After six months of preparation and nine weeks of live episodes, the fourth season of The X Factor Middle East ended with a winner who came as no surprise except to the man himself – Saudi Arabia's Hamza Hawsawi.
The 24-year-old was so shocked when his name was called out that his jaw dropped. His mentor, Lebanese judge Ragheb Alama, then gave him a hug and lifted him off his feet, but it wasn’t until fellow contestants from boy band The 5 lifted him up on their shoulders and threw him into the air that Hawsawi’s grin lit up his face.
As soon as his friends and family crowded the stage and began congratulating him, he did what every winner can’t help doing: he cried.
“They say I won, but I don’t know. I am so happy and so excited, but I still can’t believe a thing,” said Hawsawi.
The man
Kind, generous and modest is how the other contestants describe the Saudi singer, who established a reputation as the good guy.
“I never, ever imagined that one day I would be standing here, waiting to take part in the finale,” Hawsawi had said ahead of his performance. “I lost my mum when I was 17, but she was the one who got me here, as if she could see my potential and my future, and I couldn’t see a thing. It has been so amazing.”
The performance
Hawsawi managed to outdo his flawless record with the three songs he performed on Saturday night. He easily hit every one of the high notes in Maroon 5's Sugar, injecting a soulful, R&B flair to the pop song and making it his own. His exceptional performance drove judge Elissa to address two prominent personalities in the audience – Angela Eichhorst, ambassador of the European Union, and Tom Fletcher, the British ambassador – and ask them if they were proud to see such talent from the Arab world.
“Hamza is our ambassador,” she said. “We want the world to know: we don’t import terrorism – we only import talent like Hamza Hawsawi.”
Hawsawi also performed a duet with Alama, a mash-up of her hit Ohdonni Aktar and Justin Timberlake's Suit & Tie. But the defining moment came when the Saudi, who has only ever sung in English on the show, shocked everyone by breaking into Arabic. Gasps rippled across the audience and Elissa and Donia Samir Ghanem erupted into spontaneous applause.
“Your Arabic singing was amazing,” said Ghanem, who a few weeks ago had asked to hear him sing in his native language.
“Singing in Arabic is not just [about] the language; there is a different scale and a different way,” said Alama. “Usually, those who sing Arabic find it hard to sing in English and those who sing in English cannot sing in Arabic ... Hamza surprised me so, so much. This guy just keeps amazing us.”
Hawsawi wrapped up the night with a moving, well-executed performance of John Legend's All of Me, which received a standing ovation from the judges. Elissa's words were on point: "Hamza, all I can say is, all of me loves all of you."
The prize
Hawsawi walked away with 100,000 Saudi Arabian riyals (Dh98,000), a four-night VIP stay with Arab celebrities on the Stars on Board cruise run by MBC Group and Emirates Holidays, a visit to Sony Music headquarters to sign a record deal and, perhaps most important in kick-starting his career, a trip to London to visit The X Factor founder Simon Cowell.
“I really doubt I will go back to the bank,” said Hawsawi, even before his win, referring to the administrative job he had left behind in Jeddah, and agreed with Alama’s insistence that the bank work has to be forgotten. “I have removed the idea of the bank from my head. I am going to chase my dreams and that’s the message I want to leave with people: to go after their dreams.”
Alama put it simply: “Hamza, you are not going back to Saudi as anything less than a star.”
The runners-up
Arabic solo artist Hind Ziadi from Morocco sang exceptionally well on Saturday night and performed a duet of the song Halet Hob with her mentor Elissa. "You sang my song better than I did, Hind. I am so, so proud of you," said Elissa at the end of the performance.
And while Hawsawi may have won, fivers – fans of The 5 across the Arab world – continue to pledge their allegiance to the boyband.
The group gave their best performances on Saturday night, especially with their version of Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred's current No 1 hit Lim'allem. During their performance with Ghanem, Algerian member Said Karmouz played the guitar throughout. They even sang in English, performing a mash-up of Amr Diab's El Leila Di and Sway.
What’s next for The 5? It remains unclear. They are desperate to know if they will have the means and support to continue together as a group. Alama put it best when he rounded off the evening: “What’s harder than being a success is figuring out how to hold on to it.”
artslife@thenational.ae
