Post by uptowndragon on Feb 17, 2009 1:26:59 GMT 7
OIAM 3 Top 12 Reveal Press Conference @ TH03 KL Tower (13/02/09)
Some will be reaching for the skies while others may hit the ground really hard.
A press conference was held at Mega View Banquet Deck (TH03) at the monumental KL Tower, over 400 meters above sea level, to officially announce the top 12 contenders of OIAM 3, to the media, just hours before the Top 20 show aired on 8TV. We guess the contestants were being portrayed as literally reaching for the skies as signified by the choice of venue for the reveal by the producers of the ever popular reality talent show.
Attending the event were of course all 12 of the finalist, of whom six of them surprisingly turned out to be mainstream recording artistes, while the rest were brand new hopefuls, turning the competition into an interesting battle between celebs & non celebs. In the celebrity mix, is Akademi Fantasia 3 second runner up Amylea Azizan & Mentor winner Pija, as well as Bintang RTM 2007 second runner up Rehana. Also looking for a major uplift to their careers were Shah Indrawan @tomok from popular boy band New Boys, Zulqarnain @ Nine from pop rock outfit Coco, and winner of the Most Promising Male Artiste at AIM 2007, Ridzuan Sharifuddin. They will be up against brand new voices, Fify Amielia, Elizabeth Chin @ Esther, Nasharul Aweera, Nurhidayu, Anith Aqilah & OIAM returnee Simon Michaels.
Based on what we have seen, heard & experienced over the past few months, Rentak Sejuta has to concur that this is probably the best ever top 12 produced by OIAM in 3 seasons. Although we would have preferred to see at least 2 other hopefuls (namely the innovative Darren Ashley & the golden voiced Awangku Faviq) in the line up, whom we thought would have made it a more impressive top 12, we are not overly distressed with the judges final selections.
This season will contain 15 episodes (4 of which have already aired), culminating into the Grand Finals' episode on 1st of May which will see the Top 3 competing for the grand prize of a RM 1 Million. It is certainly going to be a heated competition simply based on the quality & the maturity of the contestants as exhibited during their teaser showcase at KL Tower. I was amazed and awed at the tremendous leap in their standards from the day they actually qualified for the Top 12 over a month ago. The intense training invested in them over that period by the producers certainly has and will pay dividends both for the contestants and the eventual TV viewers who will enjoy the depth the new season will bring. Kudos to their trainers (vocal mentor Ning Baizura, stagecraft mentor Pat Ibrahim, overall performance & motivational mentor Juita Abdul Jalil & vocal trainer Yuaz) who have evidently brought the best out of them.
As a long term advocate as well as critic of the show, I am very pleased that the producers have upped the ante, and are intent on delivering the best ever OIAM season to the masses.
Even 8TV's CEO & OIAM co-conspirator Ahmad Izham Omar echoed our enthuasism regarding the standard of the show in his passionate speech;
"We have now entered the next level of this intense competition. With the highest judging standards we've ever seen, only the most outstanding singing talents amongst the Top 80 were picked to continue their journey."
"It was a tough call during the central elimination stages and the judges had to make the hardest decision picking the Top 12. We would like to not only maintain the high quality of future artistes that the competition will soon reveal but also the quality and productivity of the show that we hope will satisfy the fans of the show as well as viewers of 8TV in general"
It certainly looks like they might just achieve that this year after a lacklustre season 2. It is very clear that the producers want to make OIAM the ultimate reality show in the region, and have invested heavily on the quality of the show this year. They even went to the extent of making us an acompli in their mission, by giving us near unrestricted access to their production & the contestants so that we can bring you our viewers the best ever & totally unbiased online coverage this season.
In a week's time most of you will be able to witness the unfolding of brand new stars right there in front of your TV screens or at the live studio broadcast at Sri Pentas 2 at Plaza Alam Central, as you are drawn to some of the most talented singers in the country And by the beginning of the following episode, someone will surely be eliminated, which may make some of you very sore. Thus the fun and drama will begin.
To edge you all on this new journey, we decided to draw first blood by starting our regular weekly ranking system right from the outset, by basing it on, not the Top 20 show, but from what we saw from the teasers at KL Tower.
To be absolutely fair, every single one of the Top 12 performed more than admirably and can easily have been tops in any other reality show in the country based on their top notch performances delivered at the press conference. I guess for the first time most of the mainstream press, would have found it rather hard to fault anyone. One popular mainstream reporter even wanted one of the contestants to continue singing even after he had ended. Now, that's a first!!! Even in such extraordinary quality of contestants, we at Rentak Sejuta found few that we felt were ahead of the rest and were destined to be stars. Whether we are right or way off base, we will find out when the season ends. Until then this is our very first ranking based ONLY on their performance at the press conference on Friday last.
Rentak Sejuta's Ranking (Non episode)
1. Elizabeth Chin (ESTHER)
2. Simon Michaels (SIMON)
3. Fify Emielia (FIFY)
4. Amylea Azizan (AMYLEA)
5. Zulqarnain (NINE)
6. Nasharul Aweera (AWEERA)
7. Norafizah Md Yasin (PIJA)
8. Nurhidayu (AYU)
9. Rehana MD Yunus (HAN)
10. Shah Indrawan (TOMOK)
11. Anith Aqilah (ANITH)
12. Ridzuan Sharifuddin (RIZU)
We bet this will stir up things. Its going to be a tough competition, so we just want the contestants to know that reality is about to bite. It may all be very different once the live shows begin, as things get turned inside out again. And we at Rentak Sejuta will be right here writing and commenting about it.
ENJOY SEASON 3. WE KNOW WE WILL!!!
"To the victor goes the rose and the golden throne."
Some will be reaching for the skies while others may hit the ground really hard.
A press conference was held at Mega View Banquet Deck (TH03) at the monumental KL Tower, over 400 meters above sea level, to officially announce the top 12 contenders of OIAM 3, to the media, just hours before the Top 20 show aired on 8TV. We guess the contestants were being portrayed as literally reaching for the skies as signified by the choice of venue for the reveal by the producers of the ever popular reality talent show.
Attending the event were of course all 12 of the finalist, of whom six of them surprisingly turned out to be mainstream recording artistes, while the rest were brand new hopefuls, turning the competition into an interesting battle between celebs & non celebs. In the celebrity mix, is Akademi Fantasia 3 second runner up Amylea Azizan & Mentor winner Pija, as well as Bintang RTM 2007 second runner up Rehana. Also looking for a major uplift to their careers were Shah Indrawan @tomok from popular boy band New Boys, Zulqarnain @ Nine from pop rock outfit Coco, and winner of the Most Promising Male Artiste at AIM 2007, Ridzuan Sharifuddin. They will be up against brand new voices, Fify Amielia, Elizabeth Chin @ Esther, Nasharul Aweera, Nurhidayu, Anith Aqilah & OIAM returnee Simon Michaels.
Based on what we have seen, heard & experienced over the past few months, Rentak Sejuta has to concur that this is probably the best ever top 12 produced by OIAM in 3 seasons. Although we would have preferred to see at least 2 other hopefuls (namely the innovative Darren Ashley & the golden voiced Awangku Faviq) in the line up, whom we thought would have made it a more impressive top 12, we are not overly distressed with the judges final selections.
This season will contain 15 episodes (4 of which have already aired), culminating into the Grand Finals' episode on 1st of May which will see the Top 3 competing for the grand prize of a RM 1 Million. It is certainly going to be a heated competition simply based on the quality & the maturity of the contestants as exhibited during their teaser showcase at KL Tower. I was amazed and awed at the tremendous leap in their standards from the day they actually qualified for the Top 12 over a month ago. The intense training invested in them over that period by the producers certainly has and will pay dividends both for the contestants and the eventual TV viewers who will enjoy the depth the new season will bring. Kudos to their trainers (vocal mentor Ning Baizura, stagecraft mentor Pat Ibrahim, overall performance & motivational mentor Juita Abdul Jalil & vocal trainer Yuaz) who have evidently brought the best out of them.
As a long term advocate as well as critic of the show, I am very pleased that the producers have upped the ante, and are intent on delivering the best ever OIAM season to the masses.
Even 8TV's CEO & OIAM co-conspirator Ahmad Izham Omar echoed our enthuasism regarding the standard of the show in his passionate speech;
"We have now entered the next level of this intense competition. With the highest judging standards we've ever seen, only the most outstanding singing talents amongst the Top 80 were picked to continue their journey."
"It was a tough call during the central elimination stages and the judges had to make the hardest decision picking the Top 12. We would like to not only maintain the high quality of future artistes that the competition will soon reveal but also the quality and productivity of the show that we hope will satisfy the fans of the show as well as viewers of 8TV in general"
It certainly looks like they might just achieve that this year after a lacklustre season 2. It is very clear that the producers want to make OIAM the ultimate reality show in the region, and have invested heavily on the quality of the show this year. They even went to the extent of making us an acompli in their mission, by giving us near unrestricted access to their production & the contestants so that we can bring you our viewers the best ever & totally unbiased online coverage this season.
In a week's time most of you will be able to witness the unfolding of brand new stars right there in front of your TV screens or at the live studio broadcast at Sri Pentas 2 at Plaza Alam Central, as you are drawn to some of the most talented singers in the country And by the beginning of the following episode, someone will surely be eliminated, which may make some of you very sore. Thus the fun and drama will begin.
To edge you all on this new journey, we decided to draw first blood by starting our regular weekly ranking system right from the outset, by basing it on, not the Top 20 show, but from what we saw from the teasers at KL Tower.
To be absolutely fair, every single one of the Top 12 performed more than admirably and can easily have been tops in any other reality show in the country based on their top notch performances delivered at the press conference. I guess for the first time most of the mainstream press, would have found it rather hard to fault anyone. One popular mainstream reporter even wanted one of the contestants to continue singing even after he had ended. Now, that's a first!!! Even in such extraordinary quality of contestants, we at Rentak Sejuta found few that we felt were ahead of the rest and were destined to be stars. Whether we are right or way off base, we will find out when the season ends. Until then this is our very first ranking based ONLY on their performance at the press conference on Friday last.
Rentak Sejuta's Ranking (Non episode)
1. Elizabeth Chin (ESTHER)
2. Simon Michaels (SIMON)
3. Fify Emielia (FIFY)
4. Amylea Azizan (AMYLEA)
5. Zulqarnain (NINE)
6. Nasharul Aweera (AWEERA)
7. Norafizah Md Yasin (PIJA)
8. Nurhidayu (AYU)
9. Rehana MD Yunus (HAN)
10. Shah Indrawan (TOMOK)
11. Anith Aqilah (ANITH)
12. Ridzuan Sharifuddin (RIZU)
We bet this will stir up things. Its going to be a tough competition, so we just want the contestants to know that reality is about to bite. It may all be very different once the live shows begin, as things get turned inside out again. And we at Rentak Sejuta will be right here writing and commenting about it.
ENJOY SEASON 3. WE KNOW WE WILL!!!
"To the victor goes the rose and the golden throne."
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