Oh wow. What a show! I never thought I’d EVER say this but I’m kinda glad I skipped watching a Survivor episode for another show. Believe me, you will never hear me say that again. But.. whoa! The Malaysian Idol grand finale is the total shiznits! (Survivor recap will be posted on Monday)
The show started off with a rather ambitious Red Carpet kinda thing. That was a great effort - giving the show a glorified pseudo Hollywood-ish kinda feel. What’s lacking was the lack of celebrity. I mean, Sasi The Don.. Phlowtron..? Okay, so they are artists in their own rights, but come on! I’m sure they could get more, you know, bigger and better celebrities. But overall, I liked their effort. There’s always time for improvements next year.
The show started off with a group ensemble of the 10 other Malaysian Idol finalists. “Ku Bawa Sinar” was a feel good song, and granted that the 10 weren’t exactly AF students and it seemed pretty messy, it was quite a fun performance (for the finalists - I can’t speak the same for the viewers). What? Give me a break. This is going to be the last time I’ll be criticizing their performances. Let me rant, okay? LOL Anyway, out of the 10, I see big things for Sufiah, Nikki, Saiful, Vick and Zamil - I’m not overtly worried about those five. Oh, and to the producers, where the heck was Shima? She was so robbed.
Jien gave me a glint ray of hope when he asked Gee if she “was going to miss sitting in between the two guys”. I take that to mean, either she WON’T be here next season, or better yet, the baldy next to her won’t be in the judges seat next season. And I would like to slap silly the idiots who replied “YES!!” when Roslan asked if they wanted to hear more pantuns from him (And Jien.. STOP encouraging him). Urghh enough already with the pantuns. But I don’t know, to be fair, Roslan’s comments on Dina and Jac’s capabilities (the one recorded while he was in the recording studio) proved that he knows what he’s talking about, music and talent wise. I just don’t know why he comes across as an ignorant fuck during the shows. His comments during the show come across as one dimensional, shallow and well, pretty much useless - as though he’s trying to hard to give these ‘controversial yet meaningful’ comments to woo the viewers. Meh. Whatever. Hopefully that’ll be my final rant on him. Ever.
Other highlights of the show.. hmm… well I really like Dina’s quote of “Rock chick don’t play with Pooh bears”. That was pretty witty. Oooh and I looooved the special guest ‘appearances’ by Fantasia, Bicurious George and Boomquisha. They rock! And I am still wondering, why do people keep saying that the Malaysian Idol winner will be up against Fantasia in the World Idol? I thought it was Ruben’s turn to perform in the World Idol. Well whatever it is, Fantasia/Ruben may not be the best in the World Idol stage. There could be a Kurt Nielsen Part Deux too.
Okay, on to the performances. I’m going to keep these very very brief :
“Gemilang” - Dina (the Malaysian Idol single)
Dina hit excellent high notes but she fell a tad short near the end, In some parts, I feel like her voice was drowned out by the loud music. But it was a very pleasant performance. An 8 and a half.
“Tunggu Sekejap” - Jac (Judges’ Pick)
I can’t honestly say that I’ve really listened to P Ramlee’s version prior to Jac’s first performance. And after hearing the original P Ramlee version, her rendition tonight was just WOW! How did she ever manage to turn that P Ramlee original into a song like that? Her ending was excelent. A 9.
“Jelingan Manja” - Dina (Her pick)
I wasn’t sure if Dina was going to sing “Jelingan Manja” or “When You Believe” for the finals cause I thought these were her two best performances. Her rendition this time was very nice, but not nearly as nice as her first rendition. Gee stole the words out of my mouth. She lacked that certain cheekiness (and that cheeky laughter) that made the first rendition so excellent. But it was still a good performance. A 9.
“When I Fall In Love” - Jac (Her pick)
I was over the hill when Jac chose to sing this song, because I still believe that her performance for this song from the 3rd concert was her best performance so far. Well, until tonight, that is. I didn’t think she could’ve made the song any better, but goddammit, she DID! She can even pull the notes while sitting down. INfuckinCREDIBLE. A perfect 10. That performance just blew Fantasia’s (overrated) Summertime the fuck away.
“Hit Em Up Style” - Dina (Judges’ Pick)
Well, Dina was clearly in her element with this song. Though she sounded good, I think her first rendition was much better than this one. And I think she shrieked a note somewhere in the middle. An 8.
“Gemilang” - Jac (Malaysian Idol single)
Jac looked elegant in that all black dress. Her rendition is this song is much superior than that of Dina’s. And Paul summed it up just right. It was a perfect ending to this season. A 9 and a half.
So, who you’re gonna vote for? You have less than 10 hours to vote now, so get your asses on gear and vote vote vote!
