Episode 14 is up!

Watch it! Spectacular #8 Killing Me Softly.....

Sigh, listening to Duane sing 'That Girl Is Mine' makes me miss him so much - he has such a nice voice. Can't believe we're down to just 5. It was 24...then 13....and now, its like in a blink of an eye, you can count them all on one hand!

What a ride its been so far.... wouldn't you agree?

Many thanks to Nazamania for uploading these to YouTube! Cheers mate!

xoxo, s.

Idol out : Duane Ho

Bye Bye Mr. Pussycat Doll :(

As I was walking to the Tv Theatre today, I wondered if tonight's votes would be the same as it has been for the past 4 weeks - that Singapore would be sending home yet another talented female contestant.

Looks like Mae's exit last week has given voters a wake-up call, the person packing their bags this week is Duane. The youngest contestant at 16, Duane has NEVER been in the bottom 3 much less the bottom 2. Tonight he was both, and finally, surprisingly, got the boot.

Duane went from a judges' pet to weekly ridicule and I give him props for taking all that in, especially at just 16. Its not easy standing there and being judged. Despite the judges' lack of support, Duane got support, and apparently in spades as he coasted through week after week - safe from being in the bottom.

I wonder what happened - either his fans decided he was getting slammed too much they decided to not prolong his torture (doubtful) or the fans of the other idols and previously eliminated contestants have rallied together to pool their votes to change the voting pattern.

Well, whatever it is, its still sad to see Duane go. He's such a sweet kid and we've all come to know and love him. Those closest to him took it the hardest - Tabby and Faizal, who together with him and Farhan made up the 'Awesome Foursome'.

Here's Duane's exit song and exit interview.

Haven't watched his performance on tv yet, but what I saw/heard at the theatre LIVE wasn't too bad. In fact, I thought he was rather refreshing, a nice combo of piano playing and stage presence.

Anyway, Duane, the Idol journey may be over, but you made it to Top 6! Thats an achievement and you know you'll always always be a part of the Idol family! Keep dreaming big my dear! Love ya Duane!

xoxo, s.

Its IDOL DAY!!

Its that day of the week again folks! So exciting!

Sorry I've not been blogging every day this week (only token updates since I wasn't able to go to the roadshow on Saturday), its been challenging as I've had to juggle an extra variable - some overseas visitors :) My Aussie cousins came to visit along with their lil boy and it was amazing having them but it also meant I was totally zapped at the end of the day, and that when everyone went to bed - so did I (when normally I don't, I'd be blogging!)

Anyway all that aside, I'm glad to report I think I've had enough make-up sleep WOOT! Adrenaline has taken over at T-minus 4 and a half hours to IDOL! WOOT WOOT!

Tonight's theme is 'Killing Me Softly', so named because the Idols were given a chance to 'kill' each other's Idol journey by possibly sabo-ing them via song choices. However, our lovely Top 6 are so much like family they each chose wisely and thoughtfully for their fellow competitors.

Here are the song choices once again with the voting deets.... do remember to vote wisely.

This morning, I was listening to Tabby's and Sylvia's 987fm interview and Sylvia said something very interesting. She said she chose a good song for Duane also because she didn't want to be blamed for a poor song choice by his fans if he didn't make it through. Interesting! I never thought they would 'feel bad' and 'worry' about what the others' fans might think of their song choices.

woops - phone JUST beeped! Message from Iz who's watching rehearsals at the studio right now - ooh update for me!

Izked : 'Ok in all, everyone rocked except Duane ....'

whoa, hope Duane's aware...I reply : "Paparazzi is tuff..."

Then again, I'm not too worried... the trend so far has been that performances for the actual show tend to be better than at rehearsal (except for 'For Someone Special', when they all were superb at rehearsal and practically bombed during the show)- it's probably the Idols feeding off the energy from the audience and getting an adrenaline boost. So if you're in studio, especially mosh pit people, dun matter who you support - give every performing Idol loads of support k, it certainly makes a difference when people cheer you on and hey, we ALL help to make it a good show!

Thanks Iz for the update - miss ya babe - see you and the LODIs in like...2hrs plus! Gawd, only 2 more hours and so much more to blog about... better get a move on!

xoxo, s..

ps. be sure to follow my tweets/twitpics tonight!

pps. JUST IN CASE GOT BLURNESS OUT THERE..

Singapore Idol - Performance Show 8pm LIVE

Singapore Idol - Results Show 10pm LIVE

Performance Order out!

Tabby goes First & Faizal closing the show....

Here are the voting deets in order of performance...

Sorry I don't have Charles' reason for choosing the song for Tabby yet. I will find out and update the pic asap.

In my opinion, this is another 'diva' song that Tabby will be singing and its actually a pretty tough song to sing. I managed to catch a quick vid with her on Sunday, asking her about the song choice and what she though of it, here it is....

Finally, a song that's perfect for Sezairi and its contemporary. I hope the judges won't find this one self-indulgent, nor will the nitpicky critics feel he's ape-ing Timberlake. I have heard him sing this countless times while waiting (for whatever) and he's pretty good at the falsettos...

Charles is the other person I managed to grab for a quick vid and asked him what he thought of Airi's song choice for him...watch....

Imho, if Charles can get the diction right throughout, he'll be able to ace this one. Check out an old vid of him singing the song here.

I think this is a great song choice for Sylvia. Its that whole 'retro-alternative' creeping into mainstream pseudo pop type song that Sylvia does so well. Plus is her kind of vocal tone too...so I'm looking forward to this performance. Its an old song (the first time I heard it was on the movie Dirty Dancing), I wonder if Syl's gonna make it more contemporary.

Duane's a big Gaga fan and he plays the piano, so this is right up his alley. Judges have been bugging him about losing his 'identity', well this song will definitely showcase the quirky Duane. We've been trying to get him to play the piano with one leg up like Gaga does - he has consistently declined :)

A very strange song choice, unless he's looking at the David Cook version. If he does the Mariah version I don't see how it can help Faizal 'try something different'. But if its the David Cook version, it would definitely be more interesting. Then again, for 17 year olds, this 12-year old song is bound to 'different' already lor.

Anyway, if you wanna see vids of the original songs, especially if you aren't familiar with 'em, click here to my previous post for a quick reference.

3am, so so tired. Watched This Is It earlier... enjoyed it so much, it was so nice to see MJ enjoying himself on stage and doing what he does best. At 50 he was dancing and jumping as much as his back-up dancers - I was in awe. We have truly lost one of the greatest performers of our time.

xoxo, s.

Love these pics!

Last one before I go...

Aren't these pics just the coolest? Instant wallpaper for whichever Idol you're a fan of :) My favourite is actually Sylvia's. She's a pretty good actress - she actually looks quite scared and guilty in that pic!

PLUS, was just chatting with Iz on MSN, and he's working on a lil music video montage from the stuff he shot today. He was out with the Top 6 all day from Ion to Quincy to SOMA to Vivo, so that vid and whatever pics he puts up are sure to be awesome :), go check it out on the Official Blog and his youtube channel! He'll probably post an update notice on the Facebook page once he's done, so keep a look out!

nitey-nite all! **yawn**

xoxo, s.

Triumph Music Video Shoot @ The Quincy

Polo Boys eat your heart out!

Just kidding :) if you saw any of my twitpics from this afternoon, you would know I'm kidding LOL!

Today, the Top 6 spent their day on shoot on various locations for a music video for one of the show's sponsors - Triumph. If you're thinking Tabby, Sylvia and the boys parading in underwear and lingerie...juz fuggedaboudit (tsk shame on you! We're a family show!)! I'm not sure what the end video's gonna look like, but they did take some shots of the girls at the Triumph store 'shopping' :).

I caught up with the Top 6 at the newly-opened (Feb this year) boutique hotel called Quincy. And its really boutique - reminded me a lot of the W hotel at Times Square, New York. Its all black, grey, silver with cool accent art pieces. Very urbane. Loved it. The staff were also super friendly and accommodating. Loved them too.

Neways, the shoot was on the 12th floor, by the pool. Here are some behind-the-scenes vids I shot during my hour there with them :)

Ok, this vid, is basically the Top 6 'arriving' at the location and 'chillin' after a day of shopping...check out the boys running in at the side ;) Tabby and Sylvia aren't really having a conversation - they're saying random things like literally... 'bla bla bla talk talk talk lets giggle about Iz and oh i have shoes...'

This vid features the 3 boys doing their big jump into the pool. Duane refused to take his top off. Anyway, his 'storyline' sees him getting pushed in later on - fully clothed! I thought this was hilarious cos I was right next to the cameraman, and the boys all jumped in and then got totally blocked by the pillars!

Iz and I joked about how the whole pool set up was like Polo Boys, and what a pity it was that we couldn't put our cameras in the water. And then we noticed hey, the pool has a glass wall! So we tried filming it - Iz's camera's shots are waaay clearer, but I couldn't resist recording with my phone too ...so look out for Iz's vid - should be up soon on his youtube channel izked85 :)

This is seriously funny cos you can see Faizal's pants just billowing about! I have to say, the boys were really such good sports :)

This one's just a quick chat with the boys while we waited for their next shot - they were freezing by the way - hope they don't fall sick with all this waterplay. But they were such good sports!

Don't the boys look like performing dolphins that just 'pop up' in this scene? Check out Duane lounging in the back - you can't really see it here, but he has cucumber slices on his eyes and they fall off when he sits up to do his clapping part :) The video is shot to the theme song for FRIENDS and they're doing the famous 'clapping' bit.

Last shot for this location, the boys have just pushed Duane in (aiyo I missed that money shot of Duane being pushed in - sorry!) and then decide to join him. Check out Charles' splash efforts - worse ever! LOL!

What you DIDN'T see on the vids were the countless times Faizal's pants fell off whenever he tried to climb out of the pool - time to eat a little more :)

Faizal : "Polo Boys, meet the Skinny Polo Boys!"

Plus, while producers were shooting the boys and the pool, Sylvia, who's still sick, got served up a huge bowl of porridge which we ordered from the hotel. It was HUGE!

Thank you to Quincy for the great location - we hope to have a lil Idol gathering there once the whole show is over. (The rate is unbelievable - at $258 you get a room, breakfast/lunch/dinner + limo transfer + laundry service! AND apparently you can have anything in the minibar, or was it the bar? Whatever - its a damn good deal! Definitely worth a try for a 'staycation' <--learned that word from Young Parents magazine! Ironic term!)

After the pool shots at Quincy, the Idols moved on to SOMA at Park Mall to grab shots of them singing in a recording studio and then later on to VivoCity to grab shots of them 'playing' at the fountain just outside the maindoors - night shots - woulda been fun! Looking forward to seeing Iz's pics and vids :) Check out the Official Blog for those - should be up soon!

And before I sign off, more pics from today....

xoxo, s.

ps. for proper rates/info at Quincy, go to their website.

pps. Don't forget to catch your Top 6 in person at Jurong Point today - 2pm-3pm! Go show them yer love :)

Killing Me Softly - Song List

Major helping hand? Or Major 'Sabo' up ahead?

Next week's theme as you already know if you've been following my tweets, is called 'Killing Me Softly'. The Top 6 get to choose songs for each other to sing, so its ripe for sabotage, buuuuut....you know la, your Top 6 lurve each other so much, I doubt there's much sabo-ing going on - they're like one big happy Brady Bunch family...practically 'scandal-free' and PG-13 now....*yawn* (pardon me, just sleepy cos its 2.30am, not cos they are boring...)

Anyway, here's how it went, right after the show, the Top 6 each took turns to pick out an envelope that had the name of the person who would pick the song for them. Here are some pics....

And here's who picked whom....

Sezairi picked Faizal (so Faizal will be choosing a song for Airi to sing)

Charles picked Sezairi

Tabitha picked Charles

Sylvia picked Tabitha

Duane picked Sylvia

Faizal got Duane by default :)

And finally, here's what each of them will be singing for next week....(in no particular order)

Sezairi

chosen by Faizal - because they've (the Idols) all heard Airi sing this song on many occasions with his guitar, and they all love it!

'What Goes Around Comes Around' by Justin Timberlake

- I think, good choice :)

Charles

chosen by Sezairi

'Insomnia' by Craig David

- I think if Charles does this with just a guitar, an accoustic version, may just come out quite nicely. But with a backing track, it could just overwhelm him and turn out to be a 'sabo' choice in the end.

Tabitha

chosen by Charles

'Ain't No Other Man' by Christina Aguilera

- Not what I would have chosen for Tabby cos I'm not keen to hear her sing another 'diva' type song. But then again, the song does suit her voice. Will just have to wait and see at vocal training.

Sylvia

chosen by Tabitha

'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' by Amy Winehouse

- Sorry folks, couldn't find a music video for the song, so this will have to do. But Amy's version is very soulful, and I think Sylvia can pull this off. Very nice song choice. Good job Tabby!

Duane

chosen by Sylvia

'Papparazzi' by Lady Gaga

Faizal

chosen by Duane

'Always Be My Baby' by Mariah Carey

- I certainly hope Faizal chooses to do the David Cook version which is more er...manly :) Then again, Faizal may have his own unique take on the song - which is good - time to showcase some artistry and put silence those naysayers!

Well, thats it from me for tonight - cannot tahan anymore..3.30am...will post up the exit interviews etc tomorrow....

nite all!

xoxo, s.