For old times' sake: Asian Idol 2007
There was a time when I was in the Idol fandom. Mostly Singapore Idol, and mostly because of taufikbatisah. Now I don't give too much of a damn to watch, let alone to vote (it mostly goes into the coffers of people already bathed in money anyway). But for nostalgia's sake and because they're good singers that deserves a shoutout, here it is: Dita's review on Asian Idol.
(Even though the show's called Asian Idol, it's in actuality closer to ASEAN+India idol. But then then popular 90's talent search show Asia Bagus was like ASEAN+Japan Bagus.)
Mau (Philippines): Ako Ang Nagwagi & Reach
She sounds like a veteran crooner, so polished and powerful. Her sufferings in life are probably what give the edge to her performances; it's her major plus point. Yet I like it when Youth seeps in to Idol performances, and Mau just sound... well, too experienced. I sat through her Tagalog number waiting for the song to finish because it gets boring after a half a minute. Her Reach was much better though.
Jaclyn (Malaysia): For Once in My Life & Gemilang
If this were a radio show and I still vote on these things, I'd definitely vote for Jac. Her technique was simply the best out of all of them, even if I find her Gemilang not as good as in the Malaysian Idol final. But my biggest problem with her performance tonight is that Jac's face as she sings doesn't seem like she, as Indra Lesmana said, enjoys performing. One can get a feeling of arrogance from her, like she doesn't want to be on that stage. Maybe she has personal problems or not in good health, I don't know. But her face is keeping me from pronouncing Jac as a shoe-in Asian Idol.
Abhijeet (India): Everything I Do, I Do It For You & Junoon
This guy is a darling. His smile and general demeanour just oozes honesty and humility. His voice is very nice, too, especially in his Indian number. How does one manage to sing so earnestly? I especially love the traditional sounds. I just don't think Junoon is a good song for people who don't understand the language, because the repetitive part sounds tedious in spite of his engaging performance. The song grows on me after repeated plays, but most viewers aren't gonna sought reruns for this show on youtube and torrent for the sake of writing a review on their online journal. His English song, on the other hand, was simply lacking; partially because of his English pronounciation. He only recently learned it, which is a valid excuse, but not one to excuse the performance. Moreover, it's a good move to choose a popular song, but the caveat is how to sing it better than the original singer, or to do it in a completely different way. Abhijeet didn't really nailed either. Nevertheless, his likeability might make him a dark horse in this competition.
Phuong Vy (Vietnam): River Deep, Mountain High & Loç Moi Yeu
A very pretty girl. She has a pleasant voice, the kind I probably wouldn't mind listening all day. Ad-libbing the theme of her Vietnamese song before singing (about a girl hopelessly in love for the first time) is a nice way to bring the audience in the mood for the song, but it's a double-edged sword. She shouldn't be needing it if she were able to emote the song properly, which I don't think she did. And I wouldn't have that opinion if she didn't tell me, who doesn't know a word of Vietnamese, what the song's about. Her English song's a more upbeat number that allows her to showcase her vocal power. All in all, I think she'd do good in the business (maybe even consider learning Chinese and try the Mandarin pop scene), but to win Asian Idol? Not my choice.
Hady (Singapore): Berserah & Beautiful Day
Hady had certainly improved. I remember him not as good during the competition; in fact, I had preferred Jonathan Leong in the finals. U2's song is a good song to choose if you want to appeal to the male voters, and his good looks appeal to the female voters. Unfortunately, Bono is too big for Hady's voice. I really cringed throughout his performance. Maybe I wouldn't if I didn't know the original singer, but dude, it's Bono. I think he's better in his Malay song Berserah (which is Taufik's song... could it be aimed to garner the sympathy of those like me who's chanting Why not Taufik??? the moment I found out who represents Singapore? Dunno).
Mike (Indonesia): Mengejar Matahari & I Believe I Can Fly
Mike, Mike, chubby Mike, lovable Mike. This is not because I'm an Indonesian, I wouldn't hesitate to chew him out if I think he was bad, but I think Mike can win this. He's easily the best male singer in the competition. I had found him boring during Indonesian Idol, so I didn't think he could win. However, I forgot that Asian Idol is a one-shot and we don't have to see him every week for a couple of months. Add to that the choice of songs: Mengejar Matahari is suitable to display good vocals, and I find it especially well-orchestrated, maybe because the original composer, Andi Rianto, is the very man appointed as the show's music arranger; I Believe I Can Fly is competition specialist--didn't Rio Febrian sing that when he won Asia Bagus Grand Final? And finally, Mike's cuddly image: his eyebrows, his cheeks, they all make him look like a friendly and warm person. In the likeability factor, Mike and Abhijeet are the winners, but Mike sings better than Abhijeet. And that's why Mike turned out as my favourite for the night.
My hope is that events like this can open the Asian showbiz market to each other. We all (well, most) know who Beyonce and Josh Groban are, but the number of Filipino artists that I can name might not be more than a handful. While a culture of enjoying music sometimes are limited by language barrier, well... why should it be a barrier? Most of us has been listening to English music since before we can write in our own languages. I know I did. (Two words: Dad. Bee Gees.) It makes me proud when bands like Peterpan or Sheila on 7 are popular in other countries because of this. Who knows, maybe one day it wouldn't be a novelty to listen to Electrico in downtown Jakarta, or humming to the tune of Jay Chou in Mumbai, or having a Nidji album sold out in Hanoi, just as it's common to most of the world that Michael Jackson was once the "King of Pop".
It's also quite interesting that all of the Idols are minorities or underprivileged in their own countries, with the exception of Phuong Vy. Mike is a Christian in Indonesia, Hady is a Malay in Singapore, Jac is an Indian in Malaysia, Mau of the Philippines has an African-American-Hispanic father and Abhijeet is of "lower" caste in India. It either reflects the ability of the majority to recognise talent in someone "different", or the power of tight-knit minority groups. Or other things.
And then... the result show. But I'll save what I think about the outcome later.
Agnes Monica, Indonesian singer who's currently trying too hard to go international, is the show-opener with a song titled Get Up, with her usual entourage of energetic dancers. She wears a 'beads & feathers' red dress with skin-coloured inner layer which gives an illusion of being scantily clad. I got bored and went to have a shower (the show started at 9pm and I only just got home like 5 minutes earlier). Because of the shower, I miss the next few minutes. Methinks it was the hosts (Daniel, Ata & Jien) introducing the Idols, maybe a group song or two. When I returned to the living room, it was Mike's turn to sing.
He's not alone: The song was Angels Brought Me Here and the song's owner himself showed up: Guy Sebastian, first Australian Idol. Mike's voice was a bit drowned by Guy's--this has been a Mike's problem I reckon; he also got drowned by Judika and Lucky's powerful voices during the Indonesian Idols' Il Divo-style performance some time ago. But it's a pleasant duet. Guy continued to sing two more jazzy songs after that. After the songs, Daniel the host appeared and talked to Guy on the stage. One of his questions was something like "what do you think about Australian singers and Asian singers?". I wonder if anyone in Australia's watching and getting offended by Guy's answer, which was something like, "well, look at me, I'm Asian and I'm in the Australian Idol. So yeah, they need us Asians."
Phuong Vy's next on stage, this time dueting with the Vietnamese judge Siu Black with I Love Rock & Roll. With all due respect to senior artistes, Vy completely upstaged her senior. Daniel interviewed one of Vy's fans who came to Jakarta right after it, still flirting heavily at Vy and taking jabs at Jien's "blunder" yesterday during the showcase (Jien flirted with Vy on-screen and Daniel noisily reminded him to look at his left hand... hello, wedding ring!). Poor Jien wants Asia to know that he loves his wife very much, and no, it's not because she might have watched yesterday's show. XD
Next up, India's Alisha Chinai singing Made In India. I find the performance a bore; too much backing vocal and overdone song. Or maybe I'm just annoyed with the oh-so-dramatic adlib before and during the performance of how Alisha is "India's diva", "international star" bla bla bla.
After that, another one from the home team as Peterpan performs Menghapus Jejakmu. I can't help thinking along the performance, "Ariel, you can do better!". Great sounds from the musicians, but the vocalist seems like he's holding back. I know Ariel can do better than that; he was awesome in one live telecast from a concert in Ancol that I've seen. This time, he didn't bother to belt out the high notes in the chorus. Boo, Ariel, even though you're still looking really cool. (I've always seen him as Indonesia's Hyde, albeit with inferior vocal quality.) Now if only Gigi was the one performing... pretty sure Armand won't disappoint.
The Philippine act comes next with Mau collaborating with Rivermaya on You'll Be Safe Here. I have nothing bad to say, Philippines should be proud of them. I also notice Rivermaya is a bit like Indonesia's Nidji with their pseudo-Britpop sound and style. Makes me want to hear more of them.
The one after is one amusing setup. When Jien announced that Abhijeet and Peterpan would be performing, I was wondering what song would they be singing together? Peterpan came on stage with Tak Bisakah and after a few baffled moments of "omgwillAbhijeetsinginIndonesian?", I remembered the significance of Tak Bisakah: it has an Indian version. Right after Peterpan finished, Abhijeet went on the stage and perform the Indian version, I forgot the title. I do hope by now the Indian "composer" already arrange for the rights to that song with Peterpan though. XD Nice snark, RCTI.
Coming up next was the Soul Patrol! man himself: Taylor Hicks of American Idol. Maybe he's invited because Asian Idol uses his finals song Do I Make You Proud as theme. But somehow I feel this is counterproductive with Paul Moss' comment about Asians not needing to rely on Western artists all the time. But apart from that, Taylor delivers an enjoyable performance. Another nostalgic one for me. Then he sings together with the six contestants, before Jien and Daniel asked him to play his harmonica as a sign that the voting lines are officially closed (complete with silly dances from Taylor, Jien and Daniel).
The Idol concert continues with Jac and Hady singing Freedom brilliantly. Yup, Hady's definitely improving a lot since the competition. He holds well singing with the technically-flawless Jac, and looks good doing it.
Then Mike sings Zamrud Khatulistiwa and it makes me miss Chrisye (may his soul rest in peace). No one sings his songs like him. No one could ever sing his songs like him.
Daniel, Ata and Jien then called on the other Idols to come on stage. In the past I might think that this means they're gonna announce the winner, but I'm too familiar with the show to understand that this means there will be a commercial break before that. Cue commercial break. The idols return after, singing When You Told Me That You Love Me together.
The three hosts return and is ready to announce who the Asian Idol is. I didn't mention it earlier but throughout the show, the hosts ask the judges who they think would win. Most said their co-nationals+another person and the names most often mentioned are Jac, Mike and Mau. Before the announcement, me and my housemates just know by instinct that it's not Jac, from Jien's face. Ata and Daniel are less easily read. We've got not much time for speculation based on host's faces though because they moment of truth comes next: the Asian Idol is...
Hady. Mirza.
...
...
...
Excuse me, what?
...
Seriously, WHAT?
WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
The voting system for this is a bit more complicated than normal Idols because they "normalize" the votes to offset the difference in population of the participating countries. But they don't say how they actually do the calculation. And it got me thinking how the hell Hady won. Hady is not a bad singer, no, not at all. But he was the weakest--by vocal technique, by showmanship, even by sympathy-to-the-disadvantaged mentality--so it doesn't make sense to me at all.
See, this is what stopped me from believing in this kind of show. THIS IS WHAT TURNED MY HEART BLACK AND COLD, KILLED WHAT'S LEFT OF MY FAITH IN HUMANITY.
Or not.
Maybe the voting system that offset the largely-populated countries benefit the less-populated Singapore?
Maybe the two-vote system caused people to vote "their countryman+the worst" so that the "rival" doesn't win?
Maybe this is the Muslim vote, considering most Indonesians and Malaysians, many Indians and a considerable portion of Singaporeans are? (If it was, by God OH PLEASE there are so many ways better to spend the vote money)
Maybe this is the power of fangirls who think he's cute?
Maybe Singapore's wealth really is enough to buy the whole Southeast Asia? (I heard peanuts are really expensive there.)
Maybe Bono is behind this, he wants to see that Rock Rules! And that his songs are WINNER MATERIAL! \m/ (Kurt Nielsen also sung this when he won World Idol)
Or maybe Hady just made his way up to peoples second choices by his universal appeal: During the show, not only did he sing fluently-pronounced Malay and English songs, but also an Indian song (duet with Abhijeet). He's Malay in race, but has a bit of East Asian look. He had said that his parents has Indonesian (Bugis) origins. And his vocal coach was a Filipina. Complete!
But still congrats to Hady, who seemed as surprised as I am when his name was called. This must've been a pleasant right-before-Eid surprise for him (I have to admit I am softened when seeing him making a gesture thanking God--hey we all have biases!). In the end, more than having an Asian Idol, this show is more about exposing each other's countries to Asian music. And for that, I'll upload some Asian songs in my next post.
On an unrelated note, I only found out Hady's full name on the Asian Idol site (I didn't pay much attention to Singapore Idol when he was competing), and it sounds really nice: Muhammad Mirzahady. Candidate for my unborn son? Hmmm...