What’s in a name? Well, a lot actually – if you’re a singer or are in a band. It’s not just a name – it’s your brand. And you’ll be associated with it for the rest of your days!
Post the death of George Floyd in America and the subsequent protests, two major musical acts changed theirs to distance themselves from any associations with the USA’s racist past. The Dixie Chicks – which wasn’t a great name to start with, TBH – became The Chicks, still a shoddy name, but removing the reference to the southern states that seceded from the union.
Then Lady Antebellum made the change to Lady A, removing a word describing an era of unprecedented growth in the south – on the back of black slavery. Then the group – clearly blind to irony – sued Anita White, a 61-year-old black woman who’s been using the moniker Lady A for decades!
In Sunday’s Pretoria auditions, we had many silly pseudonyms, starting with Why 7 – who had a rather novel answer to ProVerb following his trainwreck of an audition!
And who will ever forget Only God Knows?!
Or the proficient X-Shooter?
We had a number of others – Born Cyrus, Gary Music Asset, Fortune May, Guava, Austin Treezy, King Ludagift, Native Vocals, Underscore_, Reezi Lee, Black Ivy, Yours Trully, and more.
Unsurprisingly, these bad names accompanied bad singers – here they are vying in the Wooden Mic category!
However, one singer bucked that trend: Soulistic K. His unconventional take on Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ score him four yeses from the Idols judges!
So, while the majority of our bad stage names could not sing, it wasn’t a blanket affair – and other artists with dodgy monikers thrive. See any of the ‘Lil’s – Lil Bow Wow, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Peep, Lil Dicky, Lil Ugly Mane etc. Or the ASAP Mob – A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, A$AP Bari (and dozens more including Playboi Carti). Rappers are so bad at this that the likes of Post Malone and Childish Gambino used online name generators for their designations!
We’ve also seen it before on Idols SA – Kyle Deutsch was originally Deutschmann, a name with unfortunate connotations in South Africa. And let’s not forget the original bad epithet – but one that proves you can succeed in the music business DESPITE a terrible moniker. The first Idols SA winner was named Heinz Winckler!
Season 16 of Idols SA broadcasts on Sundays at 17:30 on Mzansi Magic Channel 161. Get exclusive updates and a behind the scenes look at all the action right here on our site. Don't forget to join the conversation by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #IdolsSA.