Culturally Preconditioned

I remember last year when Aznil ended the Final AF concert by adking the audience “What would your weekend nights be without Akademi Fantasia”. I’m not surprised he used the exact same sentence again this time. You can literally feel the fever, and I’m sure many people will feel the empty gap in their Saturday nights to come. But as for me, as long as 8tv is still booking the midnight slot for Kyan, Jai, Carson, Thom and Ted, I still won’t be able to go out and catch the midnight shows in the cinemas. But yeah, it will be bloody surreal next week when I tune in to Astro Ria and not see the familiar faces of the AF kids.

Adam - Ooh La La and Haruskah
Seriously Adam, the bandangan thingy is just getting old, and I was rolling when Aznil casually took a shot at him by saying that old people probably use it to wipe their noses. As for his performance, it was nothing to write home about. He seemed happy that he got the KRU song, but again, it looked as if he enjoyed dancing more than he did singing. He started off the second song (which was written by Ajai) quite promising, but he quickly went back to Adam-mode. I was snickering silently to myself when he foolishly stood quietly while prompting the audience to join him in the chorus. It was a new song, for crying out loud. What was he thinking. I mean, seriously. I may sound harsh, but that’s the reality of it. He was the weakest of the bunch tonight.

Zahid - Biarkan Bulan Bicara and Milikku
Zahid started off weak for his first song, but he picked it up near towards the end. I was actually disappointed with his first performance. It was an average performance compared to his previous ones. The second song (written by Ruffedge) was a different performance altogether. He was in his element and it showed. He was doing the rapping, the singing and all the stuff at the same time. If that were sung by Ruffedge, that probably would’ve been done by several different people at the same time. But Zahid pulled it off all by himself, so he gets my respect for his efforts. Not the best from this Kg Baru kid, but that’ll do. I think he also coined a new cool term : “PENGAFUNDI” - people who voted. And the foghorns coming from the audience was just teriffic.

Linda - Aku Cinta Kamu and Only You
Linda only had a few days to prepare for her first song which was a new song written by Ajai and Nurul (the others had like 5 days to practise their new songs, but she had.. what.. two or three days?). Her first performance was just alright, in my opinion, but I thought her dialogue in the middle of the song was a rather nice touch. Her second song, which was sung in Spanish, was quite good, though nobody would’ve known if she stumbled on the song cause I’m assuming not that many viewers speak Spanish. She looked lovely in that hot red dress and red flower in her hair, just like a Spanish senorita (kinda reminds me of Madonna in the La Isla Bonita video). However, I noticed that the audience’s response to her was not that great.. it was lacklustre, actually. As much as I love Linda, I was secretly hoping she’s not going to win, because God knows, a lot of people have already been accusing her of some terrible shits because she was brought back into the show last week. Get a life, whiners. She was voted in by the viewers. Deal with it.

Bob - Gadis Sarawak and Cinta Seorang Teman
Bob’s introduction in the first song was pure sweetness. I was totally captivated for a few seconds. But he lost me somewhere in the middle of the song. And I think he forgot some of the lyrics but he covered it pretty well. However, his second song. Y.O.W.Z.A.!. I was absolutely, totally mesmerized and that’s not an exagerration. For the first time, I was finally able to fully appreciate Bob’s voice. It’s beautiful. No, exquisite, more like it. And I loved the song. Adnan Abu Hassan is a genius for composing that song for Bob. Easily the performance of the night. Hands down. Bob is not getting much credit as he deserved. But the ugly facts remain that most viewers still choose voice over talent. It’s a real shame. I’m not saying the others are not good. I’m just saying that they’re not the only ones that are good.

Farah - Tangisan Dalam Kerinduan and Sk8er Boi
As at the time of writing this, I have actually forgotten Farah’s first performance. All that I could remember was that vocally, it was better than Linda’s first performance, but some of the part using her lower register were barely audible. The short little segment of her finally meeting Johnny were unbelievably bittersweet. You could honestly tell from her expressions that she really was happy to finally see Johnny. It shows and I don’t believe there was an iota of fakeness. I love robot love affairs that ends happily. Anyway, her choice of singing Avril’s song was a very bold one, but it was really enjoyable. It was good and I loved it. Farah has actually supercede my expectations of her tonight.

Kaer - Sway and Kembali Bersama
Awww.. who wouldn’t want to bring this guy home to meet the parents? So clean cut, so sweet, so polite, so perfect. But I ain’t buying any of that. I hate to trash him cause I do believe that he’s a good kid, but his performance was so.. bleh, ya know? His first performance was a real awkward one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Jazz singer throw themselves on a couch in the middle of a performance. No, not even female ones, and that bothered me to no end. (Dude, only Madonna managed to pull that off in the 1990 MTV Movie Awards show). And while we’re at it, Michael Buble is pronounced Boo-blay.. not Bubble. But I blame the teachers for not pointing that out to him. Sheesh! His second performance was good, but not good enough that I remembered to take notes about it. All I remembered was that he closed the song quite well.

Was anyone out there at all surprised to see Zahid crowned as a winner? I thought not. He’s a really versatile singer, with a nice personality to match. Overrated? I don’t think so. I knew Linda was going to give Zahid a run for his money and I’m glad she became the runner up. Another well deserved placing (despite her being brought back into the academy after being booted out). Could I ask for a better first and second place? The answer is no. I do, however, have major issues with Adam getting the thrid place, but what’s done is done, so congratulations to you too Adam. I have to give special mention to Farah. I think she’s one of the singers who have continually shown gradual improvements for the past few weeks (the rest have either been constantly good, constantly bad, or constantly forgettable). And she has hung on the second last place for an eternity, but yet she still survived till the Final concert based on her merits. Kudos, girl. As for Bob, don’t worry kid. You’re going to make your presence felt in the local music industry. I’m sure of it.

So that’s all for this year folks. Will there be a third edition of Akademi Fantasia next year? Well, Astro will be out of their minds if they decided not to have another installment of this hugely popular tv show in the country. I don’t think there has ever been a local show that is successful with this kind of magnitude. And I loved Aznil’s summary of “The Magic of Akademi Fantasia” because, let’s face it, the show IS magical. Congratulations Astro, Zahid, the entire AF2 students, the teachers and all who’s involved with the show. Thank you for a magical summer.