The love for his daughter and the need to provide a better life for her, that is the driving force behind Idols SA contestant Lungisa Xhamela.
The 24-year-old father was left disappointed after only making it as far as the Sun City group phase in the last season of the competition however his little 'ray of sunshine' who gave him the courage he needed to give the music talent show another try.
"The main reason why I came back is for my daughter. I've got a three year old daughter and she's everything to me. Everything that I do since she was born was for her and I realised that if I don't take this opportunity life might just pass me by without me having something for my daughter to live on," says Lungisa.
"So I think this is a really great stepping stone and it's still going to be because I'm already in the top 10 and it's amazing. Even if I don't win, my name is already there."
With Idols South Africa heading to its top 10 elimination round, a lot of people will be watching with much interest to see who will be evicted from the Idols contestant's house on Sunday.
Xhamela is one contestant who will be under a lot of pressure this weekend more so because he could not garner enough votes and only made it into the top 10 after being saved by the judges.
Being the most followed Idol on social media, Lungisa was shocked when they announced that he did not get enough votes from his legion of fans.
"It made me realise that social media, as much as it is a very great platform to speak to fans and interact with fans, in the competition it doesn't necessarily translate to votes. The amount of people that shout your name on stage does not necessarily translate to votes," said Lungisa.
"So it really is about what you do on stage every single Sunday because at this stage you can't make anymore mistakes. If I mess up this Sunday I might be going home next Sunday that's how crucial this time is because competition is quite hectic."
Although he admits that his rendition of Trey Songs 'Touchin' You' was not an impressive one, he felt disappointed that his fans could not overlook that and stick by him despite his performance.
"I did kind of mess up, I didn't do really really well at my top 16 performance so I wasn't shocked that I didn't get much votes but I was let down by my supporters that didn't vote for me but I guess we take everything with a pinch of salt and we stay positive."
"I keep telling them (fans) let's not look back, let's learn from mistakes that we had before. I did well this Sunday, keep voting and I'll keep showing you what I can do further."
Xhamela also has future plans to dabble in a bit of acting and maybe presenting.
"My main love is music, my main focus will be on music and I will obviously be releasing albums as well as singles, collaborating with a lot of different artists. And also working on things that are not to do with music. I'm going to try out acting, I was doing modelling before so I'm going to stick to that as well.
"So there's just a lot that I can offer in the industry besides my singing. So this is a great platform because it's going to open many of doors for me because a lot of people are going to know me. I don't want to be that person that's like a one trick pony and only does singing."
A lot of people are however oblivious to the fact that this hunk that always blesses their television screens every Sunday is actually a pastor's kid.
"I'm a pastor's kid firstly, I don't think many people know that and I've been growing up in the church all my life and I've been singing in church for all my life and then from there I sort of moved to other scenes which is your RnB, your soul which led me to enter Idols because I was very familiar with singing non-gospel songs."
Unlike his fellow Idols, Lungisa is familiar with the competition as he has entered before.
"I entered last year and a lot of people don't know that since I didn't really say that on TV, it wasn't really part of my story but I entered last year because I was really hungry to become successful because I've been trying so hard in my career to get there, to get to a level where people notice me, where people know me.
"So I had to enter Idols and unfortunately I went home at Sun City last year. I think I wasn't well prepared."
'I came to Idols SA for my daughter': Lungisa
The love for his daughter and the need to provide a better life for her, that is the driving force behind Idols SA contestant Lungisa Xhamela.
The 24-year-old father was left disappointed after only making it as far as the Sun City group phase in the last season of the competition however his little 'ray of sunshine' who gave him the courage he needed to give the music talent show another try.
"The main reason why I came back is for my daughter. I've got a three year old daughter and she's everything to me. Everything that I do since she was born was for her and I realised that if I don't take this opportunity life might just pass me by without me having something for my daughter to live on," says Lungisa.
"So I think this is a really great stepping stone and it's still going to be because I'm already in the top 10 and it's amazing. Even if I don't win, my name is already there."
With Idols South Africa heading to its top 10 elimination round, a lot of people will be watching with much interest to see who will be evicted from the Idols contestant's house on Sunday.
Xhamela is one contestant who will be under a lot of pressure this weekend more so because he could not garner enough votes and only made it into the top 10 after being saved by the judges.
Being the most followed Idol on social media, Lungisa was shocked when they announced that he did not get enough votes from his legion of fans.
"It made me realise that social media, as much as it is a very great platform to speak to fans and interact with fans, in the competition it doesn't necessarily translate to votes. The amount of people that shout your name on stage does not necessarily translate to votes," said Lungisa.
"So it really is about what you do on stage every single Sunday because at this stage you can't make anymore mistakes. If I mess up this Sunday I might be going home next Sunday that's how crucial this time is because competition is quite hectic."
Although he admits that his rendition of Trey Songs 'Touchin' You' was not an impressive one, he felt disappointed that his fans could not overlook that and stick by him despite his performance.
"I did kind of mess up, I didn't do really really well at my top 16 performance so I wasn't shocked that I didn't get much votes but I was let down by my supporters that didn't vote for me but I guess we take everything with a pinch of salt and we stay positive."
"I keep telling them (fans) let's not look back, let's learn from mistakes that we had before. I did well this Sunday, keep voting and I'll keep showing you what I can do further."
Xhamela also has future plans to dabble in a bit of acting and maybe presenting.
"My main love is music, my main focus will be on music and I will obviously be releasing albums as well as singles, collaborating with a lot of different artists. And also working on things that are not to do with music. I'm going to try out acting, I was doing modelling before so I'm going to stick to that as well.
"So there's just a lot that I can offer in the industry besides my singing. So this is a great platform because it's going to open many of doors for me because a lot of people are going to know me. I don't want to be that person that's like a one trick pony and only does singing."
A lot of people are however oblivious to the fact that this hunk that always blesses their television screens every Sunday is actually a pastor's kid.
"I'm a pastor's kid firstly, I don't think many people know that and I've been growing up in the church all my life and I've been singing in church for all my life and then from there I sort of moved to other scenes which is your RnB, your soul which led me to enter Idols because I was very familiar with singing non-gospel songs."
Unlike his fellow Idols, Lungisa is familiar with the competition as he has entered before.
"I entered last year and a lot of people don't know that since I didn't really say that on TV, it wasn't really part of my story but I entered last year because I was really hungry to become successful because I've been trying so hard in my career to get there, to get to a level where people notice me, where people know me.
"So I had to enter Idols and unfortunately I went home at Sun City last year. I think I wasn't well prepared."
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos