Saturday, September 24, 2005

Malaysian Idol 2

When Jien announced, "Your Malaysian Idol is... Daniel!" I screamed and screamed while no. 1 and 2 sat stunned on the couch. We were rooting for Nita whom we believe had more oomph and talent. But Daniel Lee had 1.2 million voters, most of them teeny-boppers presumably. He had 68% of the total votes. Looks like the online poll on the Malaysian Idol website was quite accurate : 66% had casted their votes for Daniel.

This year's result wasn't as clear cut as last year's. In MI 1, when Jien asked "who's the Malaysian Idol?" before the result was announced, the audience was unanimous in shouting out "Jac!" This year, we couldn't make out the name.

But all is not lost for Nita. In an Idol competition, second-best doesn't mean obscurity. (In the first place, this isn't about talent per se, not when you reach final 11. When the sms voting kicks in, it becomes a popularity contest. That's why LaToya London went out so early in American Idol 3. She should have been in the final two with Fantasia Barrino.) Look at Clay Aiken. He was the runner-up of American Idol 2 but he's more popular than Ruben Studdard. Ruben who? Have you ever heard his song on our radio? Nope. In fact if you go to the Reality TV World for AI 2, you'll find Clay dominating the news.

But the reality of this type of program is that it hinges on popularity. That's how Mawi of Akademi Fantasia won. I didn't watch the show but that's the general sentiment portrayed in the media.

Now I like Daniel too. He has some things going for him : a soothing voice, cute puppy-dog looks and a pleasant personality. His singing ability, showmanship and confidence had improved tremendously since the workshop stage. But would he be able to hold a candle to singers like Fantasia and Jac in World Idol? The answer is pretty obvious, isn't it?

Daniel should just take MI as a stepping stone to launch his Chinese-singing career. His voice is made for Chinese ballads. For a small town boy who's had no professional training in singing, Daniel has done well for himself. He owes it all to his fans. But how successful will he be? As Roslan said, "let's see if the 1.2 million votes translates into sales."

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

11 comments:

Kak Teh said...

wah lydia, you are so into this! I am glued to Xtra factor - mainly because I want to see simon! He is the one with the X factor.

Allan Koay 郭少樺 said...

Daniel should make albums in Taiwan...he will be as popular as Ah Niu.

Lydia Teh said...

KT, Quack-quack comments only. We don't have x-factor here. I like Simon's witty and honest remarks in AI. In MI, Paul Moss is usually spot on with his comments though he can be biased at times (as he was with Xerra in MI 2).

Visitor, Agree. Daniel may be even more popular than Ah Niu, he's better looking than 'Lembu' :)

Anonymous said...

hi lydia
i groaned when Daniel's name was announced! sure he is a USM undergrad and all, but (sputtering incoherently)..but... Nita has so much more! Why? People blind or what? I am not dissing Daniel whom by the way looks more feminine than most females I know but he's definitely a winner based on popularity votes. Not on talent. Hmmmph!
=maya=

Lydia Teh said...

Maya, I've just figured out why Daniel won. It's not because Nita has less fans. It's because her fans sent in less SMSes and Daniel's teeny-boppers sent in so many more. I just realized it when my daughter said her friends sent in about 10 SMSes for Daniel whereas we, Nita supporters only sent in 5. Blame it on Nita's older, stingier fans.

Apologies : Oops, there was an inaccuracy in the article which I've now removed. If any of you had read and caught it, please accept my humble apologies for the oversight. If you don't know what I'm talking about, all is well and good.

Queen Of The House said...

Yes, me old & stingy too :)
Popularity wins in the end, but it was all good clean fun. I definitely enjoyed MI more than AF (too much melodrama there).

Doreen said...

I'm crushed too!

Yep Lydia, that's what I thought as well - Nita's slightly more matured fans did not send in as many sms votes! Oh well. And wow, you sent in 5 SMSes for Nita? I send 1 sms per week. HAHA. And for the finale, I also only SMSed once. Sigh. Now we know better.

Anyways, Daniel was a guest on HitzFM this morning.. and one caller actually said, "Clearly Nita was the better singer that night - do you think you are capable of competing in the World Idol?" I guess many of us share the same sentiments..

And yes, he should ONLY venture into Chinese pop.

Anonymous said...

Lydia,

I have bad, bad luck this year. Each time I voted for someone, they were eliminated - the first to go was Atilia. Then Ash, then Farah and I jsut knew, fourth time round, when I voted for Nita, she would go too!

Agree, though, with all you say!

Asha

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Lydia Teh said...

Doreen, I'm beginning to feel sorry for Daniel.

Asha, you must've pressed the key three times, that's why I deleted the other two duplicates. Pity Atilia and Trish had to go sooo early. BTW Atilia put in a great performance during the final results show.