As the first winners of The X Factor South Africa, Four have stolen the hearts of millions around the country. Their mentor, Oskido, brought them to stardom now it’s up to them. Their debut single ‘I Do’ is burning up charts around the country and I sat down with the boys as the show, their career and what’s next.
Congrats on winning the first season of The X Factor! What went through your head once Andile announced your new title?
Thank you so much! It’s such an overwhelming feeling. It’s difficult to explain what goes through your head at that moment – we were just standing there hoping and praying that our name would be called! When Andile said “FOUR” we just went into an overload of excitement! It was the best feeling and we’re extremely keen to start working hard!
What was the biggest challenge for the three of you throughout the competition?
The competition in itself is a challenge, there is so much that you have to focus on! You’re learning your song and the arrangement, at the same time you’re thinking about choreography. Then in between it all you have to sort out wardrobe, record the song for iTunes, interviews, early morning and late nights, a performance with the other contestants, plus the emotional aspect of everything. In the space of a week, it’s a lot to get done. You have to keep your head in the game at all times.
Which performance was the most memorable for you?
The most memorable performance would have to be Loliwe! It was the song that we think got everyone’s attention because they didn’t expect it from us! It trended on twitter, we got a great response from the audience and it was the first time we sang in another language! We took a risk doing it and it paid off!
Oskido was your mentor. Which lesson that he taught you was the most valuable?
Working with Oskido has been amazing! He is one of South Africa’s biggest names in music and the godfather of house music, yet he is one of the humblest people we have met. That was probably the best lesson he taught us, to stay humble and always keep a level head. To not fall into the trap that so many up and coming artists do and think we’ve made it. He told us to always keep working hard and always try better ourselves.
What’s one thing no one knows about appearing on a reality show?
There’s a lot more to reality TV than what the audience sees! There’s a thing they like to call, “Hurry up and wait.” Where you’ll be told to hurry to set or backstage, only to sit there for an hour until they need you. Sometimes you’ll also do something naturally and they don’t catch it on camera and they’ll ask you to do it again, it then becomes a little bit unnatural and awkward.
Who did you think was your biggest competition on the show?
As you get to the end stages of a competition like X Factor everyone is your biggest competition! The show is unpredictable and everyone was extremely talented. Both Eliezer and Iziqhaza are strong performers and could have very easily taken the title.
You’ve got a new single out called ‘I Do’. Tell us a bit more about the song.
Our new single “I Do” has gone to radio this week! We are extremely excited! It’s such a fun song and we enjoyed working on it. It’s a good example of the genre of music we would like to go into. It’s available on iTunes for R7.99 and we hope to see it climbing the charts! – http://smarturl.it/FourIDo
Do you have a direction in which you would like to take your debut album? When can we expect it?
Yes! We would like to go into a genre that we call “vocal house.” We want to try create house inspired music with a pop vocal. We’ve been writing a lot and we hope to get into studio as soon as possible and start working!
How did the three of you meet?
We only started the group about 3 weeks before our first X factor audition, but we had met in different ways before. Steven and Jethro met at a competition around 7 years ago and always kept in contact via Facebook. David and Steven met around 3 years ago and started singing together. We then all got together and the rest is history
What can we expect from you over the next few months?
We hope to get working as soon as possible! We want to get into studio and start recording an album, as well as perform at all of the big events around the country. We hope to become a house hold name in South Africa and then try break the international market!
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