The tone of 20-year-old Sia Mzizi's voice wasn't enough to save him on Sunday (17 October) when he was ejected from the Idols playlist like an old fashioned cassette in a tape recorder.
Here's a recap of how the episode unfolded, with the judges' impressions:
Sunday's Idols stepped it up with the Top 6 performing two songs each as they fought it out for a spot in Top 5.
The contestants levelled up, with several contestants making history by walking away with immediate promises of recording deals and even songs written especially for them.
The theme for the performances in the first half of the show was Oskido’s playlist, with the Kalawa Jazmee Records boss joining judges Unathi Nkayi and Randall Abrahams as the night's guest judge.
The theme for the second half of the show was the song book of Max Martin, the Swedish record producer.
Oskido’s presence was made all the more special by the fact the Top 5 finalists will each walk away with a recording deal at Kalawa Jazmee and judging by his comments, it is safe to say that Oskido is confident that he has struck gold.
Berry, Kevin and Daylin Sass were certainly the standout performances of the evening.
Berry reduced Unathi to tears with her performance of Amanda Black’s Power, while Randall said her performance was inspired from the beginning. Oskido called it a killer performance.
She continued to impress the judges in the second half of the show, with Oskido remarking that “they needed a berry” in their stable after she performed Katy Perry’s Dark Horse.
Kevin’s first performance of Sun-El Musician’s Ubomi Abumanga prompted Randall to remark he could see him in the final, while Oskido said it was a super performance.
Unathi called him a producer’s dream after he wowed her with Bon Jovi’s It’s my Life, with Randall also commending him.
Unathi declared
Daylin Sass the top performer of the week after asking him to record his rendition of Lira’s Something Inside So Strong and praising his second performance of Zayne’s Pillow Talk.
Nqobie walked away with the promise of a song written especially for her by Zonke after wowing Oskido with Zonke’s Feelings, with Randall agreeing she had done a great job.
And Oskido was ready to record a cover of Mafikizolo’s Nyeke Balunge with
Karabo.
But Randall was not convinced she had delivered a great performance, remarking that she isn't improving fast enough, a sentiment that extended to
S22'kile who also struggled to impress the judges.
Commenting on the evening’s performances, Randall Abrahams said the exit of Sia Mzizi was a sign of the high stakes at play at this stage of the competition:
“Sia really impressed at first, but later we could see he was struggling. This is why, at this stage of the competition, I keep on stressing the fact that the remaining contestants cannot afford to be complacent. They did a great job this evening and I can’t wait to see what they do next week,” he said.
Next week, the Top 5 will compete to make it to the Top 4.