Post by uptowndragon on Jul 6, 2006 17:54:17 GMT 7
Why do mobile angels on chariots break my weak heart? (Episode 6)
Before I indulge in a literal assault on Episode 6, I want to make an extreme suggestion that could have rather interesting implications to OIAM. Instead of just having one contestant being voted IN from the vanquished 10, how about the viewers get to vote someone OUT of the top ten as well. Now wouldn't that be something spectacular? You could have two contestants voted in, plus one judges¡¦ choice, and one voted out from the top 10, to complete the top 12 (3 in 1 out). This will give the producers an opportunity to rake in a little more RM from the SMS voting as well, while making the show even more unique & spicier. The results could be pretty dramatic. What say you guys? Think about it.
Firstly, I was quite happy to see that Dayang was not ranked No. 1, but I was curious to know how they did the scoring for the rankings. What criterion's where used & how exactly did each one fare for each criterion? Hope someone can shed some light on this (errr...Paul?). I also had no problems with the face off, but, I would have preferred the bottom 10 to pick their opponents instead. That would have been a more balanced face off, I believe. Theoretically, with the current arrangement, the best (#1) ranked would have picked the worst (#20) ranked, where else, alternatively, the worst ranked would have picked No.10 instead. The gap will definitely be narrower. Of course, this was not the case with some of the top ranked contestants in OIAM, i.e. Suki (#1) picking Alif (#12), within the current system. It's too late now, but just another thing to consider for the future.
How did the contestants fare in the face off?
Although, Lokman (#7) had an interesting voice, his phrasing was a little too rustic for my liking and occasionally sounded rural. Fauzi (#18) on the other hand, had the stronger, more soulful vocals with greater range, plus a fresh new image that was perfect for him. Only thing not in his favour was his clownish prancing around the stage which unfortunately seemed like a lame horse at an equestrian event. Lokman may have improved over the stages, but Fauzi was definitely more deserving to make the top 10. The judges got this one wrong as far as I am concerned.
I think a bout of stage fright may have put the brakes on Zai's (#3) progress as she seemed to have totally lost her composure and failed to deliver, what could have been a crowning performance. Add that to the sleek, stylish & charming delivery by 16 year old eye batting wonder kid Ameen (#20), and it was a no brainer who was going through to the next round.
Farah (#4) has improved tremendously over the last few months as can clearly be seen with her rendition of Pupus. Great low registers with powerful overall output marred only by minor stutters and a few rough patches, something which she should be able to iron out with a little more focus. Gone are also the painful facial contortions of before. She is coming along nicely and in all fairness takes her rightful place in the top 10. Saerah (#17) has the makings of a great singer with a beautiful voice remarkably similar to Siti, but she unfortunately failed to ignite, simply because she was too buried within the cocoon she has created for herself. Last thing we need is a singer with withdrawal symptoms. The sooner she disposes off all the self esteem issues, the better for her. She has been living in the shadows of Siti way too long and needs to step out.
The Donny Osmond version of M.Naser's (good one Paul, that's more like it) "Syair Laila Manjun¨ was emotive and excellent with almost a near perfect delivery. Azfar (#6) will be in for the long haul for certain. As for Cindy (#19) "Hancur Habis¨!!!
The only thing classy & elegant about Aleya (#5) was her styling, Paul!!! And it was not a chilled out version either, merely safe & boring, just like the whole bunch of other typical Malaysian singers, currently parading around the circuit. Awein (#15) instead sounded raw & refreshing but unfortunately it was a shaky and wasted performance. She could have easily nailed it against Aleya but somehow she did not take advantage of her soulful voice.
She may have been an off tempo & disappointing happy bunny according to the judges but for me, Erna was simply occupying a slot which could have been better off given to another more deserving top 40 contestant ¡V enough said. The reasonably decent Faisal (#14) on the hand totally wrecked "Chariot¨. Imagine what Russell Curtis with his mean guitar could have done with this song.
If I heard this rendition of "Pieces of Me¨ by Mimi (#8), on the radio I would have thought the radio needed repair. Same goes to Abby (#16). An unfortunate tragedy as another two slots are totally wasted.
Amazingly, as much as I tried I cannot remember how Anny (#10) and Syirah (#11) did. All I remember was neither of them were the worst of the lot. But I do remember Paul proclaiming that he had Anny pegged as a real diva and Syirah not delivering like a star, and then proceeded to lecture the entire top 20 on the importance of being driven to succeed. I totally agree with him on that point. This is after all a competition to bag a million RM, and likewise requires a million RM effort from all the contestants. So take heed.
It will definitely not be "One Last Day¨ for Dayang (#2) as she progresses to the next stage with a polished and confident delivery of an experienced singer, even though she didn't bring anything new to the party. Like Paul, I didn't feel it either. "Weak As She Was¨, and against a heavyweight like Dayang, it's no surprise that Ching got bundled out. Syafinaz believes that she should make it all the way to the finals along with Dayang but was unfortunate to face Dayang's voice so early in the competition. Are you serious? I am aghast that she even made it this far. I think the judges are lost in the portrayed image and not the talent. Perhaps they consider a Sailor Moon inspired angst rock chick, the next Asian global musical export. Wake up! There are dozens of them out there. mainly from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand & Indonesia, and with real talent to boot. Forget the novelty factor, please.
Paul was right that Suki (#1) could have picked anybody but stupidly picked of all people, Alif (#12). These are two of the better contenders and unfortunately had to face each other off. I think Suki got a little complacent after getting ranked #1 and did not perform to her abilities even though what she did was decent enough. I have to agree with the judges that Suki does seem to have the total package but unfortunately she delivered a way too candid performance that hardly showcased her talent, leaving Alif to outdo her with a slightly more animated & entertaining rendition, earning him the right of passage, at the expense of Suki.
But I am not worried. I am almost certain that Suki will be voted in by the many fans she has already started to gather. Decent talent and some good old fashioned PR work that she has so far done will get her the votes. The worst case will be that judges will still put her through. But I think the voters will do enough to catapult Suki onwards and I believe the judges will be more than inclined to put Ching in, should that be the case. I guess this is a lot easier to predict than the winner of the FIFA World Cup Finals. LOL.
On the whole the top 10 selected by the judges bar a couple were the right pick from the lot. So good luck qualifiers. I am looking forward to the live sessions. My only concern is that I have not as yet seen the One In A Million. Cheers.
Before I indulge in a literal assault on Episode 6, I want to make an extreme suggestion that could have rather interesting implications to OIAM. Instead of just having one contestant being voted IN from the vanquished 10, how about the viewers get to vote someone OUT of the top ten as well. Now wouldn't that be something spectacular? You could have two contestants voted in, plus one judges¡¦ choice, and one voted out from the top 10, to complete the top 12 (3 in 1 out). This will give the producers an opportunity to rake in a little more RM from the SMS voting as well, while making the show even more unique & spicier. The results could be pretty dramatic. What say you guys? Think about it.
Firstly, I was quite happy to see that Dayang was not ranked No. 1, but I was curious to know how they did the scoring for the rankings. What criterion's where used & how exactly did each one fare for each criterion? Hope someone can shed some light on this (errr...Paul?). I also had no problems with the face off, but, I would have preferred the bottom 10 to pick their opponents instead. That would have been a more balanced face off, I believe. Theoretically, with the current arrangement, the best (#1) ranked would have picked the worst (#20) ranked, where else, alternatively, the worst ranked would have picked No.10 instead. The gap will definitely be narrower. Of course, this was not the case with some of the top ranked contestants in OIAM, i.e. Suki (#1) picking Alif (#12), within the current system. It's too late now, but just another thing to consider for the future.
How did the contestants fare in the face off?
Although, Lokman (#7) had an interesting voice, his phrasing was a little too rustic for my liking and occasionally sounded rural. Fauzi (#18) on the other hand, had the stronger, more soulful vocals with greater range, plus a fresh new image that was perfect for him. Only thing not in his favour was his clownish prancing around the stage which unfortunately seemed like a lame horse at an equestrian event. Lokman may have improved over the stages, but Fauzi was definitely more deserving to make the top 10. The judges got this one wrong as far as I am concerned.
I think a bout of stage fright may have put the brakes on Zai's (#3) progress as she seemed to have totally lost her composure and failed to deliver, what could have been a crowning performance. Add that to the sleek, stylish & charming delivery by 16 year old eye batting wonder kid Ameen (#20), and it was a no brainer who was going through to the next round.
Farah (#4) has improved tremendously over the last few months as can clearly be seen with her rendition of Pupus. Great low registers with powerful overall output marred only by minor stutters and a few rough patches, something which she should be able to iron out with a little more focus. Gone are also the painful facial contortions of before. She is coming along nicely and in all fairness takes her rightful place in the top 10. Saerah (#17) has the makings of a great singer with a beautiful voice remarkably similar to Siti, but she unfortunately failed to ignite, simply because she was too buried within the cocoon she has created for herself. Last thing we need is a singer with withdrawal symptoms. The sooner she disposes off all the self esteem issues, the better for her. She has been living in the shadows of Siti way too long and needs to step out.
The Donny Osmond version of M.Naser's (good one Paul, that's more like it) "Syair Laila Manjun¨ was emotive and excellent with almost a near perfect delivery. Azfar (#6) will be in for the long haul for certain. As for Cindy (#19) "Hancur Habis¨!!!
The only thing classy & elegant about Aleya (#5) was her styling, Paul!!! And it was not a chilled out version either, merely safe & boring, just like the whole bunch of other typical Malaysian singers, currently parading around the circuit. Awein (#15) instead sounded raw & refreshing but unfortunately it was a shaky and wasted performance. She could have easily nailed it against Aleya but somehow she did not take advantage of her soulful voice.
She may have been an off tempo & disappointing happy bunny according to the judges but for me, Erna was simply occupying a slot which could have been better off given to another more deserving top 40 contestant ¡V enough said. The reasonably decent Faisal (#14) on the hand totally wrecked "Chariot¨. Imagine what Russell Curtis with his mean guitar could have done with this song.
If I heard this rendition of "Pieces of Me¨ by Mimi (#8), on the radio I would have thought the radio needed repair. Same goes to Abby (#16). An unfortunate tragedy as another two slots are totally wasted.
Amazingly, as much as I tried I cannot remember how Anny (#10) and Syirah (#11) did. All I remember was neither of them were the worst of the lot. But I do remember Paul proclaiming that he had Anny pegged as a real diva and Syirah not delivering like a star, and then proceeded to lecture the entire top 20 on the importance of being driven to succeed. I totally agree with him on that point. This is after all a competition to bag a million RM, and likewise requires a million RM effort from all the contestants. So take heed.
It will definitely not be "One Last Day¨ for Dayang (#2) as she progresses to the next stage with a polished and confident delivery of an experienced singer, even though she didn't bring anything new to the party. Like Paul, I didn't feel it either. "Weak As She Was¨, and against a heavyweight like Dayang, it's no surprise that Ching got bundled out. Syafinaz believes that she should make it all the way to the finals along with Dayang but was unfortunate to face Dayang's voice so early in the competition. Are you serious? I am aghast that she even made it this far. I think the judges are lost in the portrayed image and not the talent. Perhaps they consider a Sailor Moon inspired angst rock chick, the next Asian global musical export. Wake up! There are dozens of them out there. mainly from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand & Indonesia, and with real talent to boot. Forget the novelty factor, please.
Paul was right that Suki (#1) could have picked anybody but stupidly picked of all people, Alif (#12). These are two of the better contenders and unfortunately had to face each other off. I think Suki got a little complacent after getting ranked #1 and did not perform to her abilities even though what she did was decent enough. I have to agree with the judges that Suki does seem to have the total package but unfortunately she delivered a way too candid performance that hardly showcased her talent, leaving Alif to outdo her with a slightly more animated & entertaining rendition, earning him the right of passage, at the expense of Suki.
But I am not worried. I am almost certain that Suki will be voted in by the many fans she has already started to gather. Decent talent and some good old fashioned PR work that she has so far done will get her the votes. The worst case will be that judges will still put her through. But I think the voters will do enough to catapult Suki onwards and I believe the judges will be more than inclined to put Ching in, should that be the case. I guess this is a lot easier to predict than the winner of the FIFA World Cup Finals. LOL.
On the whole the top 10 selected by the judges bar a couple were the right pick from the lot. So good luck qualifiers. I am looking forward to the live sessions. My only concern is that I have not as yet seen the One In A Million. Cheers.
