Culturally Preconditioned

Wow. That was easily the best Malaysian Idol episode yet. Excuse me, was I watching the Final 8 show or was it the wildcard show? Well, the eight contestants tonight sure could’ve fooled me. It seemed that Farah was chosen to be in the wildcard show as well, but she had to turn it down to continue her studies. That’s okay, there’s always next year. I’m just wondering who was her alternate. My guess, based on the judges’ past comments and their performances, is it could be either Hana or Fariz or Yin. Okay, so let’s get down to business.

Sufiah - Akhirnya Kini Pasti (Anita Sarawak)

Sufiah looked radiant tonight, almost like a younger version of Aishah (do you think Paul Moss noticed the similarities?). Sufiah picked a catchy Malay song, which was pretty bold of her. It did showcase her versatility of singing in a different song genre, but I feel her previous performance was so much better. It was a great performance but personally, it was kind of a let down for me. A 7.

Yin - Colours Of The Wind (Vanessa Williams)

She looked much better tonight, thanks to her sister who did the make up. I was not prepared for her performace. It was a whole lot better than her previous performance. Angelic is the perfect word to describe her voice (Thanks, SC). I have to disagree with Roslan and Gee who commented on her dictions. She said the words very clearly and I think the judges were still thinking about her conversations with Aleya before the performance. Her conersational English could do with a little polishing if she wants to make it big though. But performance wise, I think it was near flawless. I was very very impressed. An 8 and a half

Fariz - Mungkin (Anuar Zain)

I hate to admit it but Fariz sang pretty well tonight. My only gripe this time is that, so far we’ve only heard him singing Malay songs. Personally I think for an Idol show, it’s fine if contestants only sing English songs throughout the competition. It’s nice if we can hear them sing in English and Malay as well. But I don’t think singing just in Malay all throughout the show is a good idea. But then again, I remembered Fariz singing in English for his first failed audition (I think it was a horrendous rendition of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello”) so I just stopped complaining and started to count my blessings. A 7.

Rydee - Fallin’ (Alicia Keys)

She’s Beautiful with a capital B! I love love love seeing the FUN Rydee in the pre-show clips. I was getting nervous when she started singing the song. I mean, it practically got butchered last week, will it happen again this week? Thankfully, it didn’t. I loved Rydee’s rendition of the song. She did not go overboard, which many singers are so prone to when singing these kind of songs. It was breathtaking. Easily the performance of the night. Congratulations! A 9.

Syima - Careless Whisper (Wham)

Syima was visibly nervous before her performance, and that made ME nervous, dammit! LOL I’m kinda glad ‘the hair’ is gone and her dressing was so very sempoi. Me likey. Her choice of song was very interesting as I’m a fan of George Michael (I will probably have a tiny orgasm if someone sings “I Can’t Make You Love Me” during the competition LOL). Syima’s rendition was superb. I thought she was dangerously close to losing the actual song melody at first, but thankfully she did not. She was clearly in control and knows exactly what she’s doing. Fuck Roslan and Gee. They don’t know what they’re saying. Syima, you told me that if you get chosen for the wildcard show, you promised to try and give us a performance that we won’t forget. I just wanna say thank you for keeping that promise. I’ll be voting for you, girl. A 9. And for once, Paul Moss is right, Malaysian Idol WILL be less fun without you.

Rinie - Ke Hujung Dunia (Siti Sarah)

Like Sufiah, she sang a Malay song for this second round. And just like Sufiah, it was a great performance, but was overshadowed by the other performances in my opinion. Her voice is still great though. A 7.

Nikki - The Voice Within (Christina Aguilera)

I’m going to sound like a biased pig here but I think my judgment will still stand after the second viewing on Sunday. I was hoping to hear a great performance from Nikki, I honestly did. I liked her much better with her locks let down from her head, very nice. And “The Voice Within” seemed like a good song choice for her. But. (here it comes).. I didn’t like her performance almost as much as I didn’t like Hana’s performance last week. Her voice switched from serene to severe gruntings almost immediately in certain parts.. and the modulations were so.. wrong! It truly did sound rather sumbang to me.. the flow was not smooth enough. But all three judges raved about her performance, so.. what do I know? Nikki, if you make it through, I wish you the best, and personally I would rather hear you get back to singing Mariah Carey songs (I never thought I’d ever say that, but shit happens). A 6 and a half.

Hana - Ku Teruskan (Siti Sarah)

Sorry but I wasn’t paying much attention to the final performance. It was good. Ten times better than her last performance. Hana reminds me a lot of Dina, and I don’t see why we should have singers with similar styles in the finals. And again with the Malay song. A 7.

All in all, I enjoyed the wildcard episode very much. If we could switch these guys with the chosen 9 finalists, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

My pick and votes will go to :

Syima (duh), and I’ll probably send a few votes down Rydee’s way as well.

Malaysia’s pick will probably be :

Nikki

I think the judges will choose Nikki/Rydee to advance to the final round.

Izad - Out!