Onesmus Embula
Namibian artist EEs, real name Eric Sell, is Germany’s X-Factor winner taking the crown at last Saturday’s show.
It took the kwaito singer two rounds in the final against three other very strong competitors from other established genres to twin the X-Factor title by most public votes. EES and his Yes-Ja! Band were announced winners following three weeks of hard work with every week EES advancing to the next stage until he finally made it to the finals of X-Factor Germany, on October 19.
EEs reveals that throughout the whole journey, he stayed true to his home country and original Nam Flava Kwaito music despite much pressure from the judges to adapt his music to more commercially compatible and established European genres. “At the end of the show, I then performed my new single Try, Try, Try with my Yes-Ja! Band and jumped on the X-Factor judges table to then pull up the judges and have them dance with me while tones of confetti was falling from the sky in the end celebrations,” says EEs.
The X-Factor victory secured EES with a Sony Music Germany record deal to which EEs reacted “we are looking for a great teamwork with the major brand to help spread the African vibes now to a new market in Europe”.