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Niniola Reveals Behind The Scenes Drama We Didn't See During Her 2007 Idols Audition

This is one hell of a story.

By Jide OkonjoPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Nigerian singer Niniola is known today as being the Queen of Afrohouse. She has made a name for herself in the Nigerian music industry and her hit singles Ibadi, Soke, Bana, Magun, Sicker, and we can of course not forget Maradona are songs that have banged on every Nigerian radio station, club, and house over the last couple of years.

Niniola is a tour de force by all ramifications, but like a lot of singers today, she too got her start on a reality television show.

We all know that Niniola came fourth place on the sixth season of Project Fame West Africa and it is with the 2 Million Naira she got from the show that she went on to find hit producer Sarz who helped her with Ibadi which got her career started.

But what a lot of people do not know is that before Niniola got unto Project Fame West Africa, she auditioned for two other musical competition reality shows – X Factor and Idols (West Africa) which Timi Dakolo famously won.

NIniola didn’t get into either of these last two shows but the story she is telling today about the audition is one that is making everybody talk, especially about Niniola’s resilience and drive. It’s an amazing story. Here it goes.

**Before reading on, please make sure to like and follow my Facebook page (Jide Okonjo) so you don't miss out on any new and interesting lists, articles, and stories that I post every single day. I have a really fun page. If you like my page, you will have fun too. So what's stopping you? Like my page and let's have fun together!

In a sit-down interview with Chude, Niniola revealed the behind the scenes story of her Idols (West Africa) audition saying:

The advertisements were there for West African Idols and from secondary school they told me I was good, I was super talented so I was confident that yes my friends and family have told me that I can sing. Note this was my second competition program – the first was a church program that I didn’t even come top 5. Then I went for West African Idols and I was REAADY. I dressed up, I was confident that Ah, when I sing like this ehn, the judges would love it. The judges at the time were the late Dan Foster along with Dede Mabiaku and Abrewa Nana. So when I sang my song Dede was excited – he was supposed to be like the ‘harsh’ judge but he was so excited like ‘you have such a good voice’. But Dan Foster and the other lady were like ‘it’s obvious you’re passionate about music but you don’t quite have what we’re looking for’.

In my mind I was like ‘I didn’t hear well’. Dede tried to convince them that they hadn’t heard any voice like mine and that they should give me a shot but they didn’t agree with him. It was so painful. You know when you go for an audition you have a queue outside and if you get a yes, people will know. So I had to walk out and I was crying when I came out, I was devastated.

Then I decided that you know what? I’ll go to Abuja for the next audition. So I got on a plane and I went to Abuja. I scaled through the first audition, the second one, and the third one is where you get to see the judges. So when it was time for me to perform, they were like ‘Wait wait wait, we know you! You’re the girl from Lagos’. I said yes and they said ‘Sorry you can’t audition’.

I said ‘Please, just let me sing. I don’t mind going back but please just let me sing’ and they told me to leave. I told them I wasn’t leaving. They had to cut the camera, call security. I started crying and I said ‘Okay show me on your website where it says that a contestant cannot reaudition’, and Dede backed me on that and was like, ‘Just give her a chance’. They had to stop production until they reached an agreement, that was about 8 o’clock in the morning. So they gave me a condition that I could re-audition but I would have to be the last person. ‘Ah! Ah ah, no problem, I will wait.’ So at about 6pm, it was time for me to audition. I prepared my Celine Dion song and I sang and Dede was like ‘YES! That’s my girl’. But Dan Foster was still like, ‘No I’m still not impressed’. The Ghanaian lady was like ‘I was waiting for one note and you hit that so it’s a yes.’

So I got two yeses and I scaled on to the next level, but then I got dropped again.

As the story goes, Niniola says she then went on six years later to audition for X-Factor in 2013, but was still dropped. West African Idols was supposed to be her final attempt at doing any kind of competition show and as luck would have it, that was the one she got picked for and thus, the beginning of her musical journey.

The reason everybody is talking about this story and the reason I love it so much is because of how resilient it is. After doing all that for West African Idol, she still got dropped and it STILL didn’t deter Niniola from pursuing what she wanted. The story is an incredible story and very motivating. I hope it has motivated you the way it did me.

That’s All.

I hope you’ve had fun. Don’t forget to like my page (Jide Okonjo) if you don’t already for more stories like this, the fun never ends!

To catch up on other content you might have missed, click here.

Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your day.

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About the Creator

Jide Okonjo

I have ONE account and MANY interests. My page is a creative hodgepodge of:

🇳🇬 Nigerian news stories for my dedicated Nigerian readers.

🎥 Movie and music recommendations, listicles, and critiques

📀 Op-eds, editorial features, fiction

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