Wanna Be An Idol? Clear your schedule...

Can you handle Idol 24/7?

Does Idol Land look super glamourous and cotton candy wonderful from where you're standing? Rubbing shoulders with celebs, free VIP passes to concerts, Gala movie premieres and adoring fans - where got stress? Perform only once a week what, other days can play right?

Wrong.

Every season, people sign up for Idol thinking they can wing it, it should be ok, just concentrate on the competition, maybe a few meetings here and there with producers or sponsors etc, one show a week, plenty of time to practice etc.

Little do they realise what the Idol schedule entails.

Because of the nature of the show (its a reality programme and elimination happens on a weekly basis) every day is packed to the brim with production commitments, rehearsals, promos and so on.

Here's a glimpse at what a typical Idol week looks like...

Saturday

10am–7pm: Vocal training for next week's Spectacular

7pm-9pm: Choreography for President's Star Charity (or whatever show/event they are appearing at, last week it was the MediaCorp Trade Show)

(thats the whole day gone by the way :))

Sunday

1pm: Report at Make Up unit for makeup for Roadshow

4pm-5pm: Roadshow @ Mall

7pm-9pm: Choreography for President's Star Charity

Monday

9am-9.30am: 987 radio interview – Report at reception sofa @8.45am

12pm–3pm: Imaging for this Wednesday's Spectacular & MTV shoot

6pm onwards: Choreography for this Wed's Spectacular

Tuesday

9am-9.30am: 987 radio interview – Report at reception sofa @8.45am

3pm-6pm Fitting for shoes and accessories for MTV

6.30pm onwards: Keycheck for NEXT week's Spectacular (eventhough you may not be coming back next week, you still gotta prepare.)

Wednesday (IDOL DAY)

9am-9.30am: 987 radio interview – Report at reception sofa @8.45am

For those not involved in the radio interview:

8.45am: report at wardrobe to collect clothes for tonight

9.30am: report at TV theatre for briefing/meeting with producers, followed by rehearsals, blocking etc.

8.00pm: LIVE Show

9.30pm: LIVE Link to News5Tonight

10.00pm: LIVE Results

10.30pm: Post show interviews

Thursday

12noon–6pm: Profile shoot for NEXT week's Spectacular

7pm onwards: Vocal dub for Sponsor's Music Video

Friday

Whole Day (7am-7pm): Sponsor's Music Video shoot

9pm to 10pm: Presiden's Star Charity (PSC) camera rehearsal

Saturday

8.30am–3pm: Vocal training for Next week's Spectacular

5pm-6pm: Roadshow @ Mall (Report at makeup at 2pm)

7pm-9pm: PSC Full Dress rehearsal

Phew! Busy right?

It may seem like the week's filled mostly because of the commitments for PSC, and should be better the following week, but it usually never is :P.

When there isn't PSC to worry about, there are other events like Trade Shows, Gala Premieres, Media Interviews (magazines, newspapers, web publications, other radio stations), publicity shoots (trailer shoots, photoshoots) etc etc etceterah!

And no matter how tired you are, at the end of the day when you finally get home, you've got to practice and do research for the following week's theme because you have to submit song options for the following theme's key check....(you know, just in case more than 1 person wants to sing a certain song, you should always have a back up song choice).

Its also every Idol hopeful's responsibility to be totally contactable. Schedules are constantly changing because they are always 'in demand'. So no matter how tired you are, you still have to check your email and make sure you turn up when required. Aside from email, in this era of Facebook and Twitter, they have to keep their fanpages updated (and interesting!) too.

So you wanna be an Idol? Make sure you're prepared to handle the hectic schedule first. The schedule at Piano Show stage was easy peasy compared to what they go through at Spectaculars, but hey, thats the nature of the show, the stakes get higher as the show progresses.

Saying all that, I'm pleased to report that the current Idols are keeping up with the pace quite well, good job guys! (They haven't chewed my head off yet when I ask to interview them in between shoe trying and vocal key checks bla di bla. :) So they must still be pretty sane!)

To my beloved LODIs, I know some of you may already be tired and losing steam, don't give up ok? Keep at it, find your stride and always give it to your 150%. Its just the 3rd Spectacular, you have another 6 more to go before the grand finals.

In the words of Sheryl Crow, "No one said it would be easy...."... Ganbatte!

xoxo, s.