When organisers announced in September, that a whopping Rwf50 million is up for grabs for a Rwandan singer who will win the recently-launched The Next Pop Star music competition, over 100 aspiring and established artistes, registered to join the contest. However, only 60 contestants were selected for the preliminary rounds after analyzing all the videos posted by the aspirants during registration. The public was then given a platform to vote by either liking the videos of their favourite contestants on designated social media platforms or vote through SMS. The voting process saw contestants reduced to 20, who immediately entered the next stage of live performances aired on KC2 an entertainment TV channel. The performances were followed by a panel of international music professionals who were following their performances virtually, but with no power to eliminate any of the contestants from the competition. A team of local judges made up of Lion Imanzi, Showbiz presenter Tidjara Kabendera and producer Zizou Alpacino, was later put up to the task of monitoring the performances of contestants during a weeklong practice session held last week at Kigali Arena. The jury’s decision will now be considered at 40 per cent against 60 percent from the public votes while selecting the top six finalists from whom the winner for the first edition of The Next Popstar will be selected during the grand finale. The top six will be announced on Wednesday, December 16. They will then go for a 10-day boot camp during which they will have rehearsal sessions for live performances while a team of music professions is also expected to offer them training on vocals to prepare them for the grand finale. As per Covid-19 safety guidelines, only 1500 people will be allowed to attend The Next Pop Star grand finale. Organised by More Events, a local events management company, the contest is a partnership with Network Showbiz (NSB), an American company, Sony Music, through their label SM1 Music Group and Second Nature Films seeking to support artistes and help their music distribution across the globe. The new music contest is a 10-year project that seeks to unearth the most talented artistes in Rwanda, with a target of elevating local musical talent to the international stage through music distribution via different international music platforms. Christian Dushime, the CEO of More Events which represents the contest stakeholders in Rwanda, told The New Times the contest is getting better and better and that contestants were able to show the best they have from their talent. “So far so good! And the good news is that the public will be able to witness live performances and support their favorite ones as we hope to host the competition’s grand finale at Kigali Arena,” Dushime said. The winner of the contest will be announced during the grand finale slated for December 26, at Kigali Arena and will walk away with a whopping Rwf50 million, including Rwf10 million cash, and the rest of the money will be spent on the production of his/her songs at either local or foreign music studios. The first runner-up will also get a distribution deal from SM1 Music which will help him/her distribute and sell his/her music globally.
