AND THE WINNER IS....
What a spectacle it was at the Sydney Opera House tonight ! There were crowds of screaming fans, the past 2 Aussie Idols and the runners-up, the finalists of this year's competition & of course the final 2 - Emily & Kate.
There were performances by the past idols & runners-up, beginning with Shannon Noll, who came in second after Guy Sebastian in 2001, but has gone on to make somewhat more successful albums with lots of airplay. I mean, even I had heard of him in my short few months here !
Then came Anthony Callea, also runner-up, but in the last Aussie Idol 2003. This guy is perhaps even more popular & I had actually almost bought his album in the shops without knowing who he was, on the basis of hearing his voice. He is more in the Josh Groban category (his first number one single was The Prayer, the song popularised by Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion), whereas Shannon is more the soft rock type.Nevertheless, both have great voices & also stage presence.Apparently, Anthony's due to embark on his tour of Europe where he will sing with Pavarotti ?!?
Next up was the last Aussie Idol, Casey Donovan, who was quite a controversial win because of her looks - she was an overweight 16 year old student & after Idol, not much had been heard from her or so I was told. Tonight, however, I finally heard her & I must say she has got a great voice !!! Picture someone the size of Queen Latifah before she got svelte, maybe even bigger than that, who looks a bit daggy (the footage of her appearance during her audition certainly wasn't flattering) but with tremendous power & even a bit of an edge. She gave a rocking performance & I must say she deserved to be voted top, based on this performance !
Finally we had Guy Sebastian, who is probably the most well-known to us folks from the Lion City, because of his Malaysian roots & connections.He too sang well but by this time the show was beginning to get a bit long.
Cleverly, they threw in a magnificent fireworks display which was dazzling in the sky above the Opera House & even had a joke segment where they got a team of women representing "tuck-shop ladies" to throw food at Kyle, one of the judges, as revenge for his unkind remark to Kate about covering up her "tuck-shop lady arms".
That was quite hilarious & I must say, very Aussie - can't imagine that ever happening in Singapore ! ;-)
Then we had the arrival of the final 2 - along with a motorcade(?) of Harley Davidson Riders. They were carried in style on a carriage thingy attched behind a bike, which was ridden by this guy who looked like ZZTop - long white beard & long hair in pony tail !
All this was followed by more performances by the finalists & eventually the final 2 got to sing their favourite/best songs. Kate did well with "The Impossible Dream" but I was blown away again by Emily's performance of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman", which got me standing up & dancing in my apartment in front of the tv !!! :-)
She just sang it with such conviction, joy & power - I was as inspired as I was the first time she sang it on the contest.
Sadly, she was not to win tonight - Kate was declared the new Aussie Idol, though we were told that the votes were very close (within 1%).
Well, if history were to repeat itself, it might just be better for Emily to be runner-up, judging from the successes they have had cp to the actual Idols themselves !
So Emily, I wish you all the best & you will always be MY choice for Aussie Idol. Your courage to take the step to join Idol with no professional singing experience or coaching (Kate has sung professionally before & has a voice coach in Queensland or the Gold Coast or something like that), the love you show for your daughter(whom you say is your inspiration & the reason for joining Idol)& for youths who are disadvantaged, your obvious passion for singing & your wonderful ability to take a song & make it your own - all these are an inspiration to me. I was especially touched when you told some of the youths that you had taken all the negative things that had happened in your life & used them, to turn them into something for good. Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us in Australia & brightening my day with your song !
You go, girl!
There were performances by the past idols & runners-up, beginning with Shannon Noll, who came in second after Guy Sebastian in 2001, but has gone on to make somewhat more successful albums with lots of airplay. I mean, even I had heard of him in my short few months here !
Then came Anthony Callea, also runner-up, but in the last Aussie Idol 2003. This guy is perhaps even more popular & I had actually almost bought his album in the shops without knowing who he was, on the basis of hearing his voice. He is more in the Josh Groban category (his first number one single was The Prayer, the song popularised by Andrea Bocelli & Celine Dion), whereas Shannon is more the soft rock type.Nevertheless, both have great voices & also stage presence.Apparently, Anthony's due to embark on his tour of Europe where he will sing with Pavarotti ?!?
Next up was the last Aussie Idol, Casey Donovan, who was quite a controversial win because of her looks - she was an overweight 16 year old student & after Idol, not much had been heard from her or so I was told. Tonight, however, I finally heard her & I must say she has got a great voice !!! Picture someone the size of Queen Latifah before she got svelte, maybe even bigger than that, who looks a bit daggy (the footage of her appearance during her audition certainly wasn't flattering) but with tremendous power & even a bit of an edge. She gave a rocking performance & I must say she deserved to be voted top, based on this performance !
Finally we had Guy Sebastian, who is probably the most well-known to us folks from the Lion City, because of his Malaysian roots & connections.He too sang well but by this time the show was beginning to get a bit long.
Cleverly, they threw in a magnificent fireworks display which was dazzling in the sky above the Opera House & even had a joke segment where they got a team of women representing "tuck-shop ladies" to throw food at Kyle, one of the judges, as revenge for his unkind remark to Kate about covering up her "tuck-shop lady arms".
That was quite hilarious & I must say, very Aussie - can't imagine that ever happening in Singapore ! ;-)
Then we had the arrival of the final 2 - along with a motorcade(?) of Harley Davidson Riders. They were carried in style on a carriage thingy attched behind a bike, which was ridden by this guy who looked like ZZTop - long white beard & long hair in pony tail !
All this was followed by more performances by the finalists & eventually the final 2 got to sing their favourite/best songs. Kate did well with "The Impossible Dream" but I was blown away again by Emily's performance of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman", which got me standing up & dancing in my apartment in front of the tv !!! :-)
She just sang it with such conviction, joy & power - I was as inspired as I was the first time she sang it on the contest.
Sadly, she was not to win tonight - Kate was declared the new Aussie Idol, though we were told that the votes were very close (within 1%).
Well, if history were to repeat itself, it might just be better for Emily to be runner-up, judging from the successes they have had cp to the actual Idols themselves !
So Emily, I wish you all the best & you will always be MY choice for Aussie Idol. Your courage to take the step to join Idol with no professional singing experience or coaching (Kate has sung professionally before & has a voice coach in Queensland or the Gold Coast or something like that), the love you show for your daughter(whom you say is your inspiration & the reason for joining Idol)& for youths who are disadvantaged, your obvious passion for singing & your wonderful ability to take a song & make it your own - all these are an inspiration to me. I was especially touched when you told some of the youths that you had taken all the negative things that had happened in your life & used them, to turn them into something for good. Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us in Australia & brightening my day with your song !
You go, girl!
posted by J Wong at 5:50 PM
1 Comments:
Good to hear from you again. Was wondering why no writing? Can write more often or not. No need to wait until a lot a lot to say then write lei. That is why I think these are called blog - Baby LOGs - can also do. hahaha.
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