Following several rounds of auditions in the previous weeks, Nigerian Idol finally selected 68 hopefuls to make it to the theatre week on Sunday, April 25, 2021.
This season’s judges – Obi Asika, Seyi Shay, and DJ Sose – were on hand once again to listen and assess the voices on display. The goal was to decide who had genuine talent and pluck out the few whose first auditions may have been a fluke. A twist, though – they had to determine which acts shone through when thrown into a group and which ones didn’t.
All selected hopefuls received golden tickets when they initially auditioned for the judges by receiving two or three yeses. Many others had fallen by the side, and these chosen 68 were lucky. For the first round at theatre week, they grouped the hopefuls into fours for acapella auditions. They had eight songs to pick from, and everyone in the group had to sing the same song. The judges immediately decided who made it to the next round or who didn’t.
Clinton, Emmanuel, Christabel, and Israel started off theatre week with Emmanuel and Christabel destroying their chosen song – John Legend’s ‘You&I’. Clinton and Israel put their best foot forward, but only the former made it through to the next round. Morolake, Glory, and Daniel also had to pack their bags and leave the theatre week house. They failed to impress the judges with their rendition of Alicia Key’s ‘No One’.
Kingdom and Comfort, who had particularly impressed the judges at their first auditions, teamed up with Faith and Chiazor to take on Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’. They both made it to the next stage but had to say goodbye to their new partners whose renditions just didn’t cut it. Daniel, Emmanuel, Faith, Godwin, Akunna, Olayiwola, Cabrini, Dotun, and several others also made it to the next round. However, 27 hopefuls received their marching orders by the end of the first day.
16-year-old judge’s favourite, Beyonce, joined the 38 other contestants that made it through on the first day of theatre week. Still, she had to say goodbye to her partners, Azigalobari and David, who the judges cut off after their performance of Labrinth’s ‘Jealous’.
After making it through the first day, they placed the 39 survivors into groups of three. Each group received a song that suited their vocal range, and each member had to pick a part of the song. The goal? Sing as a group, perfect the harmonies and make sure to shine while remembering that group members are also competitors.
The contestants were back on Day 2 to battle it out, but one group had issues navigating both their song and their egos. Fan-favourite, Comfort was placed in a new group alongside Agbutu and Star. Still, it seemed the latter believed she was too good to be singing with someone like Comfort. Star argued about the key they should sing the song in and then outrightly alleged that the team was being dragged back by Comfort. In her words, “we just have one person who is literally drawing us down, but we are gonna try to carry her along.” This energy will eventually follow them into their group audition and cost Star her place in the competition.
The second group consisting of Shedrack, Ehi and Francis had the judges eating out of their palms with their impressive version of Teni’s ‘Billionaire’. According to music executive Obi Asika, “that was a serious performance”. They all made it to the next round. Idowu, Kingdom and Clinton also aced their performance of Patoranking’s ‘Abule’ and survived to fight another day amidst praises from the judges. Chibuike, Chukwuka, and Faith also impressed the judges and made it through to the next round.
Godwin almost brought Akunna and Rose down with him when he forgot the lyrics to Burna Boy’s ‘Wonderful’, but Akunna saved the day and centred the group. Interestingly, Godwin made it to the next round alongside Akunna. But, Rose had to say goodbye to her lofty dreams of being an Idol.
Cabrini, Oma, and Motolani struggled through their performance of Sam Smith’s ‘Dancing With A Stranger’. It cost them their place on the Nigerian Idol show. Emmanuel, Ezinne and Tokoni managed to make it through their performance. But only Emmanuel won the judges’ hearts and made it through to the next stage.
Dotun, Beyonce and Daniel had Seyi Shay on her feet dancing along to their performance of Teni’s ‘Billionaire’. They all made it through with Obi Asika stating that “it was really sweet, I enjoyed it a lot. I think everybody’s personality kind of came through, which is really important”.
The auditions are far from over as the contestants still have one more major audition before they get to steal their place on the top 10 spots. Amidst group changes, intense ego fights, and forgotten lyrics, the judges somehow got around to picking the few grains of potential from the basin of contestants. These few will be back to battle it out next week.
Nigerian Idol Season 6 is hosted by IK Osakioduwa, and Bigi Drinks and Tecno Mobile sponsor the show. Viewers can watch the show via the DStv app on multiple devices at no additional cost. The app is available for download on iOS and Android devices. For more information, visit www.africamagic.tv/nigerianidol.
