She's all about breaking records.
When she had a show in 2022, she debuted the Cooper FC shutdown and sold out in the Zone 6 venue in Diepkloof Soweto.
She became the youngest artist to sell out the venue at 21 years old and now she plans to break the record again at Sun Arena Times square in Pretoria.
The second and homecoming edition of the football-themed show will have two teams: the ladies and mens’ teams.
This time around, Pabi Cooper wants to switch things up by giving a platform to upcoming female artists.
“I want people to see that there are other artists. I don’t want to get the usual line-up that we always have, to be honest. I was looking at last year’s line-up, I don’t want to repeat it.”
After a video of a lady setting the dance floor on fire made rounds recently, Pabi launched a [wo]manhunt for the dancer and offered her an opportunity to be a part of the show.
Speaking to Drum, she says that the passionate dancer who happens to be JellyBaby, the late Vusi MaR5’s dancer and vocalist, will have her own slot and not be one of her back-up dancers.
“I’m going to give her her own moment so she can do what she does, so she can do her thing.”
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JellyBaby is but one of the many performances that people are looking forward to already. In the females line-up, upcoming artists such as LeeArt, Sandy, KMat as well as Mawhoo are expected to set the stage on fire.
The Isphithiphiti hitmaker says she wishes she could add more upcoming artists in the show’s line-up to show people that there are other artists that are just as good, especially with the amapiano genre.
“I wish I could add more people. I was also given a chance so I want give other people a chance,” she says as she recalls how DJ and producer Mr JazziQ, real name Tumelo Manyoni, also gave her a shot.
Along with soccer refereeing, empowering women is one the things that she doesn’t compromise on.
“I love when women come together and do something together.”
With the show going to her hometown in Pretoria, Pabi wants to make it bigger and better. When the idea to go for a stadium venue came up, she decided that she’s not ready to go that big.
The amapiano star says that when one goes for Sun Arena, you’re not playing around.
“I want to give people a show. I wanna go all out for it.”
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Although she’s scared, she says “even if it doesn’t come out how I want it, [it would be satisfying to know that] I had the guts to do it. I’d be glad that I did it.”
It all started as a vision to host a 21st party and now about 10 000 of her supporters will celebrate her 22nd birthday with her.
The show concept is around her birthday on 4 March and since her birthday will not fall on a weekend after next year, the 3rd edition of the show in 2024 will be the last.
