The debut season of the MTN Y’ello Star talent and capacity building show came to an end on Sunday, December 13, 2020. The contestants had six weeks of fierce competition, but Dotti, Storm, and Gideon have finally emerged as the top three champions of the show.
They all had to fight to stand out through over 11,000 online auditions from Nigerians across the country and the world. They had to sing their way through the national finals. Dotti and Storm made it into the top 14 finalists with a ‘Yes’ from the judges at the national finals audition. Gideon, on the other hand, got a ‘Maybe’ for his performance of John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ and had to go on to the sing-off stage. He faced-off against IBK, singing a medley of songs and won in that round before joining the 14 finalists. Then they watched as their other contenders to the title of ‘Y’ello Star’ fell into relegation in fours.
Each week, they improved, upped their antes and became better singers and performers. They took criticism from the judges seriously and did everything within their powers to take the advice and use it to become better.
After hours of practice, study sessions with Henley Business School, London, and classes with Berklee School of Music, New York, they can all boast to be well-rounded entertainers thanks to MTN.
The judges gave the top three words of advice one last time before the show ended. Banky W, Omawumi and Malik Yusef reiterated the need to keep growing, stay humble and teachable, and use all of the knowledge they got from the show diligently.
The journey is only just beginning for Dotti, Storm, and Gideon, as they walk away with their prizes and begin a new partnership with MTN. The Y’ello Star, Dotti, will win N5 million, a fully furnished apartment with an in-house studio, a brand new car, a one-year recording deal, and a chance to record a song written by six-time Grammy winner, Malik Yusef at the Berklee Power Station, New York. The first-runner up, Storm, wins N3 million and the second runner-up, Gideon, takes home N1 million.
They will receive full scholarships from MTN to the Berklee College of Music 2021 Summer Programme in New York, alongside three other contestants, Fay Fay Diamond, Caesar, and Freeborn that made it to the finale. Y’ello Star judge, Malik Yusef, has also promised to work closely with them on future projects. He told Netng, ‘not only is there a chance that I will work with someone that didn’t win, it’s a 100% certainty.’
We can’t wait to see what they do next!
