MBOMBELA – The excitement was written all over the faces of the contenders who came to Mbombela Stadium for the X Factor pre-auditions on Wednesday morning.
The global music competition with the slogan ‘u X Ongasolveki’ graced the grounds of Mbombela on Wednesday in search of unfathomable talent, and local residents came out in numbers to give them just that.
Mxolisi Mashele (22) from Pienaar was also part of the candidates who are very confident that they have got the X Factor and will definitely represent the Province well.
“I have the energy, the zeal and the voice, I am definitely going to put Mpumalanga on the map in this competition,” he said.
Some hopefuls came as far as from Jozi and slept at Mbombela Stadium to ensure they do not miss the opportunity again.
“We missed the auditions in Johannesburg because we were at a gig somewhere, so we definitely had to follow it here because we know we are going to rock them,” said an Ayat Gang member.
Being the first of its kind in South Africa, the global competition will be hosted by Andile Ncube, who could not be in the city during the auditions because of other commitments. This will be the biggest show the country is yet to see and people should brace themselves for what is about to hit them, this according to Andile.
“I am very excited about this competition, it is undeniably the biggest music show on a global scale and I am honored to be the host.
I hope South Africans are ready for what is coming their way, because it’s going to be big,” said Andile.
Asked if he thinks the X Factor is any different from any other music competitions there are, the host gave some clarity on how some of the procedures in the competition are handled.
“Unlike any other music competitions, the X Factor has mentors, not judges, it has people that guide the contestants throughout the journey, adopt them, and understand that their success is theirs as mentors as well, so they are obviously more hands on than a normal judge would be,” he added.
The competition also saw some auditions done online, for the people who could not be at the actual venues respectively.
“People have an opportunity to send a one to two-minute video of two auditions songs of their choice,” said Andile.
Mentors for the competition have not yet been announced, but South Africans are cautioned to await a huge announcement in July.
“People on my Twitter have been sending in guesses, with Lira and Arthur being dominant, but we all don’t know yet who the mentors will be, but music fanatics should look out on July 9 when we officially launch the show,” he said.
