Culturally Preconditioned

So Malaysian Idol 2 is back… but like AF3, I just don’t feel the heat. In fact, I am actually more surprised there hasn’t been any coverage in the papers promoting the new season of Idol lately. Anyway, I shied away from watching the earlier audition shows (only caught the first one) cause personally I think they’re not that important. I mean, most of the time they’re gonna show

(1) talentless media whores who’s can’t sing for shit but try to get on tv and get their 5 minutes of fame, and
(2) they’re gonna focus on certain contestants and whore them out on tv, giving us their sob stories and interviews that want the viewers to root for them regardless of their talent… thanks but no thanks. (It’s interesting that all the Top 3 from last year was given ‘exclusive’ interviews and backstories way back from the audition stages, no?).

Anyway, I caught the two hour theatre eliminations last week, and was just totally blown away. Oh no.. not blown away by the talents.. blown away buy how much egoistic most of the contestants have become compared to last year. And can I just say on record that I am so damn glad the final girl who cries at everything, and I mean EVERY fucking thing, was dropped from the competition. Anyway, spotted several good singers.. no one outstanding as yet. But then again, I wasn’t completely blown away by Sufiah until her workshop performance last year, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. The only contestant with potential Idol material I’ve seen as of now is Ash.. but we’ll see.

Workshop 1

Norsila 10221 (Kaulah Segalanya - Ruth Sahanaya) - I remembered this girl from the only audition episode that I watched. I loved her sultry vampish quality back then. Her workshop performance, however, was simply a fucking disaster. 3/10

Shone 11266 (These Are The Moments - Edwin McCain) - First time seeing this guy perform. It was good, the song fits him, but he could’ve done better. An average 5/10

Faizull 11451 (Penunggu - Sweet Charity) - I immediately liked this guy from the theater eliminations because we could see how much he struggled through the English song.. that was terrible but he didn’t give up. As for his song for the workshop, I thought his performance was brilliant… as a rocker. I enjoyed it. I don’t know what the fuck Roslan was talking about pitching. I thought he sounded good, but then again, I’m not the record producer. Anyway, I liked his performance very much but honestly, I will have problems voting for him to be the next Idol because his talent is limited only to Malay rock songs. 8/10

Atilia 11249 (Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin) - Wow! I love her. Awesome awesome awesome. I sincerely hope she will not have the same fate as Yin last year who fell from grace because of her looks. She’s not that bad looking, come on. I thought the judges comments were pretty harsh (considering how many other contestants have REALLY FUCKING BAD TEETH).. I thought the comments on her looks were biased. But funny though, she DID look like she aged 10 years older than her clip from the audition. Nevertheless, I will be voting for Atilia. Very nice. 8/10

Fauzi 10874 (Angel - Jon Secada) - Everything about this guy reminds me of Ruben Studdard. His voice is quite good. Not bad, not bad at all. 7/10

Lisa 10560 (Ku Tak Sanggup - Kris Dayanti) - I also remember this girl from the early auditions. Her performance is just too average for me. 5.5/10

Faizal 10688 (Relaku Pujuk - Spider) - I don’t care what the judges say, but I thought this guy’s voice was good. He had no pitching problems whatsoever.. but it could be due to the fact that this song doesn’t require that much of a range. Anyway, I liked his performance. 6.5/10

Xerra 11171 (Cahaya - Kris Dayanti) - This girl’s got a LOT of exposure during the theater eliminations. I liked her, she seemed to have got a nice voice, pleasant personality and unique hair. Haha.. but her performance was just aweful. What a letdown. 5/10

Only THREE from this group will advance to the Finals. Who will it be? Based on last night’s performance, I would say the best three are Atilia, Faizull and Fauzi. But knowing the lemmings that the viewers are, I’m gonna take a guess and say that Xerra will definitely make it through (and possibly Lisa or Shone too) and poor Atilia will bite the dust. I will send my votes to Atilia’s way this week.

Don’t forget to watch the live telecast of Live 8 everyone! (Astro Channel 88 starting from 9 pm Saturday and rerun on Sunday noon. Also you can hear it live on www.Mix.fm)