"Aiyaaa!"Aiya indeed! That one colloquial expression so summed up everyone's thoughts the minute Judge B uttered it. It was my favourite comment all night! She said it in response to BottleFlipz' rather unfortunate performance last night, and as usual, Judge B was on the money.
Dan's The Man
Before I move on to the review proper, I just realised in my haste to congratulate those that made it through to the next round, I forgot to give Challenger Dan Thompson a pat on the back for winning his first challenge - good on ya mate! Its a pity he didn't get to stay longer on the show - who'da thunk Jill Marie would choose to challenge him? Well, first time for everything....
Ok on to the review ....
Tonight's four Challengers are all single performer challengers, ie no groups. So you'd think they'd aim for similar numbers. Two of 'em took on groups, for varied reasons, despite the risk that visually and in terms of energy, they could have been at a great disadvantage. As Judge Irene would say, "Confidence maaah!"
Challenger #1 : Dan Thompson
Contender : Jumping Jewels
I loved Dan's lil video clip before his performance - haha, so drama. Hands down the best scripted (and executed - cos we all know corny lines are not easy to execute!) VT so far. Dan's reason for picking the rope skippers was that he wanted to see what else they could do with their routine. He sang Josh Groban's 'You Raise Me Up' pretty flawlessly. Host Michelle Chong even commented that when she closed her eyes it was like Josh Groban was singing.
What did the judges say?
FD : Dan, you enjoy what you're doing and you connect with the audience. Jumping Jewels, you guys have so much fun on stage, I love your choice of music, always fun to watch.
Beatrice : Dan, you're a good looking guy, you're confident, but I wonder what else you're gonna bring to keep yourself in the game. Jumping Jewels, you sell a great feeling.
Jeanette : Jumping Jewels, I love your energy levels. Dan, you're a very polished peformer but your pirouettes at the end threw me off a balance. (summerr says : Word sista! I thought it was a little out of place too!)
Irene : Jumping Jewels, you guys are like anti-depressant pills! Dan, you're good looking, you sing well, but I felt you weren't singing to the audience.
summerr says : As much as I like their energy and all the bouncing around - its entertaining to watch - I felt that JJ's routine was pretty similar to the week before. Granted I don't have a trained eye and they could have added more technically difficult tricks and moves etc, but thats the thing, to the untrained eye, its pretty much the same routine from Ep1 - loud music, leap frogging, some somersaults and thats it. I would have liked to see them speed up like double time. (So easy to judge right? I bet you I can't even do half time on those ropes *pfft*)
Dan's a crooner. That was my first impression. He sang the song very well, but I don't know, something about him is just too polished. I'm inclined to agree with Irene. Maybe he's too polished. Maybe its cos he's tall? Can't put my finger on it. But the guy definitely has a good voice.
RESULT : Dan Thompson
Judges felt that Dan brought showmanship, brought a great song and had a great voice. But had Jumping Jewels upped their game, he wouldn't have gotten through.
Challenger #2 : Fatema
Contender : Danny Koh
Belly-dancing vs Fire. How sexy is that? I have to give Fatema props for challenging a fire artiste because fire is naturally very visually entertaining, fire always has the 'wow' factor (if you don't screw up la and burn your hair). I guess Fatema believed her routine was also very wow (actually imo it was very WOWza), the girl definitely 'brought it'.
What did the judges say?
B : Fatema you're a truly sexy girl and I think you should have capitalised on that. There's nothing wrong with the routine, it just lacked drama compared to Danny who was so intense.
J : Fatema, I wasn't getting the vibe from you.
I : Danny, the poi (the two string thingies he was swinging around that had fire balls attached at the ends) technique was very basic and I preferred what you did previously.
FD : Danny, you were very impressive, but did you bring enough? Fatema, you're dancing and you're loving it.
summerr says : Super tough decision to make. When Fatema chose Danny my heart sank a little cos I knew she was a really good belly dancer and I wanted her to be on the show. I also wanted to Danny to stay on the show cos his fire act is just so riveting to watch. Sigh, but since she chose to challenge him - one had to go. And unfortunately, as gorgeous and sexy and wow her routine was, its hard to beat fire and lemmetellyou, Danny was seriously INTENSE. He FOUGHT to defend his place, and he fought hard - I was like holy crap that fire is all kinds of burning him and flyin' around. That move, bringing the fire up close to the judges was inspired - a bit risky - but inspired nonetheless.
Eh all contenders take note - you don't have to stay on the white stage - can move down waaaan. It leaves a bigger impression if you get up close and personal!
RESULT : Danny Koh
The judges admitted that it was a really tough decision and both put up a good fight, but they could see "so much fire in his (Danny's) eyes, so much hunger, you can see that he wants to do so much more".
Challenger #3 : Zul Mystroe
Contender : Bottle Flipz
If I hadn't spoken to him before the show for an interview, I woulda thought this guy was super arrogant. But he's not. He's actually a pretty nice guy. But the way he justified choosing Bottle Flipz when asked by the hosts - Singaporeans call this 'ya-ya-papaya' k.
What did the judges say?
J : To Bottle Flipz, as a performer, you have to see your act through to the end. But you also have to learn not to let your earlier mistake affect the rest of your performance. Zul, that was a confident performance.
I : Zul, you really save a lot of money hor, all the instruments in one voice! I'm impressed. Bottle Flipz, you were very brave, you dropped the bottles but still went on.
FD : Bottle Flipz, there's nothing to comment about, it didn't work for you. Zul, I love the whole beatboxing thing, it was really good. A little more attitude and more physicality would have been good.
B : Zul, you're a good beatboxer. A little more attitude and this place would have been thumping. Bottle Flipz.... Aiyaaa.....
summerr says :
Its so unfortunate that the flairing boys dropped not one, not two, but three bottles AND the stacked glass pyramid. Really quite an 'Aiyaya' moment. Its a pity cos the boys were one of my favourites - they had personality and they had an interesting act. As for Zul, I think he's a good beatboxer, although I felt the parts where he sang (again I know this is tremendously difficult and takes a lot of skill, I wouldn't be able to do it in a million years), was quite distracting for me. It was offkey at points and I was so distracted trying to make out what song it was. Maybe its cos I am spoiled by Charles' impeccable beatboxing. Miss that guy. Anyway, imo, if it hadn't been for the screw ups, Bottle Flipz may have earned themselves immunity. Hello practice more - not just the night before ;)
The Result : Zul Mystroe
No need to explain la. The Judges went backstage and came back out in like less than a minute k. Pretty unanimous that Zul blew 'em away!
Challenger #4 : Jill Marie Thomas
Contender : Dan Thompson
Jill chose Dan cos, "He sing. I sing. We all sing together la." Jill sang 'Nobody' by The Wonder Girls. Dan sang 'Me & Mrs Jones' (my fave version is still Taufik's at the SI Finals). Half way through his er 'seductive' performance, he sidles up to sing to the Judges one by one - kisses Judge B's hand, dances with Jeanette, flirts with Irene's clipboard (cos she covered her face with it - shy meh?) and sat on FD's lap!
What did the judges say?
I : Dan, you sang very well, you're a true showman, its a tough fight. Jill, we saw you on youtube and now you're here, its a joy to see you perform live and you're so cute!
FD : Dan, you're a showman. You have a great voice and you put together a great show. Jill, I wanna hear you sing some more!
B : When Jill came on the show, she changed the game.
J : Dan you're a real performer, a real entertainer. Jill, I loved how you changed the arrangement of the song.
summerr says :
First time on the OMG! stage, a Challenger decides to challenge a fellow Challenger who's just made it to the podium. Haven't even warmed up the footprints, and he's back down on stage preparing to defend his spot. Very strategic move on Jill's part I have to say. On paper it was singer-songwriter vs crooner. But on stage, you could see Jill's bubbly personality winning people over before she even started singing, "I bring FIVE Wonder Girls into...ONE-der girl!" LOL!
I think what Jill had that trumped Dan, because both had good vocals, was her connection with the judges and the audience through her humour and personality. Also, I think Dan's choice of song wasn't suitable for his clean vocals. Imo, you gotta get a little husky with a song like Me & Mrs Jones.
The Result : Jill Marie Thomas
Beatrice : "We loved having Dan on the show. We had to choose between 'polished' versus 'real' performer. We chose the 'real' performer. Jill, you brought heart and soul to the show.
So at the end of Episode 3, we have two new Contenders - Jill Marie Thomas and Zul Mystroe. Congratulations newbies, welcome to the OMG! podium!
Extra congrats in order for Danny who succeeded in defending his spot on the podium :)
Next week, soooo many things to look forward to....
1. New guest judge Tay Ping Hui joins the show. *swoon swoon swoon*
2. Special One-Night-Only guest judge Hossan Leong also joins the show.
4. And of course - 4 brand new challengers - we have a local band, an in-line skater, a solo musician and hip hop crew! Will Luminiq Crew finally get challenged? They've been relaxing for the past 2 weeks and are just ITCHING to be challenged!
So stay tuned to the blog - this weekend, look out for the new Challenger profiles and my interview with Judge Hossan! Plus, I've just been told there are some rehearsals this Saturday afternoon - hrm....
will go. will see. will twitpic!
Thats all for tonight folks! Keep checking the bulletin board (top left corner of this blog) for updates on OMG! roadshows/tickets/showtimes etc!
xoxo, s.
ps. Did you notice, the only person who wasn't always supporting a Contender no matter what was C-Murda? Whenever he got interviewed, he always gave a different answer from everyone else! LOL! Either the dude abhors sheep mentality (its still very much Contenders vs Challengers backstage) or he was just being honest. Probably the latter - he's really such a nice boy.
