Thats Tabby for you right there, fresh, authentic, natural and gorgeous. Kudos to Duane Ho for such a great picture - I love how its so calm and reflective. Btw, if you remember, in Duane's profile, he did say he's into photography ;)
More pics Duane!
One more update : Sylvia Ratonel's YouTube Channel has officially been launched...check it out here. Oh, and how's this for irony, SylSyl's using a Motorola her tweets come from 'MotoBLUR'...hello....perfect much? BLURest Idol-we-love right using MotoBLUR? So cute hor! Its like the perfect app for her. Don't forget to drop by Iluma Bugis this weekend (Sat and Sun)to catch SylSyl in action - 5pm.
Okie dokes, thats it for tonight, catch you tomorrow for American Idol 9 episode 4 - Orlando!
Nitey nite folks!
xoxo, s.
ps. In case you've missed the gazillion tweets and my previous post - catch Farhan and his band heregoesnoth!ng at the Esplanade (Concourse) tomorrow & Friday, 7pm - 8.45pm. Support local music y'all!
Am camped outside my son's class, he's 2 and a half by the way, in case you think I'm at some primary school. And no I'm not leeching off their internet .....I have a dongle. (@tabithagizelle and @duaneho, one day I will get a BERSCHKAdongle! Note to self, must write to Berschka and ask them to sell dongles)
Update #1a :
Amira's performing at Esplanade today (19th Jan) and tomorrow (20th Jan) with her show choir.
Update #1b :
Farhan and his band heregoesnoth!ng will also be performing at the Esplanade. Check them out at Esplanade Concourse, Thursday (21st Jan) and Friday (22nd Jan), 7.00pm to 8.45pm.
Update #2 :
Sylvia's performing this weekend at Iluma Bugis. Saturday & Sunday (23rd/24th Jan) at 5pm for the launch of Motorola's new phone. Check her out!
Update #3 :
Singapore Idol Airi met up with music execs from Universal over the weekend when he booked out from camp and alls goin' well. From what I hear, they're still on track for an April/May album launch - so yippeeee! As we already know, Airi submitted like 10 songs to Universal to consider for the album, word is, they likey some. So the album will be a mix of his own stuff and some new stuff they'll be recording with him! I'm excited, are you?
And now, for some Idol video updates!
Video #1
Check out our boys Faizal and Duane.
This is Jay Sean's 'Down'. Love the harmonies.
Video #2
This is their second vid together ;) and a little more 'produced' haha. Good job boys. I like the whole vid. Very cute! I'm surprised you guys didn't do the 'elevator' trick...
Enjoy (cos I did :))
Don't you just love 'em? So cute la. Duane boy, love your voice in this one :)
Video #3
This one's been on Youtube for a while now. Justin recorded this at one of the sessions at Ann Hussein's place. I had no idea it was recording sound, and I think neither did Izked. You can hear him talking and me laughing on and off, we were right next to these crazy people. Aaah I miss those days!
Photo updates
(courtesy of @izked's tweetphotos and FannaOsman's FBpics) Just on Sunday, our very own blonde prawn-lover Farhan Shah threw a fan bash for his fabulous fans. I dropped by unglamourously early, was told it was 4pm, so I strolled in at 4.30pm thinking I'd be fashionably late, only to be told, 'eh supposed to be 6pm la' *Fail*. Oh and get this, I was also told it was a belated bday party, wahlao, I musta been the only one toting a pressie and a card. No matter, Farhair, you likey rrriiiight??
Thanks to the lovely @FANNAosman for sharing her pics with me (and everyone reading this too! btw I had no idea what your pretty friend's name is thus the nick Pretty Young Thing (PYT). :))
Ever wondered what happens on stage during that 1 hour break between Performance and Results Shows?
You've may have seen the pics on SI's Facebook page, but those are static, so thought I'd record some vids and share them with you.
What usually happens is Matt(the very hardworking wubby who keeps the crowd entertained and informed before the show, and in between commercial breaks and this hour-long break) will invite ex-Idol contestants and audience members to play games.
Tonight, Matt invited Duane, Malaque and Farhan up on stage to sing songs suggested by the fans/audience. Here are some vids.
I have no idea what song Malaque is singing, but apparently she sang this for her audition.
In this clip, you'll see Farhan and Duane doing a sing-off, suggested by Malaque, of Duffy's 'Mercy'. Not sure who won the sing-off LOL! Who's rendition did you prefer?
Here's Malaque singing a fan request, 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. Imo she sounded pretty good despite having a terrible cold!
While the 3 ousted Idols were on stage entertaining the crowd, our Top 5 were busy practicing their group song choreo one last time with Zaki out at the foyer at B4. Check it out! (Sorry for the shaky cam, was trying my best to avoid the cameraman who was also walking backwards and almost backed into me a few times!)
Here's the group song recorded from my seat. Hope someone uploads the tv version soon. :)
Well, thats all the vids I have for you tonight, hope you enjoyed the show, my tweets/twitpics from studio - oMg 3am - nitey nite!
xoxo, s.
ps. Don't forget to catch Faizal's exit radio interview in the morning at 9am on Idol's Official Radio Station, 987FM with Dan & Young.
pps. Fyi, tomorrow is a super busy day for the Top 4, they'll be doing their profile shoots all morning (call time is 9am), followed by a visit to Ngee Ann Poly at 5.30pm, followed by vocal sessions with vocal coach Ann Hussein. Full day! Don't forget to check out Iz's tweets for the Poly visit tomorrow.
Despite not getting any sort of invite (aiya, why Ion, why liddat?) to the Carrie Underwood do, our Idols were not deterred nor disheartened.
CARRIE fans Tabby, Malaque, Duane and Farhan, along with Official Blogger Iz and I decided to go (The Husband, Kids and The Godmother also in tow!). Free concert, big star, Idol alum, why not? Who cares if its smellypits in the moshpits? Its CARRIE.
Strangely, the moshpit wasn't that moshy. So no smellypits. It was all quite civilised, except for the rather rude-ish wubby who kept picking on a poor Security guard (I mean, c'mon, so what if he's not a Carrie fan, he's there to maintain decorum, not be a groupie). Thank Gawd the real host for the night was Utt.
Anyway, once we got 'in', we realised we couldn't see the stage at all, so the 'emptiness' (or lack of moshyness) made sense. But the empty seats at the VIP section didn't make sense - I had assumed they had no more VIP seats to give out which was why the Idols didn't get an invite, you can throw THAT assumption out da window.... go figure!
But oh well, not a big deal anyway right?
I wasn't able to stay on, The Kids were restless (the promos said come at 6.30, so we were there at 6.30pm and after 90 minutes of waiting around, I couldn't keep them there anymore..tsk!). The Idols also decided that they'd try and get a better vantage point from the Prada store, so we split up...hope they saw more than I did!
Aiya, now I regret not taking more pics...
Ok, am off to bed....just 3 hours left til The Kids are up!
Before I go, here's an interesting vid Tabby found on Youtube! LOL! Stalkers? Fanarazzi? Love it!
xoxo, s.
ps. Heard from a reliable source that Ion Orchard paid millions to bring Carrie here for their Official Opening, so it kinda makes sense that they wouldn't want anyone to 'piggyback' on this 'paid gig'. Just seems like such a waste though, an Idol winner comes to SG but doesn't meet the current Idols in waiting. Am surprised they weren't keen to get some free tv airtime (because if our Idols got to meet Carrie, you can bet it will be recorded and aired on the show).
Voting details : Not available yet. Watch this space!
MJ Week Interview :
If you had 1 minute with MJ, what would you say/do? Ask him to teach me how to do the moonwalk.
If you had 1 hour with him, what would you do? Sing all his #1 hits with him.
If you had 1 day with him, what would you do? I’ll follow him everywhere, follow his schedule and see what its like to live his life for a day.
Did you believe the child molestation allegations? No, after his death all the truth slowly started coming out. Like, he didn’t bleach his skin. All this allegations is just media nonsense to make headlines.
When you first heard that there would be an MJ themed spectacular, what was your reaction?
And now that you’re through and will be doing an MJ song, how do you feel? Actually MJ is not really my era. I only started listening to his songs from when American Idol did an MJ week theme. When I first heard about it, I was really excited because I remembered Matt Giraud’s piano version of MJ’s Human Nature. That performance had a big impact on me. Now, I’m still excited and I’m hoping the performance will be more ‘me’. I’m singing a ‘boy’ song this week, so hopefully the judges will see more of ‘me’ in it.
What will you be singing and why did you choose to do that MJ song? I will be singing ‘The Girl Is Mine’. I like the tune, its so uplifting and breezy. I tried to do Human Nature but it had too much adlibbing and so it didn’t work out. I haven’t decided whether to play the piano or not for next week.
Spectacular 3 : An Asian Feast
Performing :Dang Ni by Cyndi Wang
Asian Week Interview :
Who is your favourite Asian artiste?
Lucy Liu
Who's the sexiest Asian star in your opinion?
Lucy Liu (yes, we agree, she IS pretty hot!)
Who is your favourite Asian person?
Regine Velasquez (omg she is so pretty!)
Favourite Asian food?
Sushi! (in general, Japanese food!)
Favourite Asian destination?
Japan. So far I've only been to Osaka.
What Asian culture fascinates you the most?
Japanese culture because they are so amazingly patient and polite. There doesn't seem to be any rudeness in Japan!
What Asian trait are you most proud of?
Respect for elders. Western cultures don't really show this respect much.
What is the one Asian superstition you've held on to since you were a child?
Finish your food or you'll have an ugly wife
Random facts about Duane :
Duane loves photography, almost as much as he loves Beyonce.
Duane can do the super high octave scream/screech ala Mariah Carey
Duane was a child actor for Channel 8 and Kids Central :)
Is more kancheong about Idol than he is about his 'O' Levels.
Is super shy about the fact that there are girls screaming his name at the roadshows (awwww).
Is the baby of the Top 13, and everyone feels the need to protect and take care of him - in't that sweet?
summerr thinks you'll love Duane because :
He's like a big cute teddybear thats just so adorable when you meet him, then on stage...he starts to strut and does the 'bottle-pop' and you can't help but like the guy even more for his antics.
The minute the performance is over, he's back to shy, humble, awkward Duane.
Plus, the boy can actually sing. And from the buzz I hear, tonight's piano-accompanied performance of Pokerface is the most anticipated one - awesome!I'm definitely looking forward to see how he's gonna change it up.
In the meantime, here's a sample I got him to give me, PLUS, a full 'rehearsal' version that he did for Zaki at choreo. Bear in mind these were recorded last week, so he's probably improved leaps and bounds by now.
Lastly, here's the clip from his last performance at the Piano Show.
If you'd like to know more about Duane, check out his detailed profile here.
Long post : From Piano Pokerface to Sembawang Shopping Centre (my update for the past 'idol-less' week...)
So the weekend's come and gone (well, not totally, since today's a public holiday - woot!)
Were you a true Idol fan this weekend? Did you trek all the way up to Sembawang Shopping Centre to see the Top 13 in person?
Even if you didn't, its okay, because like a gazillion others did! Despite having to run helter-skelter (translate that as siao char boh) organising my daughter's princess party (I was told it was a carnival-like success by the way, not that you Idol crazies care right, cos you're only reading this to know more about Idol), I snuck in some time here and there to check out Iz's 'live' tweets and twitpics (featured here, thanks Iz!) from the roadshow - looks like the turn out was amazing. Idols, it will only get even crazier as the weeks go by!
Whats up with Idol this week?
lemmesee...
We're back in full Idol gear as of TODAY, Monday, 21st Sept!
Radio interviews with Mae, Charles, Syltra and Sylvia right this morning on 987FM at 9am. The rest will take their turn at the mic on Tuesday and Idol Day (check the Idol Spotter for deets, left side bar, right at the top!)
what else...
oh...nothing much....just a lil show we like to call THE SPECTACULARS!
yep folks, we're FINALLY at the Spectaculars - that ONE week break felt like ages right?
Check out my new 'Idol Songs & numbers' on the left sidebar that will give you quick recap of who's singing what in what order. For sms voting, just take the last digit of the phone number (eg for Mae you send '1' to IDOLS (43657) for Idols 1 - 9. For Idols 10 - 13, send the last TWO digits of the phone number (eg for Malaque, sms '11' to IDOLS (43657)). Each vote costs 60 cents.
And now, here're some vids I recorded over the past week.
Pokerface on piano
Check out Duane's raw, piano-accompanied version of Pokerface. This was recorded at his choreo session with Zaki. It still needs a little bit more work, but I think the boy's got something there - a breakout performance perhaps? Zaki said 'cool' :)
Meet the new host of Idol TV!
Also, here are some pics of Jon Cheok who's now been 'hired' by Iz to be the 'host' of Idol TV. First episode airs....tonight maybe? Not sure.
Am so dreading it cos they blardee sabo-ed and filmed me...(me and cameras = not a pretty sight, from now on, if Iz is in vid mode, I'll be in SIAM* mode).
By the way, I recorded this following vid of Iz and Jon to help them promote their new Idol TV ...but LOL, epic fail lor - they just rambled - watch it just for fun, don't judge, there was no prep. We shall get them to do a DO-OVER soon (on Idol Day).
The reason I have so many pics of them is because while the 8Days shoot was ongoing, we were not allowed to communicate with the Top 13 at all. Forbidden was the word. They were 'In The Zone' and apparently the stylist was very happy. So was 'Manny-for-the-day' Byron, who said, "the children were VERY well-behaved today." :)
Anyway, here are two pics of the the Top 13 at the shoot at Que Pasa, taken from my hiding place :) (I was perched precariously atop a stairwell!)
I later managed to capture this vid from a different 'hiding spot'. Uber 8Days stylist Fong Fan got the Idols singing and boy where the 'in the zone' and I'm thinking Ka-Ching - am sure they'll get some pretty awesome pics from this session. I've always been a fan of Fong Fan's work. She has such a great eye and the clothes/styles always suit the celeb to a tee. Tuesday's 8Days cover shoot was no different - everyone looked fab. I only wish I had a chance to take individual pics before they ran off to change :P (lets hope Iz did).
They're singing Blackhorse and a Cherry Tree.
Lastly, I'd like to share this vid that I recorded of Mae.
Generally people think Mae's a great singer, but the one brickbrat that keeps gettin' thrown at her is the fact that she was living in Australia and has perhaps become 'Australian'. I think what these folks are forgetting is that most people, at a young age, get sent overseas for education purposes. In Mae's case, her parents decided to try to make a living there to give their kids a better life. It wasn't Mae's choice to 'give up' Singapore. And now that she's an adult, she's DECIDED, with much loving support from her Aussie husband, to make Singapore their home and her base.
She once told me with tears welling up, 'Its so awful being in a place where nobody wants you, but I want to be here, I choose to be here, why won't they support me?"
Anyway here's her vid...
Whatever it is Singapore, please vote based on talent. There is a lot of it this season, and honestly it would be such a waste if the ones worthy of the title don't make it all the way to the end - you want an AMAZING finale at Indoor Stadium right?
Today's radio interview on 987FM featured Sezairi, Gabrielle, Duane and Jonathan (not Sylvia as I had previously posted...note to self, must update 'Idol Spotter' after this post). Sorry for the misinfo peeps, the list I got from Ch5 must have been an old one. Its all goode anyway, the radio interview went smoothly (eventhough Jon was a half hour late! tsk tsk!). Sylvia will be on tomorrow with Amira, Charlene and Faizal. (just got the latest list, so this is correct!)
What did we learn from the interview? Lemmesee....
Airi WAS with the Performing Arts programme at LaSalle, now he's just ...performing (nice one Dan). He declined to comment if Idol was the reason he was no longer with the school. Wah, pleading the 5th and we're not even in US!
Duane is pursuing Idol and O-Levels!!(dude, hero la you!) Apparently his parents were angry at first that he wanted to join Idol, but once he got into the Top24, they did an about-turn and are full supportive now - good for ya Aunty and Uncle! Young people need support not dissent! :)
Last fun fact about Duane - he won a Pussycat Doll dance competition and got to dance with them on stage!
Gabby is a marketing and PR major (eh, same same babe!), and bla bla bla and SHE HAD A CRUSH ON JONATHAN! woot! (all the other info about being a good friend, talking a lot, people person etc all got blown away by this lil revelation)
Looks like every other girl has had a crush on Jon. My sources have told me our lil Sylvia also had the hots for him initially. And Jon's gotten loads of facebook friend requests from....you guessed it, random girls!
So looks like Jon Jon (new nick!) and not MJ, is the lady killer in the group!
Gabby's right though, spot on when she said Jon gives off this 'Badboy' vibe (thus my original nick for him) but he's actually so sweet and sentimental once you get to know him. Check out Jon's profile here and what I thought of him. You'll see that me and Gabs are on the same wavelength :)
So, all this while, they're yakkin' and talking Jon up, Jon's not actually there. He's late. I'm betting Suresh and Byron (the publicity pros behind Idol) will be giving him a 'talking-to' right about now.
Fyi guys, we were with Jon on Saturday night, he looked a little flu-ey, maybe thats why he woke up late despite TWO alarm clocks. Then again, this is Idol - no excuses is the mantra.
Stepping up to the mic...
-- Voice sample and "why should people vote for you?" --
Sezairi : "People should vote for me cos its my dream."
Gabrielle : "I can be their friend, we can sing along togetehr, its not about being on a pedestal, it should be the audience singing along with you."
Duane : "Vote for me if you wanna see me dance and cos I also want this really badly!"
Just as Duane finishes up, Jon Jon steps in - perfect timing!
Jonathan : "I'm gonna be myself on the show, I'm very Singaporean, therefore good for Singapore Idol. I'm someone they can look up to and relate to."
Dan : "Look up to and relate to, I like that!"
Young : "Relate, ya, most Singaporeans are late most of the time anyway...." <-- ouch Young!
Young's on a roll, he then outs Gabby to Jon about the crush (not that she didn't out herself already by saying it on National radio!)
Btw, she had a crush on him initially, but now they're just really good friends, the whole group hang out often.
Hope the four of them had fun at Idol's Official Radio Station 987FM. Can't wait to hear tomorrow's 4.
I wonder if Dan & Young will bring up Charlene's s*x tape scandal (as reported in New Paper). Maybe they'll keep it a wholesome, kosher interview, what with two very young hopefuls Faizal and Amira in studio :)
Til tomorrow!
Full profiles of this week's 12 a re all on the right sidebar!
xoxo, s.
ps. Will be meeting up with the idols for Choreo today, lets see how that goes! Missing my LUMIX...maybe I can run down to Sim Lim now and get me an Olympus Tough! <-- apparently can survive toddler throws - shock proof!
(cue Idol theme music...te ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne .... <-- apparently dougie's fb wall was flooded with 'theme' music when they found out he was Top24! LOL!)
In case I haven't mentioned it before, Wednesday shall henceforth cease to be known as 'Wednesday' and shall be known simply as 'Idol Day'!
So what happens in the run up to Idol Day? The typical drill would go something like this ...
1. Roadshows (Sat) - CHECK!
2. Vocal Training (Sat) - CHECK!
3. Choreo with Zaki (Mon) - ooh tomorrow!
4. Radio Interviews on 987FM (Mon, Tues, Wed) - comin' up!
So tomorrow (Monday) morning, tune in to 987FM at 9am sharp to catch Dan & Young interviewing 4 of this week's performing Idols - Sezairi(woot!), Gabrielle(woot!), Sylvia (woot!) and Duane(double woot cos he's just da sweetest! He asked me what 'pimp out your profile meant'...sigh..to which the other idols replied, Duane lets not use the word 'pimp' its a bad word :) agree!)
Alarm it on your mobile NOW!
(then repeat the same alarm for Toosday and Idol Day)
ROADSHOW @ Lot One, CCK.
So yesterday, Saturday was the Top 24 Group 2's roadshow at Lot One. I didn't get to go, due to some prior commitments, but I heard it was a BLAST!
On Blogger duty was Official Blogger Iz who twitpicced like crazy (broke already not?) - go check out the pics here if you haven't - and he should be putting up the vids pretty soon. I personally can't wait to see the vids. According to him the crowd went CRAZY! Lots of hyper little girls, apparently Jonathan has fans :)
Malaque, Ryan and Syltra (from Group 1) were there to support their Idol pals (aww sweet!) and Gabrielle's mom made fans for her fans! Thats right! A Gabby fan for Gabby's fans! Lovin' Gabs' mom right now. She's on my 'Coolest Moms Ever' List right now, right behind Lorelai Gilmore and Gwen Stefani, what with the synchronised tattoo and all. (Damn thats cool, gotta up my cool quotient later when The Daughter grows up!)
The event went off almost without a hitch.Apparently Mae screwed up a line or two, no matter sweetie, we still love ya, you know that right?! She's like Ta Jie (big sista) Mae, everyone loves her and she really takes care of everyone. She feeds them, gives them pep talks, hugs, etc. WE LOVE U MAE!
According to Izk, everyone got a lots of lovin' from the crowd. When I asked Duane how it all went, did people scream for him, he was so shy. He shyly recounted how he told the crowd to vote for him, Mr Pussycat Doll and then proceeded to blush a little, aw can I just say Duane is just the sweetest kid. And you can see the other Idols are really protective of him too :)
Justin apparently said something about voting for him if you like slow songs....*kok* Justin must have had a blonde moment - do not pigeon hole yourself like that so early on! I am here to say - he can sing fast songs too, in fact he can sing period (see his profile vid and my vids on Youtube from the vocal training - links below later, cos haven't finished uploading yet!).
Anyway, after the eventful event (see how I had some cheesy alliteration goin' on there... no applause necessary), everyone headed back to Caldecott Hill for their 5pm sharp vocal training session. 10 minutes each with Vocal Coach Ann Hussein. Chop Chop guys!
And it was really chop chop! I arrived at about 5.30pm, and already Sam, Sylvia and Charlene were practically out the door! I managed to snap like one pic of Sam before she flew out with a big smile cos she got to go off early!
Saturday night, everyone has plans right? My plan, was to hang with the LODIs.
So there I was, hi-fivin' Iz, takin' over the blogger/twitpic duties, and suddenly the mood went from up to down. By the end of the evening, suffice it to say, everyone was just dead tired and ready to go home.
I'm uploading the vids of whoever was hangin' around that night (and singing) up on Youtube now, will link it all up here (and post the vids also on a separate post) once they are all done :)
In the meantime enjoy the following, vids of 3 of the 4 (sorry, didn't quite catch Sylvia as she was off right after her session) you'll be hearing on radio tomorrow morning :
Gabrielle sings the Cranberries favourite 'Linger'.... guest starring Sezairi's guitar.
Duane practicing David Archuleta's "A Little Too Not Over You" in the hallway. Starts off a little shaky at first, but once he hits his stride at the chorus - lovely!
Airi doin' his own song called "Something Personal". (You can listen to it at his Purevolume page here). I likey much.
Sorry Sylvia babe, you ran off so quick, I didn't get a chance to video you singing anything! If you're interested to hear Sylvia sing, check out her profile here.
Likewise, you can go to any of Group 2's profile pages to learn more about them if you haven't, the links are on the right sidebar of my blog.
Posting more soon, gotta get this one up and our first to remind all you peeps about tomorrow'sradio interview...987FM @ 9am- Airi, Gabby, Duane & Sylvia. Don't miss it!
summerr loves her tv. in fact, she's downright passionate about it. This blog grew to be the Unofficial blog of Singapore Idol 2009. This year, its going OMG! Hope you'll enjoy the inside scoop on this year's big reality must watch!
