#ThobelaThursday: A Time For Popstars.

Announcements:

So on tonight's Thobela Thursday we're going to look at the short lived reality TV show Popstars and the groups they produced. We'll be looking at the music that was released in its original 3 season run only so not the Season 4 that aired in 2010.

Popstars was a singing competition show in the vein of Idols from the early 2000s that put together a pop group annually.

This was after the success of boy/girl bands in the late 90s so essentially every label saw an opportunity to make money. SA got its first season in 2001.

Not since the 80s had SA been a big pop music market. Kwaito, Gospel & Traditional music were the biggest sellers.

So when Who's It Gonna Be debuted in 2002 from the first Popstars season winners 101, no one expected the success it would have

Because of the shows popularity Kurt, Ntumiseng, Press, Erin & Pam would enjoy great radio & commercial success with their debut album.

One of their big hits would be Bye Bye a fitting title because the group soon disbanded after their debut album

A year later the Popstars winners were Adilah.

Sesfikile the album (and song) went multi-platinum in its first 2 months of release and the group won SAMA & Metro Awards. Sesfikile is still the most successful album and single from the Popstars franchise

What made Adilah so successful was the infusion on African languages in their songs, they also mixed kwaito, Afro-pop and R&B so their sound sounded like it was from SA

They toured extensively during their reign and dropped multiple hits like Ngiyazisola

Adilah wasn't the only Popstars group to see success that year, the competition runners up started their own band called Afro Z & were signed under the same label

With a more traditional pop sound similar to 101 they released their 1st single Phenomenal

It would be the song My Coldest War that would give them the most success though.

They re-recorded the single earlier this year for Covid Relief so here it is (for some reason the video isn't online).

Adil would go on to release a second album in 2006 with all of its original members (Tumi, Letang, Refiloe, Thembisile and Karabo).

They didn't enjoy the success of their debut album but they dropped a banger with Siya Jaiva Manje.

So in 2004 the Franchise decided to switch up the format. There would be two groups formed (a boy band and a girl band) and from those two the country would vote for the best group to be the Popstars.

We were given a choice between Ghetto Lingo and Jamali

South Africa chose... Ghetto Lingo.

Ghetto Lingo had everything that worked about Adilah but with 4 cute boys.

Pump It Up would turn Philemon, Sbu, Martin and Bjorn into overnight hearthrobes and give them a number 1 single with it.

The group were the last successful Popstar winners & enjoyed great initial success. Things would fall apart when lead vocalist Bjorn left the group right before they released their second album 2006.

Thina Sigroova Kanje from their debut was a bop though

Ghetto Lingo were the last successful winners from Popstars but the most successful group from the franchise actually lost the competition

Jamali would have a long & consistent career that all starts with the 2nd single from the debut... Love Me For Me.

Jamali's debut album was a sleeper Hit. Love Me For Me's slowly climbed the charts until it was a number 1.

But it was songs like Butterfly that would push the album to platinum. Jamali essentially lost the battle but ended up winning the war.

Jamali would album be the only Popstars group to have a successful sophomore album.

Yours Fatally was released in 2006 to similar success.

This was also the first time the group was caught up in real controversy.

The group was accused of stealing their second single Maisha from Kenyan rapper Nameless. They would eventually include him in the song credits because of the controversy.

This wouldn't slow them down though because the third single from the album would be the biggest... Secrets dropped and helped the album push passed platinum again.

As with all Thobela Thursday threads I don't like going into the 2010s because we were all here but I have to mention that in 2010 Jamali released the single Mzansi for the 2010 World Cup album. The group still tours together and releases music.

So as we know I try to focus on the music with these threads so I won't be doing a "where are they now" because that would involve talking about people's incarcerations, abuse allegations, divorces etc

Instead we'll talk about some of the notable music the alumni's have given us

Pam Andrews (101) has prpb8had the most successful entertainment career out of all the Popstars winners

She's been a notable actress on multiple television shows like Backstage and Rhythm City but in 2006 she tried to get back into music but...

Someone from 101 who did manage to put out a successful record was Ntumiseng who's O Naledi was a moderate hit back in 2007.

Thembisile Ntaka from Adilah is still releasing music and touring. In 2009 she released Save Me which to date is her biggest hit.

Sadly Refiloe Motha from Adilah passed away in 2016. The remaining group members were last pictured together at her funeral.

Mariechan FROM jamali has had a very successful writing and production career. She was also featured on one the bigge8singles of 2019 with new age R&B star Shekhinah.

Okay that brings us to this week's episode of #ThobelaThursday. Please follow all the artists features on this thread and support them when they come to your city. Also we do this every Thursday so follow me.