Interesting enough, the Final 3 for this year's Singapore Idol consist of two guys and a girl... similar to last year's batch, when we had the ever-cool Taufik Batisah (who's doing moderately well in the Asian market, and was even invited to Siti Nurhaliza's wedding a few weeks ago), vocal powerhouse Olinda Cho (who, as one of the spokespersons for Royal Slimming Center, is looking more feminine and sexier as of late) and the sausage-lipped, scrawny Ah Beng Sylvester Sim, whose Hype Records contract had recently been terminated 'on mutual terms' due to 'personal issues' (tho we don't know exactly when, cos Ken won't tell us. But we do know that it's abt less than 3 months ago).After going through much accusations, judges' sabotaging and controversial eliminations, we are finally down to 3 good-looking, talented and popular individuals: the cool and suave Jonathan Leong, the super-sweetie Jasmine Tye and the heartthrob Hady Mirza. Unfortunately, this may be the very last season of Singapore Idol, according to sources from an insider scoop. So do vote for who you think are most worthy to be in the Finals on the 24th and 25th of September, cos you may never get that chance ever again.
While Im not gonna write my verdict on their overall performances in today's entry, I'm going to copy down what was written abt the Final 3 in the Singapore Idol website...
Jonathan Leong What he's got going for him: Stands out from the crowd with an imposing presence. Already looks like a star. And so dead serious about his art, you know he won't bluff your money when he sells you his album.
What's not so: His less candid — though friendly — personality and reserve may prove a tad two-dimensional and bland for the dirt-hungry press. And he cannot move. Once he moves, he just appears a little out of sync. Kinda reminds us of U2's Bono as he wriggled haplessly to one of their very first music videos for I Will Follow two decades ago (now you know why he doesn't attempt to dance now). Dig it up on Youtube.
Best moments: Unforgettable, where he wore to a fault the sensitive, ‘wandering poet in search of a muse' persona to a fault while taking Singapore for an inspired vocal waltz to smell the roses. And Snow Patrol's soft-rock burner Chasing Cars, which probably caused an hour's lag in voting traffic right after the performance as masses of fans contemplated his invitation to “lie with me/ and just forget the world”… before snapping out of the spell just in time to vote for him. Lucky they still had the next 22 hours or so to.
Worst moments
Stone Temple Pilots' Plush, just because of the way he scared us with his stylised (notice how we say ‘stylised' and not ‘stylish') kabuya-inspired makeup from Gene Simmons' left-over stash of makeup in the 70s — we think Japanese horror films has found a new inspiration. And Luther Vandross's Dance with My Father. For the latter, he seemed really, really bored as he veered slightly off pitch at times with an uncharacteristically weak yelp. Maybe it's from having to work on a national holiday.
Jasmine Tye What she's got going for her: Likeable, affable, friendly and easy on the eye. Even has a ready smile plus presidential wave for us poor struggling writers — this budding pro is well-primed to wave to all her fans out there. Very marketable.
What's not so: Too much sugar can give you diabetes. Then again, Jasmine's so non-threatening she's not even sugar, she's Xylitol (what on earth is that??).
Best moments: Jewel's Foolish Games. This 18-year-old has the Superman syndrome — make her sing ‘little girl' songs meant for 8-year-olds ( Wannabe ) and she fumbles, but when it comes to songs that sound best with 80 years of beat-down emotional baggage (like this one), she stuns the house to silence. A close second is her risk-taking Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine. Days before she was slated to perform this song, we could hear Jasmine down the corridor from our office giving her lungs a thorough workout at the washroom — the only place where the perfectionist says she wouldn't disturb anyone. Er, sorry, we heard everything. But we were very impressed.
Worst moments: Spice Girls' Wannabe — she really came across as one. We've coined a new word for our response to her performance: holler-ble. The sheer audacity of her blah monotone drawl for Faith Hill's There You'll Be, too. We didn't want to be there.
Hady Mirza What he's got going for him: Has a certain seasoned feel and charismatic charm which earns him extra cred in his heartfelt song deliveries. We can imagine everyone wanting to be Hady's something, like moms wanting him for their son, women wanting him as their lover, guys wanting him as a cool bloke to hang out with, female pirates wanting him as their Caribbean (fine, we know this is corny), babies wanting him as their father, leather jackets wanting him as the wearer… you know
What's not so: We hate to say this, but as the third oldest among the 12 finalists at age 26, he might just be a bit old to cart out into the increasingly teeny music market. The good thing is, we can see how his three years over fellow man-of-rock Jonathan and eight years over cutie powerhouse Jasmine correlate exponentially to his extra training. Doesn't this read like a job interview where you turn the cons to pros? We think so.
Best moments: Journey's Faithfully . All he had to do was do a long-drawn ‘Whooooah, whoooooah' and it's one ‘Whooooah, whoooooah' to rule all the fans. And when he sauntered out onto the stage with Santana's Maria Maria , everybody wanted world peace, go for the Woodstocks and Womads of the world, and audition for West Side Story . If you could install a Hady in cafés, he'd put smoothies out of business everywhere.
Worst moment: We're hard pressed to find one. If anything, he did tame Prince's intensely passionate Kiss to a purr. Maybe what he had in mind was a harmless, platonic peck.
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