The ninth season of Indonesian Idol premiered on RCTI at the end of 2017 after a three-year hiatus. Registration opened 21 August. The main audition process was held in five major cities in Indonesia: Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Jakarta.[1]
This season was won by the youngest contestant from the history of Indonesian Idol, at 16 year-old, Maria Simorangkir, from Medan, North Sumatra with Ahmad Abdul as the runner-up.[2]
After the 10th anniversary of Indonesian Idol broadcasts, the show was replaced with The Voice Indonesia for the second season on RCTI, since the broadcast on Indosiar could not be extended and preferred to focus on the Dangdut contest.[3] In the final year, FremantleMedia presented a new breakthrough singing contest, namely Just Duet, created alongside NET.[4] However, as both events had decreased ratings, RCTI and FremantleMedia brought back Indonesian Idol for the ninth season.
The judges were:[5]
Terms contestants: Contestants must be 16–27 years old and lived in Indonesia
In addition to big cities, Indonesian Idol also held auditions in several cities in Indonesia to move to the main audition (regional audition):[1]
Held at the Studio 4 of RCTI for the third straight year, the first day of the elimination round featured the 113 contestants from the auditions round singing solo a cappella. 50 contestants advanced. The next round required the contestants to split up into 10 groups and perform. 26 of them advanced to the finals of the elimination round requiring a solo performance with a full band. 20 of them made it to the Top 20 show where the judges take contestants one by one and tell them if they made the final 20.
The following is a list of Top 20 semi-finalists who failed to reach the finals:[6][7]
The following is the list of Top 20 semi-finalists who succeed to reach the finals:[8]
The top 20 Show was divided into two nights and aired live on 15 and 16 January 2018 at 9:00 p.m. The contestants performed songs of their choice (there was no particular theme) with twelve contestants performed on the first night, and the other performed on the second night along with the result. Ten contestants with most vote advanced automatically to the Spectacular Show, and then each judges would pick one contestant left to compete along the Top 10. There were 20 semi-finalists, twelve females and eight males.
The semifinalists once again took the stage to compete the 12 tickets to the Spectacular Show. The one night show took place on 22 January 2018 at 9:00 pm (UTC−5 9:00 am) live. The Top 15 contestants performed the songs of their choice and no particular theme introduced yet. Ten contestants with the most votes advanced to the Spectacular Show along with two contestants chosen by judges as a wildcard contestants.
For the first time in the Spectacular Show, all the finalists took a solo and duet performance with other finalist.
Due to Miss Indonesia 2018 final night on Friday, February 23 that held on the same studio as Indonesian Idol this season,[9] the Top 9 finalists only sang one time on Monday show and there wasn't Tuesday show as usual. The results was also announced at the end of the Monday show.[10]
Each contestants sang one solo and one EDM duet with young Indonesian music producers / composers.
Each contestant will perform one hit song and one duet with the judges. Ahmad Abdul paired with Bunga Citra Lestari, Ayu Putrisundari paired with Ari Lasso, Joanita Veroni with Armand Maulana, and Maria Simorangkir got to sing with Judika.
The finalists will have to do a duet one more time, but right now they paired with Indonesian superstar, Yura for Ahmad Abdul, Krisdayanti for Joanita Veroni, and Kotak for Maria Simorangkir. There wasn't any elimination this week, instead, the Top 3 will have to sing one more time next week during "Road to Grand Finale".[11]
The contestants each sang one song that represents their type of music they want to take in their careers, and one duet with Indonesian newcomer, Rizky Febian.
The finalists each sang one ballad song that represents their personality, one duet with Indonesian composer / producer, Yovie Widianto, one EDM duet with Indonesian newcomer producer / beatboxer, Jevin Julian, and each finalist's winning song.
The finalists each sang one of their favourite song in their life, and one duet with Indonesian legendary singers, Glenn Fredly and Sandhy Sondoro. People voted based on last week's performances (Grand Finale) and these performances.