Rebecca Davis looks at how the contestants on this local singing show stack up to their international counterpartsIs South Africa seen by former '80s pop stars as some kind of Xanadu? Do they whisper to each other, over glasses of sherry, of a magical land down south where the sun always shines and people are prepared to pay proper money to see faded musicians perform? We host them all: Roxette, Chris de Burgh, Billy Ocean, Belinda Carlisle, half of Spandau Ballet...These musings were on my mind while I watched special guest star Jennifer Rush perform on the '80s night of Idols South Africa. Rush initially looked a bit shaky as she wandered out on stage to warble her one big hit, Power of Love. Does she hate that song now? I wondered. Or does she thank it daily for paying for some classy plastic surgery?story_article_left1I haven't followed Idols closely for some years, but the minute I heard the title music, I was transported back to living in a university digs, watching Heinz Winckler take the singing competition's first crown. In Idols terms, this makes me a withered old crone. To this year's contestants, the 1980s are as distant as the Battle of Blood River.One of them, the prodigiously talented Loyiso Gijana, was born in 1999. How is he even out of nappies? I saw Winckler on Afternoon Express a few months ago, and now he has three kids, who'll probably be entering Idols any day now.The passage of the years has wrought some changes on Idols, like the Ford-branded seats on which the contestants sit miserably while awaiting the results of the audience vote. They're not scared of a bit of product branding on Idols. I thought for a second that one of the judges' names this year was "Telkom Telkom".But no, they're familiar faces. There are Gareth Cliff and Randall Abrahams, both of whom started the show wearing sunglasses indoors, like Rihanna in da club, or Mangosuthu Buthelezi at Margaret Thatcher's funeral. There was Somizi Mhlongo, injecting some manic energy into proceedings. And there was Unathi Msengana, giving her feedback to contestants with such mournful earnestness that you'd swear she was delivering the eulogy at their funeral.story_article_right2During '80s week, the Idols contestants got to be "mentored" by Rush. She seemed to have a good time. She told Siphelele he was handsome. She told Karabo he was sexy. She liked hearing Amanda sing local group Joy's '80s hit Paradise Road, because "it's so fun to listen to a song you've never heard before". Personally, I think Paradise Road blows Power of Love out the water.Despite their lack of familiarity with the era, the contestants looked like they were having fun with the theme. Dineo said she loved the way people "were not afraid to express their emotions through dress code" in the '80s.I've been watching bits of the current UK series of X Factor, and I was struck by how well the South African Idols contestants stand up to comparison. There are more interesting discussions than you'd see on a British singing show, too. Mhlongo told Siphelele that he shouldn't try singing in English, because he should be an "unapologetically vernacular artist". Unathi mournfully disagreed.Like the rest of the country, I'm convinced I could be a killer Idols judge. "That arrangement's far too busy," I say, mouth full of popcorn. "She was flat during the bridge." During the '80s show, I would have ordered the audience to vote in their droves for Mmatema after her captivating performance of Brenda Fassie's Weekend Special. Watching Mmatema, Jennifer Rush must have felt about 200 years old...