Asian Idol: My Random Thoughts

The certified singing contest addict that I am, it is expected that I was not about to let the search for the first Asian Idol simply pass. So I did watch both the performance and the results nights.

Here go my random observations:

Just as the Indian judge predicted, an upset was possible. Singapore’s Hady Mirza, clearly not a vocal powerhouse but a genuine charmer, won the Asian Idol title. What does this prove? That the idol search is not entirely about singing – it is about the person’s ability to connect with the audience not only through his voice but more importantly, his personality.

But the winner was determined via text votes (two choices per message). How did Hady Mirza win despite coming from a small country, meaning with lesser number of possible texters? Let me venture some guesses. First, he does have a set of loyal fans who surely voted for him non-stop. Second, he possesses good looks - enough to capture the votes of the other countries. And third, he was not perceived as a threat. With voters required to vote for two idols, each country surely rallied support for their own bets. But they could not be expected to vote for their perceived competitors. Thus they will have to vote for the safer contestants. I think Hady got most of the second votes.

How did Philippine idol Mau Marcelo fare? Good, I guess. But not phenomenal enough to set the audience on fire.

In any singing contest, the choice of song is critical. And I have always believed that Ako ang Nagwagi is not really a good piece, unless you have Dulce’s vocal range or higher. The song is designed to awe and impress at very first salvo – after that the melody becomes repetitive and boring. Mau sang it on a lower key and was not really able to lift it to soaring heights. That’s why the Malaysian judge commented that she was holding out, as she was capable of doing better.

Her rendition of Reach was better and did impress the judges, but this was later upstaged by Indonesian Mike Mohede’s rendition of I Believe I Can Fly (although to me, Eric Santos’ version was far better).

Last night, the idols were more relaxed and thus sang better. Hady and Jaclyn were great in their “Freedom” duet. India’s Abhijeet Sawant gave the audience more reason to vote for him than just his cute smile. Mike however, started well but later faded to oblivion when Guy Sebastian came in. And sadly, Mau Marcelo was reduced to doing back-up for Rivermaya. She didn’t even seem to have memorized the song.

So, if I were to judge who did best in the contest, who would it be? I think it should have been Jaclyn Victor of Malaysia, closely tailed by Mike and Mau.

One last thing: I tried voting for Mau and Jaclyn three times but all I got were replies to the effect that the “service is temporarily unavailable.” Anyone having the same experience?