay, Gideon, Caesar and Storm, had amazing performances throughout the show. Apart from Storm, none of the others was ever put up for possible relegation, so they were all tight contenders for the MTN Y’ello Star crown. Yet, Dotti emerged as the winner, beating the rest to the grand prize.
His performance of ‘Cherry oh Baby’ by Eric Donaldson during the grand finale gala only solidified his position as the winner. He was brilliant! Award-winning artiste and Y’ello Star judge, Banky W specifically singled out his performance from the others. Banky said, ‘If I had to pick my stand-out performances tonight, it would be Dotti. Dotti really, really, really; I mean he has impressed us all season long but he killed it tonight.’
Throughout the season, Dotti had only had one less-than-perfect performance, during the reggae show, when he performed Patoranking’s ‘Girlie O’. He bounced back the next day with a beautiful rendition of ‘Just The Two Of Us’ by Bill Withers.
He won the show with overwhelming votes against other contenders. This is not surprising as he was the only contestant on the show to ever trend on Twitter because of his performances.
Dotti’s story on the show is particularly interesting because it was sheer luck that got him to the place of the 14 finalists. The faculty of MTN Y’ello Star decided to choose only 40 people when they set out to pick the national finalists. But, they decided at the last minute to pick three more people as extras, and so they ended up picking 43 people.
Dotti was number 43 on that national finals list. He made it through the first rounds of nationals with a beautiful rendition of Bill Withers classic tune, ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’. He immediately won the judges over and got a ‘Yes’. His first performance of Burna Boy’s ‘On The Low’ made him trend on Twitter and immediately set him apart from the rest of the contestants. Social media users referred to him as a ‘low-budget Burna Boy’, which is very much a compliment. Burna Boy is a two-time Grammy-nominated Nigerian act. Netng Journalists say they expect the promising act to grow in the mould of Burna, and join a community of new school acts taking Nigerian music global. And his Y’ello Star win is only just the beginning,
Meanwhile, in a brief interview with Netng, he says he never expected to win. ‘I feel very excited, I feel blessed, who would have known? But, here we are. I’m grateful to God most especially and to everyone that supported me, voted for me’.
Dotti received 64% of the total votes, while the first runner-up, Storm got 15% votes. Gideon finished with 9% of votes as the second runner up. Caesar and Fay Fay Diamond finished in fourth and fifth positions, while Freeborn had the least amount of votes and finished in the sixth position. They all received scholarships to the Berklee 2021 Summer programme in New York.
Dotti walks away with the bragging rights of being the first-ever Y’ello Star, 5 million Naira, a fully furnished apartment with an in-house studio, a brand new car, a one-year recording deal, a chance to record a song written by six-time Grammy winner, Malik Yusef at the Berklee Power Station, New York and a scholarship to the Berklee 2021 Summer programme.
