Everything about last night’s Asian Idol

Quote taken from Kaskus:

kalo mike mau menang,

rakyat indo harus milih mike n yg dari vietnam..

karena..
-yg dari vietnam suaranya ga bagus2 amat, dukungan rakyatnya kecil, jadi voting bisa dialihkan ke dia instead ke negara lain..
-kalo filipin, rakyatnya maniak sms, jadi saingan berat (jangan pilih filipin)
-kalo india suaranya ga bagus.. tapi ada ratusan juta diehard fans yg siap sms dia (jangan pilih india)
-yg malingsia suaranya bagus banget... tapi orang indo jangan harap milih dia.. sentimen anti malingsia lagi panas2 nya disini (jangan dipilih, karena akan memperkecil chance mike)
-yg singapore.. ga usah dipikirin, biar seluruh orang singapur dikali 2 tetep ga ngaruh..

The above quotation is a cool analysis enough. Lols.

Anyway, below is my own review of last night’s Asian Idol. As I’m not a crooning master nor have I studied vocal arts, pls forgive my “plebeian” judgement. I’m giving my own perspective of them as the way I see it, so be prepared to see tidbits of national biases…

To be noted, I’m not reviewing them in any particular order.

Toshihiko’s review of last night’s Asian Idol

1. Hady Mirza (Singapore)

***Review: I don’t know why Singapore chose him over Taufik Batisah, is it because he’s more attractive? I thought Taufik was the more popular one, being the first etc. Anyway, he sang quite well in his Malay song “Berserah”, but I think he didn’t do quite well for his “Beautiful Day” song. It was a wrong choice of song and after all, it’s U2’s song? Doesn’t seem quite right for him to sing it solo. Anyway, I disagree on the judges and MCs’ comments that only female voters would be enticed to vote for him. He’s quite good.

***Verdict: A good choice for Asian Idol, though I’m not voting for him.

2. Jaclyn Victor (Malaysia)

***Review: My sister was quick to point out that she is the singer of the Asian version of High School Musical soundtrack and she is indeed the most well-known Asian Idol contestant outside of the respective country now. She sang incredibly with good personifying, but unfortunately she’s a Malaysian. No offence intended here, but my love for Indonesia forbids me to vote for her (which is a pity for Malaysia, really. If the Reog Ponorogo, Rasa Sayange and other heaps of stuff hadn’t been claimed by Malaysia, I’m sure more Indonesians would care to spend their Rp 2000 on voting for her).

***Verdict: I must admit that she deserves a high merit, though votes for her by Indonesians are highly discouraged.

3. Phương Vy (Vietnam)

***Review: I know she’s the cutest girl there but her voice proves not. I used to live with a Vietnamese roommate for 2 years with all his Vietnamese song collections and believe me, those (the songs Phương had sung) are the kind of songs that Vietnamese people favour most. She’s quite good as a Vietnamese singer, but not as an international one. She needs to apply a different persona if she wants to go global.

***Verdict: As aforementioned, she isn’t ready to go global. Being cute isn’t everything. Thus, I don’t encourage non-Vietnamese to vote for her.

4. Mau Marcelo (Phillipines)

***Review: Wow, she’s marvellous! She reminded me of one of the American Idol winner (or was she a finalist?) who also had a similar posture and voice to hers. Both the Tagalog and English songs were well sung.

***Verdict: Votes are well deserved; I highly encourage others to do the same.

5. Mike Mohede (Indonesia)

***Review: Mike is also comparable to an American idol winner (his name is Rueben if I’m not wrong), who has a very amazing voice with a similar posture. He brought the R.Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” with a more uniquely personal “Mikey” taste to it whose whole embodiment made us speechless.

***Verdict: What can I say? Of course I’m voting for him.

6. Abhijeet Sawant (India)

***Review: Coming from a nation where English is widely used, I’m quite taken aback to find out how poor Sawant's English is. But that’s not the main issue here. Probably not used in bringing English songs, he sang with a poor personifying in the “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” song. Moreover, his Indian “Junoon” song which is more suitable for Bollywood movies and Indian people, doesn’t have too much of an international taste to it that may turn some people away.

***Verdict: Relax, he has got a big population backing him… Better vote for Hady/Mau/Mike instead.

Some other stuff about Asian Idol

Last week, as I watched Mike Mohede becoming the first Asian Idol contestant from Indonesia, I wondered how on earth the vote of Indonesians (whose country population totals 250 million) could help him beat the Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant (who has 1 billion+ behind him). A dimmer aspect would be for the Singapore Idol Hady Mirza, who only has a maximum of 4 million people backing him. That is of course, the case if the entire population chooses to vote one SMS each.

Then I found out how the Fremantle evens the playing field by making it a requirement that each caller votes for two contestants, thus allowing contestants to receive votes aside from their respective countries. Nationalistic bias would indeed come first, howsoever bad/good the person who represents your country is. Now that’s a brilliant move!

Moreover, as consideration on population size among the participating countries, tabulation of votes are done through an "Equal and Even Cumulative Method", wherein the total votes of each country are converted into percentages. The winner will be determined through 50% viewers' votes and 50% judges' scores.

To address differences in time zones (and in some cases, telecast dates), shows about Asian Idol was broadcast on different time slots and dates depending on the country. For instance, viewers in Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia, watched Road to Asian Idol on 8 December 2007, while it was shown in Vietnam on December 9. Viewers in India and Singapore will watch the preview program on December 14.

The Performance Night was taped on 12 December 2007, in Hall D2 of Arena Pekan Raya Jakarta. This program will be seen first by viewers in Vietnam on 14 December 2007, followed by viewers in other participating countries on 15 December 2007, although in different time slots.

The Results Show, meanwhile, will be shown on 16 December 2007, with varying time slots.

SuperStar KZ, the Idol franchise of Kazakhstan, was included in the lineup but failed to send a representative.

Below is a random stuff that just caught my eye...

Who has the best picture in the Asian Idol Gallery?
	Phương Vy	44.74 % (16428)
	Mike Mohede	40.81 % (14984)
	Mau Marcelo	11.80 % (4334)
	Jaclyn Victor	0.94 % (345)
	Abhijeet Sawant	0.89 % (327)
	Hady Mirza	0.82 % (302)
Total votes: 36720
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