I am back!

Thank you all for your continuous support! When I first started, I would never had expected so many readers reading my average critics.

華人星光大道 Million Star is back soon with its second season and I am going to do a whole season review on it!

 

星光七: 30/01/2011 Live總決賽 Xing Guang 7: Grand Finals!

Edit 1: [ 31/01/2011 7:50PM SINGAPORE TIME]

Thousand apologies that the previous post wasn’t complete. I promise this will be complete!

Stay tuned for:

1. Highlights for every contestant

2. A soon-to-be-released summary for Xing Guang 7

In the mean time, please enjoy the 2 new performances from Jess Lee 李佳薇(Li Jia Wei). Yes, another 2 30 marks!. This makes her the only contestant with 4 consecutive full marks (even better than Anthony Neely 倪安東 (Ni An Dong)). And can anyone verify that she is the only one thus far to get a full marks during finals (but i am sure she is the only one with TWO full marks during finals!).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
Jess Lee李佳薇(Li Jia Wei)- 回家 (Hui Jia)
Jess Lee李佳薇(Li Jia Wei)- Listen

Also, I would like to urge everyone to watch Erika’s 一個人跳舞 (Yi Ge Ren Tiao Wu)

CHEERS FOR XING GUANG 7! AND THE 2.5K HITS THUS FAR. PLEASE CONTINUE READING THIS SPACE 😀

TO BE CONTINUED.

星光七: 23/01/2011 Live準決賽《自選曲+藝人合唱》Xing Guang 7: Pre-Finals Self-Choice Song and Duet with Artiste

[To be Continued]

Yes readers, I am still watching the show now. But thanks for the people who contributed the past 1000 views 🙂 The review will be out!

Edit 1: [ 24/01/2011 8:50PM SINGAPORE TIME]

I watched finish but I don’t have the time for a detailed entry now and the episode was too long for me to digest in a detailed way.

Things to look out for in my update (in time to come):

1. I am finally giving every contestant comments. In past entries, I only gave the more outstanding ones.

2. I will giving how much marks I think the performance is worth (Strictly in my opinion)

And… In a nut shell,

I feel that this episode is a very exciting one. There were many great performances and of course, some were slightly overrated but who cares… They were all good! My favourite has got to be Jess Lee 李佳薇 (Li Jia Wei)’s Yong Gan 勇敢. It was the most deserving 30marks of the season thus far! And despite my previous prediction for this episode wasn’t that good (Boooo) BUT I managed the top 6 candidates which I predicted in the first few posts here correct (Actually it was easy, no credits given). The me then predicted Erika 劉艾立 to win this, but even though she is one of my personal favourite all these time, I see no one but Jess winning this already. To all cynical people (which includes me in the past) who thinks “Hey! Maybe Wu Si Ai 舞思愛 will win because the producers are trying SOO hard to make a Taiwanese do well in this season”, it may come true… But you cannot admit that she did two really good performances today (Yes, I happen to like them).

And for now, copied from Hada.Pixnet.Net,

【星光７八強 目前積分】
積分Ⅰ　積分Ⅱ　積分Ⅲ(2首）　 累計積分
☆李佳薇　 24　 　28　　 　30　30 　　112 (目前暫居第一)
☆舞思愛　 28　 　24　 　　25　30 　　107 (目前暫居第二)
☆孫曉亮　 23　 　25　 　　28　26 　　102 (目前暫居第三)
☆白潮洛蒙 17　 　29　 　　26　29 　　101 (目前暫居第四)
☆陳珂冰　 22　 　25　 　　18　28 　　 93 (目前暫居第五)
☆劉艾立　 22　 　23　 　　20　28 　　 93 (目前暫居第五)
☆胡淮浪　 24　 　24　　 　21　20 　　 89 (星光７第七名)
☆常佳寧　 27　 　21　 　　19　15 　　 82 (星光７第八名)

Edit 2: [ 25/01/2011 7:00 PM SINGAPORE TIME]

常佳寧-The Moment

常佳寧 Chang Jia Ning has always been getting recognition for the raw sincere feeling that she brings forth. To me, The Moment isn’t the song to pick because I feel that sincerity isn’t enough to get the song going. She lacked the certain level of theatrical feeling to really enhance the flavour of the song. Not only that, her weakness (not able to sustain her breath for long) is really exposed very badly. I feel like she cannot handle the technical difficulty of this song… The beat and the challenge in the tempo (especially in the chorus) wasn’t finely executed. I will give this song a 16marks (this interpretation even sounds like a Top 30 kind of performance).

胡淮浪 – 天空

胡淮浪 Hu Huai Lang has overstayed since top 15 or so. So it was more or less his time to go. Of course, he did have nice performances here and there (my favourite being 你不知道的事). This performance is averagely good. Other than the last two lines where he screwed his lyrics, I can appreciate the majority of this song, understand his feeling and have myself into the music. But the thing is, this is too predictable. I feel it is so just another Hu Huai Lang performance, nothing special about it, nothing too touching. 19m will be fine.

陳珂冰 – 是否

As much as I love Pink Tan 陳珂冰 (Chen Ke Bin), I feel that this performance is the most forgettable of them all. It’s the kind of performance that you watch, and have nothing to say. I’m sorry, not impressive enough. And, I understand her emotions, but that’s about it. I can’t get affected by it. I am just watching from afar and not engaged by the story. 16m, I’m sorry Pink!

Erika劉艾立 – 火

Erika Liu Ai Li 劉艾立 knows what she does best but she is brave enough to venture into other areas of singing. Recently, she picked up such genres, the kind she can sing and dance sexily. Honestly, am I attracted? No. I prefer the old Erika which was all about singing only. But I did enjoyed her voice in this performance. I feel that she did try to be mischievous in singing the verse and excelled in it. But the chorus kind of destroyed it because her voice seemed too thin to bring out the fire and rage in this song. The grooving is excellent and I like how she handled the dynamics at very very microscopic level. To me, this song deserves a 24m.

白潮洛蒙 – 無字的情批

Bai Chao Luo Meng 白潮洛蒙 is all about DAMN GOOD, damn bad, DAMN GOOD, damn bad (more extreme than his competitor hu huai lang). I think this performance falls nowhere in the above mentioned. It is just DAMN BORING. It’s not the song I know, because I am starting to love Tai Yu Songs Hahaha. It’s the predictable way of singing from him (Yes, at this point of time where you see people trying to breakthrough and then you see a predictable old kind of performance, you get pissed.) Touched? No. Impressed? No. All I can say for this is good techniques and that’s about it. 21m max.

李佳薇 – 勇敢

I cannot emphasize more that this is one of the best performance of this season, if not the best. Some sounded off that this performance isn’t perfect but hey! It is this imperfection that gives Jess Lee 李佳薇(Li Jia Wei) the full 30mark. She used to be TOO perfect, and we cannot seem to fully break into her heart but now we can. I always knew Li Jia Wei is much better in mandarin songs 😛 Heh! This performance was touching from the start and can be related to easily. Her stable singing with a very big voice is an added advantage hence allowing her to bring out BOTH the musical and emotional aspects of this song. I especially love the line right after the high note, because its soo real. It’s as though she is telling me that line. It is definitely a new way of singing Jess is trying to pick up and I must say, it is done in a very very professional way. I can easily imagine this song being sung on a concert with fans crying while singing along to this song. This song is confirm full marks from me too. I must add on, Jess deserves this full mark since long ago. A few of her performances I felt was full mark worthy but she didn’t manage to earn and I am glad she managed to grab that full marks at this crucial moment.

舞思愛 – 再會啦心愛的無緣的人

Before anyone thinks that this performance is typical Wu Si Ai 舞思愛 and her aboriginal songs, I must urge you to watch this. I think the song choice helped her a bit because this song is so interesting. Then this song managed to give her a platform to do what she is comfortable with and YET offers her opportunity to show the vocal versatility I never thought she had (the graceful side that is backed with certain level of controlled power). That being said, if Jess’s performance was the finale of her concert that can make everyone cry, this performance seem to be just one of the middle performances in a concert that people may forget. But nevertheless, not too bad a performance. 23 marks.

孫曉亮 – 找自己

I talked about trying new stuffs and Sun Xiao Liang 孫曉亮 did it but wasn’t up to expectations. I have to admit, the first time I heard this song, I thought it sucked. But after hearing the second time, and third… Hey. It isn’t that bad! I think the second half of the song saved him. The first half was like…”Is this Xiao Liang?” You may think its good he offers such a different thing that we cannot guess its Xiao Liang doing it but to me, the best outcome of trying new stuffs is when you experiment but yet the performance is still labelled YOU. Not good enough to be on par with Jess but not bad enough to be on par with the rest. 24marks is reasonable in my opinion.

– Second half of recording analysed another time 🙂 –

星光七: 藝人合唱预测 Predictions of Xing Guang Da Dao Season 7 (Duet with Artiste)

Hello all my friends who chanced onto this blog using search engines. Your Average Critic has reached one important milestone of half a thousand views since the blog started less than one month ago. With that, I have decided to come out with a special entry for Xing Guang Da Dao (to compensate for this week’s lack of update since no episode is shown). This entry will be about predicting how the duet with artiste will turn out!

Della 丁噹 (Ding Dang)

This girl once appeared on Xing Guang PK and got herself shot to fame with Wo Shi Yi Zhi Xiao Xiao Niao 我是一隻小小鳥. Known now for her thick vocals that can hit high notes with no pitching problem, sources revealed that she will be paired with Jess Lee 李佳薇 (Li Jia Wei). Both of them are powerhouses, and can tackle huge songs.

 

Jess Lee’s strength is on explosive English Classics that can showcase her wide vocal range. (Even though I will gladly pick her exquisite Chinese songs anytime over these English Classics). Recommended- All By Myself

So with the both of them paired together, expect them to choose a song that requires high technique and it will definitely be sprinkled with high notes and loud voices. As much as this duet will be interestingly like a PK between both iron ladies, I do foresee the performance to be rather one-sided (like someone will definitely outshine the other) and end up spoiling the duet effect.

Taking no consideration of the songs they are going to pick, I predict Jess getting somewhere around 23-24.

Olivia Ong

Olivia once made her mark in Japan with her remakes of English songs that are calm, serene and elegant. She then became a frequent guest in Taiwan Talk Show Kang Xi Lai Le 康熙来了 and occasionally coming to Xing Guang and challenge contestants. The highlight? A full mark performance – I Feel The Earth Move.
My guess is that she will be paired with Erika because of the similarity in the genres they like to tackle.

Erika’s strength is on English Jazz Songs like Summertime which she received the first 29m out of the possible 30 in Xing Guang at the earlier stages.

Even though both of them are my personal favourites, my guess is that the both of them will come out with a performance that is within expectations and that is about it. There will hardly be any surprises and they will play safe. Hopefully there will be surprise or I predict 20-23m.

Anthony Neely 倪安東 (Ni An Dong)

Anthony was a complete nobody when he came to challenge Season 5’s contestants. He aced ballads by performing in his own style. His trademark is not about showing off his vocal techniques but rather letting listener’s heart soak into his emotions. He is also the much hyped contestant that scored 33/25m with his rendition of The Bowler’s Daughter

It is very probably that he will be partnering Pink Tan 陳珂冰(Chen Ke Bin) after the confession from Pink some episodes ago. Pink’s strength lies on her unique phrasing and her ability to make songs into her own. Watch Saving All My Love For You to understand why.
In my opinion, this is going to be a very sweet ballad which is supported by strong and stable vocal techniques. I’m expecting a diabetic performance which can make us go awwwww. I predict around 26m for this.

Terry Lin 林志炫 (Lin Zhi Xuan)

Terry is one helluva singer. Just one sentence from him and its like the song is complete. There is both techniques and emotions in every line he sings and the every note is stamped with his name but guess what? I think his personality sucks Hahaha Extremely showy even though we all can’t deny he is good. Watching this performance, I am sure his superb pitching will scare you.
I feel like 11 Year Old (or rather now 12) Chang Jia Ning 常佳寧 will be paired with him in hope there is some special chemistry. Her raw sincere singing as seen in 旋木 Xuan Mu coupled with his matured and confident style will mix well and I feel he will be able to give her some valuable advice in this probable duet. (Hehe, In addition, she is too young to have much opinions so he can manipulate her to sing the way he wants haha)

If the both of them are paired, I believe getting a high score of around 27m will be of no problem.

Tiger Huang 黄小琥 (Huang Xiao Hu)

Tiger Huang is the Queen of Pub in Taiwan. She has one of the richest vocal in the Taiwan music industry and her voice is so unique because its really masculine in a feminine way. She performed many times in Xing Guang ( like this) and has always aced in live performances.

My guess is that she will be paired with Sun Xiao Liang 孫曉亮 after his heartfelt rendition of her song 伴. Sun Xiao Liang is one contestant that balances vocal tone, techniques and emotions very well so with Tiger guiding him, I believe they will do pretty well. And her songs seem to fit him quite well like 沒那麼簡單 Mei Na Me Jian Dan.

Also, recognizing that Tiger is one of the most respected vocalist around, I believe with a possible solid delivery and some reputation she holds, getting above 25 shouldn’t be a problem.

Nicholas Teo 張棟樑(Zhang Dong Liang)

Nicholas Teo is an average singer. Above average looks, distinct vocal tone but average singing techniques. I have to admit his vocal tone is easy to make people get involved in sad soppy songs like 錯了再錯 Cuo Le Zai Cuo though.

I will pair him with Hu Huai Lang 胡淮浪 because they both are categorized in the same group- have looks but average singing. Hu Huai Lang is improving nowadays and he finally found what he did best – more manly rock songs e.g 火燒的寂寞 but I don’t feel its enough to make this pair an edge over the other pairs.
Somewhere around 20m will be fine and yes, Hu Huai Lang overstayed.

Freya Lin Fan 林凡

Freya has great emoting ability and has always been able to allow what she feels flow through naturally in her song. With the all-time favourite K Song 一個人生活 (Yi Ge Ren Sheng Huo) in her bag, many has already recognized her singing skills. Not only that, the recent 30m she received in Xing Guang is enough to prove her presence already. (P.s- I found one nice rendition of 一個人生活 that has the loneliness controlled at optimal level instead of letting it gush out too directly… Kang Kang 康禎庭 (Kang Zhen Ting)’s rendition)

I believe she will be paired with Wu Si Ai 舞思愛. Wu Si Ai has always been acing in her aboriginal songs such as 鬼湖之戀 but she needs to break out of that because there isnt much market for that. Hence I believe a duet with Freya will allow to her to learn how to emote in Mandopop naturally which will be of great help for her(as opposed to aboriginal songs). If nothing goes wrong, getting a 23m or so shouldn’t be a problem.

Xiao Huang Qi 蕭煌奇

A talented man who really has a knack in music. Just look at the classics he composed. Being a good musician helped him a lot in singing where you can see he is able to allow his voice to blend and prevent his voice and music to be immiscible. Even though many know him for Ni Shi Wo De Yan 你是我的眼, I very much prefer his Ah Ma De Hua 阿嬤的話. It is so tears inducing! It just warms up your heart immediately.

There is a very high chance that the producers will pair Bai Chao Luo Meng 白潮洛蒙 with him following his 29m rendition of Ni Shi Wo De Yan. Also, Bai Chao has the warmth in his voice too which is showcased in songs like 天天想你.

Hence, a heartwarming and homely feeling will be portrayed if these 2 were to duet. How warm depends on how much Xiao Huang Qi can lead Bai Chao who needs a bit of training hence to be safe, I predict 22 if Bai Chao don’t up his game but around 27 if Bai Chao succeeds.

–

So here, these are my bold prediction of the possible combination of duet and the scores they may get (even without hearing the songs they sing). Hope you guys had fun reading and will have a fun time predicting as well! (Share with me!!)

Thanks once again for the rise in readership and I hope I have more to bring onto the plate. I am thinking of doing reviews on Super Idol 超級偶像 soon! So stay tuned and don’t leave after Xing Guang Season 7 ends 🙂

Cheers,

Your Average Critic YAC

星光七: 10/01/2011 踢館積分賽二第九名決定賽 Xing Guang 7: PK Round 2 – 9th position revealed!

Comparing this episode and the previous, this episode is better. There are many nice performances that I won’t mind watching a few more times unlike the previous where I only viewed the few I featured again.

Highlights of this episode:

1. Freya Lin’s 林凡 appearance

2. The 29m V.S. 29m PK

3. Pink Tan’s 陳珂冰(Chen Ke Bin) magical performance

林凡-愛

Freya Lin Fan 林凡 is back. For some, you may be like “who is this girl? Is she even famous?”. Yes she is. Remember 一个人生活? The original singer is this humble girl! Well, I guess she is more famous for her song than her voice so she is hoping to prove more in this PK. During the interview, you know that she is a very personable and nice girl who really loves singing and challenging herself in the limits of music. She is obviously the emotions>techniques kind of girl and I must say she did it to near perfection. The tempo of this song makes it hard to sing live but Freya managed to catch the groove of the song and work well with the beat and punches of the song. Technically, she is very stable. Moving on… Emotions. She did a very fine job in it because she didn’t purposely try to sound sad or anything. She just allowed her feelings to flow naturally so I’m rather impressed with it. However the main problem if I have to pick on is that she did not manage to meet what the song require. This song requires more 口气. To be able to ace this song, you need to have your own way of singing this because this song is more of a story telling kind of song so I felt she lacked a bit there. Still a really wonderful performance but full marks may be a tad too high. I would gladly accept 28m or so though.

周莉文-一樣的月光

Usually when I hear people who wants to sing classic songs like 一樣的月光, in my mind, I will be like “Ah, not again.” and nothing will be exceptionally impressive I presume. And when its Zhou Li Wen 周莉文 who is the one singing it, all the more I feel it will be a standard powerful delivery with little surprises. But little did I expect myself to love this performance so much. Firstly, when the song started, immediately I feel like she somehow managed to make me look at nothing else but her. Her presence is so strong. This is what a star is about. You don’t have to have the best looks but once you stand out, you MUST be able to get everyone to just focus on you. Then she started the verse and I really enjoyed it because she was still controlling, she didnt straight away blast out her 100%. She kept and kept and slowly letting loose of her power. This makes the song so much more progressive which makes her rendition stands out because most others will just care about making it powerful and ignore about building up the power which will hence make me get sick of the performance half way. Looking at her perform seriously reminds me of those really professional veteran singer that has so much experience in her bag.

白潮洛蒙-你是我的眼

And the person she PK-ed? Bai Chao Luo Meng 白潮洛蒙. Bai Chao had average performances in recent week so when I first read the spoilers that he got a 29m tie with Zhou, I felt like…. Ok… Overrated thing again! Plus its this song AGAIN. Many people (such as Season 1 Champion Yoga Lin 林宥嘉 and Season 5 PK King Antony Nee 倪安東)had sing this song and get sky rocket scores so I thought Bai Chao cannot be compared to them. Sometimes I don’t get why people will want to choose super classic songs like Xin Bu Liao Qing新不了情 and such because you cannot outperform the previous contestants that did excellent job in. So I was prepared to be pissed throughout Bai Chao’s performance. But when he started singing the first line 如果我能看得见 I went OH MY GOD. This guy can actually sing so well! The verse was so well crafted with emotions and each low note was filled with the story of this song (in the first place, I always had an impression that he sucked at low notes) so I was sitting up already. Then the chorus came, the effect of the lighting all these helped as well but ultimately, it was his voice that touched me. Another superstar performance! I am so glad the both of them got high scoring 29m but to me, I will be more than willing to up and give them 30m each!

陳珂冰-天空

I always preferred Pink Tan 陳珂冰 singing chinese songs. I feel she is more heartfelt, more sincere and much more convincing when singing chinese songs. Singing this song will cause people to have greater expectations because Faye Wong 王菲 is one of the best singers ever in the Chinese Music industry and one of the alumni Queen Wei 魏如昀 did a wonderful rendition previously. Firstly, Pink Tan looks really classy today! Very very pretty. And her voice today is so charismatic and pretty too! Her voice is the kind that will paint a beautiful picture in your mind and let you relax and imagine those scenery in the midst of watching her performance. And you know she is one ambitious girl. Even though the verse was already very beautiful, she wants to challenge herself a step further. Then she went on to add more power (the soft and subtle kind) and by then, I am seriously having serene images of nature like the hills and waterfalls from the mountainous areas of China in my head. More importantly, although she is giving you all these peaceful pictures, at the end of the song, your heart will ultimately can’t help but have a tear drop there. I feel this way of delivering emotions very very professional. Lastly, at 1:39, 放逐在世界的另一边 and transition from 的 to 另 is soooo beautiful and really difficult to do it but she managed to handle it within her control!  To me, Pink deserves like 28-30m range!

劉悅-也許明天

I wanted to stop the review at Pink but I realise I have to give Liu 劉悅 a special appearance because her personality is so nice! I like how she is so comical during the interview. And her singing is so different from her bubbly nature. The performance was solid even though her performance and her both had a similarity- they have strong personality in it. Her performance had 劉悅 written all over instead of A*Mei. I loved the 我的明天~~~~ climax because it was like the hook of the performance that can make everyone remember her. Generally a very strong performance but somehow, I just love her personality more than her singing Hahaha.

Regarding Ren 任科來-She’s gone, initially it was nice but after that I got so tired hearing him and feel that he was losing his control but oh well, you can still hear it because some people enjoy it 🙂

Elimination 淘汰

It was Sisi Shi施旭婧(Shi Xu Jing)’s turn to be eliminated. Initially, I really didn’t like her because she was more concern about showing of her techniques than emotions and I felt she was a bit proud. But then as the competition continued, I started liking her more because I realised she wasn’t proud. She just wanted to be confident about herself which is one of the most basic requirement from singers. Even though she knew her strength was in fast songs, she still picks ballads again and again, listening to what judges have been advising her and improve on herself. She is the kind of girl that don’t give up and is not afraid to fail. The more she knows she isn’t good at something, the more she wants to face it and make sure she improves. I love her attitude! And of course, she really did improve a lot and had a few ballads that was belted out which I loved a lot. Of course, I took special notice of her in the competition because she came to Xing Guang from Singapore’s selection round (she was previously a performer from Lunar Bar). I believe with her right attitude, she will go far in wherever she embarks!

Summary:

I enjoyed this episode a lot! Many wonderful performances and many contestants decided to up their game!

Your Average Critic

YAC

P.s- you guys can leave some message and share with me what you feel about these contestants 😀

星光七: 03/01/2011 踢館積分賽－第十名決定賽 Xing Guang 7: PK Round 1 – 10th position revealed!

And as the competition is speeding towards the finals, the 10th position is revealed. Pk Rounds are my favourites because you get to see fresh faces that can totally kill at their first attempt. However, this episode of PK is too definitely below average. I only found myself being excited once when Diana appeared but other than that, I am staying my cool.

Highlights of this episode:

1. Diana’s Impossible!!! – Highly recommended.

2. Sisi Shi’s 施旭婧 emotional delivery.

Diana-Impossible

Singing this song comes with great expectation because number 1- Christina Aguilera is an amazing singer so you can hardly reach her level. number 2- Janice Yan 閻奕格 aced this song during the PK in Season 6 and I cannot get her shadows of this song! Diana did a great attempt I find. She uses a more 软中带刚 approach (the kind that looks soft on the surface but yet it has strength in its depth). I’m definitely addicted to all the growling she had while singing this song, they helped push the song forward. Added bonus would be her sweet looks, heh, don’t you think there is this interesting aura when you have someone who looks sweet singing this song with such much attitude. A 4/5 star performance in my opinion, however, I have to admit this kind of performance is not the kind you can re-watch repeatedly too many times because I re-watched it thrice and got rather sick of it already Heh.

施旭婧-趁早

To me, Sisi Shi 施旭婧(Shi Xu Jing) don’t have the best techniques compared to the rest (maybe one of the weakest even) but she is able to bring out the emotions to her performances that make them so sincere. I watched a short clip of her singing in one of the chinese news that showed her singing one part of this song live and I felt so excited to hear what the actual thing sounds. Thank god! She didn’t disappoint! Even though the chorus got her struggling with the high notes but I love the chorus because she decided to sing the chorus in kinda a word by word way which actually reflects the intense feeling that is in her. Then my favourite part has got to be 1:51 我可以笑著扮演你的配角 which was so gentle before going on to the 在你的背後自己煎熬. loved the 熬 word because it had the strong punch and beautifully designed notes in it. Never really liked Sisi from the start but I have to admit that several of her ballads had made me notice her more and more.

周莉文-今晚你想念的人是不是我

Is it me or is it the PK contestants are singing songs that are sung by Janice before, Heh. Janice did this song really well too so theres Janice shadow in this song but surprisingly, Zhou Li Wen周莉文 managed to make it her own. I love her voice because it is so thick, you know how irritating it is when some singers have really thin voice and wanna perform in a diva-ish fashion. I felt she didn’t really get intimate with the song in terms with singing techniques but in the aspects of emotions, she did a rather good job. I really hope she isnt the one trick pony kind and get really excel with her voice if she really gets into Xing Guang 8.

李佳薇-永遠等待

I am impressed by Jess Lee 李佳薇(Li Jia Wei) yet again! This girl can just do any song right? Like I mentioned in my earlier posts, I love Jess singing chinese songs because I feel it is where she can show her superiority in singing. You know this song reminds me of David Huang’s comment on one of Janice’s performance some time back- you can feel that Jess is not giving 100% power into singing this song, she is controlling, she is just letting out 70%, 80% which is optimal for the song and that is really really difficult to do and Jess do it. I don’t know, I feel that Jess sort of underscored yet again. I would have given her 26 or something for that.

Elimination 淘汰

Wang Wen 王雯 got eliminated. I expected the elimination to come anytime soon after Bee Keow陳美嬌 and the Koreans鄰家王子 got out meaning to say the judges are looking for how much improvement can they still make. The main reason was that she hasnt shown anything more than what she had when she came. She started off as one of the most competitive contestant and touched many hearts but slowly, I realised she had been using the same singing throughout all the songs. There hasn’t been any improvements or what at all. I guess this is the reality of competitions. Even though you may not be the weakest, but so long as you don’t improve significantly, people kinda get sick of you and so you are gone. But that being sad, I think she is a great singer.

Everyone has to hear this : 王雯-爱你一万年.

She does make a good recording artiste yea? 😀 Never give up!

Summary:
Good individual performances by some but a BORING EPISODE nevertheless.

Halfway throughout the episode, I got real bored already. The PK contestants are not as strong as I perceived too. Hopefully next week will be better. Am I the only one who miss Bee Keow and Koreans?

Your Average Critic
YAC

超级星光大道 Xing Guang Da Dao: 2010年排行榜(下) Favourite 21 Songs in 2010 (Part 2)

Its time for the final 5! Which are the best performances?

5th: 許仁杰 康禎庭-檸檬草的味道

I think this is by far the best duet in Xing Guang’s history. Stanly Hsu 許仁杰(Xu Ren Jie) and Connie Kang 康禎庭(Kang Zhen Ting) aced this performance during the All Stars Season and made it their own! I cannot believe this Jolin Tsai 蔡依林’s ballad can be transformed into a duet. I realised Stanly is one who can do duet very very well. Back when he came back as a senior to sing with Rose Liu on Season 5 for the song 復刻回憶, the both of them owned the song too. He can harmonize really well and the best part of him is that he doesnt just harmonize the notes, he harmonize the MUSIC. There is a difference. Connie on the other hand did a brilliant job because she is one singer that catches the feel of the song right from the start and there is no denial that her voice is so stunningly sweet (not the overly diabetic type). I love how many of their original ideas are incorporated into this final product, with many parts being put in to make this song all the more duet-ish. Of course, their looks further add on to the chemistry because they do look together! Don’t you just love the all stars season? =D

4th: 丁噹-我是一隻小小鳥

There is absolutely no reason to exclude this song out of the list. Firstly, I don’t remember Della 丁噹(Ding Dang) looking so pretty so it definitely lit up the screen when she got on. Then she started singing this song, before she sang I was just thinking WHAT THE HECK IS THIS SONG (sorry I don’t know this classic beforehand), but later when she started singing, I didn’t find it very outdated. I mean, despite the song being rather old, she sings it in a more modern style which seems to be more relevant to our time. Technically, no problems at all. Low notes were done with much power and high notes were sung out without losing any of the strength. Of course we know the impressive impactful high note which then set a high note frenzy in Xing Guang 😀 What made this rendition all the more special is the story behind it. Della’s 小小鳥(small bird) was one that seems to have resign to fate that she is just one small bird but deep inside, this small bird is still dreaming, knowing that there is still 0.001% chance of succeeding. This is able to connect so well with listeners especially because Della has been one of the best singers around in her generation but just don’t seem to get the popularity deserved before this performance. I have no idea why is this only 24marks. That one mark lacking was from Xiao Pang who gave a lame reason that she shouldn’t even be competing. Shit

3rd: 邊品憲-寂寞先生

Brian Pian 邊品憲(Bian Pin Xian) always gave me an impression that he can sing but not as good as he looks. Usually good looking people have more to prove I guess. This is a rendition that I love alot despite the flaws. Even though there were occasional mistakes such as singing the wrong lyrics, I can feel what is behind the singing. I heard many versions of this song but I feel Brian’s rendition is one of the best and most apt to what the song depicts. In his voice, you don’t hear the strong loneliness like what Gary Cao 曹格 has. You hear a more subtle loneliness. You can feel that this lonely man doesn’t show the emptiness in him so easily. He appears okay outside, people around him thinks he is really blissful and all but only he knows that deep inside, there is always a part of him that is not filled. He is secretly wishing for me. He is keeping faith. That is why I love his performance so much because it isn’t too over! 😀

2nd: 劉明湘-跟你借的幸福

Another heartfelt performance from Rose Liu 劉明湘(Liu Ming Xiang). The fact that she clinched second for both Season 5 星光5 and the All Stars Season 傳奇賽, you know that this girl is a force to be reckoned with. She sang this song fresh from her break up hence you can feel how she was singing her heart out hence the slightly loss of control in her emotions. Anyway, Rose is really good because she has different voices. I mean different styles of singing in one song which is probably because she idolizes Mariah Carey and M.C has similar styles but Rose managed to fine-tune it to her own and make it sound so fresh in Mandopop. Like in the verse, she uses a softer approach which made her low notes sound so sexy! Also, she is already trying to slowly let loose of her feelings. Then at 1:45 she uses a more forceful way of singing 昨天 跟你借的幸福, that was when the emotions just GUSHED OUT and hit you. This is a much better way because you don’t feel so overwhelmed throughout the whole song. Of course, looking how she is struggling to get a grip of herself and completing the song is just… 😥

1st: 閻奕格-讓一切隨風

It is Janice Yan 閻奕格(Yan Yi Ge) again! Yes she is a legend in Xing Guang history because she is the only PK challenger who won all the PK rounds and also winning the first ever All Stars Season. Despite low viewership for the season, I feel that the All Stars Season managed to give us so many good performances! This performance is also a legend. The video from this season with the most hits in youtube (over one million views)! Just like the judge David Huang, I am usually not a great fan of Canto songs but Janice made this Canto song so pleasant to hear because she added many of her usual styles, singing techniques and packaged it in another way that allows people to have connection with. This is one of the few performances I am going to let you just hear (Oh anyway did another realise the header that has the song title includes a hyperlink?) and judge yourself! You will know why this is the best performance of 2010!

Also, I have two honourable mentions that I feel all of you can listen too even though it isn’t really in any Xing Guang Seasons- it is just in one of Xing Guang’s special chinese new year celebration programme.

Honourable Mention 1: 劉明湘-I still believe

One of Rose’s best performance ever. Easily one of my top 5 favourite performances of entire Xing Guang history.

Honourable Mention 2: 徐佳瑩-該怎麼愛你

One of Lala Hsu’s 徐佳瑩 (Xu Jia Ying) best performance ever too. Heh, also, easily one of my top 5 favourite performances of Xing Guang history too Heh. It is funny how my favourites come from such special programmes. Maybe because they are under less stress so they peform better! But anyway, a short introduction to this girl, Lala is Season 3’s 星光3 winner and also Taiwan Golden Melody 2010 金曲奖 2010’s Best Newcomer 最佳新人獎. You can actually youtube her and hear some of her compositions. Highly recommended: 失落沙洲

Hope you enjoy all these performances as much as I do. Share with me, which are your favourites?

Your Average Critic
YAC

超级星光大道 Xing Guang Da Dao: 2010年排行榜(上) Favourite 21 Songs in 2010 (Part 1)

After refreshing some old videos that occurred at earlier part of 2010 and taking into account that the last Xing Guang episode that will be shown during 2010 is over, it is a high time to do my list of most favourite 21 performances this year!

21st: 謝震廷-Neon

This season which was somewhat like an all stars edition (inviting some of the previous seasons’ participants) started with Kevin Hsieh 謝震廷 (Xie Zhen Ting) coming back as a slightly matured 16 year old teenager (he was only 13 during season 1!). During the past few years, he learnt guitar and wanted to show his new found talent by singing this song Neon while playing the guitar. Although some parts of the song were flawed, this performance is great because you can feel how much he wants this and the effort he put in all these while. For the determination and his perseverance, this video deserve to be in this list!

20th: 徐詠琳-有沒有

In season 5, the judges had been constantly praising that Rachel 徐詠琳’s(Xu Yong Lin) vocal tone but at that point of time, I didn’t find anything special about it. This song 有沒有 helped me understand what they have been talking about. This song is finely executed and typically the performance I like – theres gentleness but ends with an explosive nature. Of course, theres occasionally powerful punches to the whole execution. And… I think she looks really pretty here too.

19th: 陳美嬌-愛你無條件

Description at here. Additional information is that maybe rightfully, this song would have been higher but I’m putting this song here because I wanted to give other songs that were not featured before some exposure. Bee Keow(Chen Mei Jiao), though eliminated, always stays in my heart as the new 台语 Hokkien Queen.

18th: 黃偉晉-勇氣

As a guy, I find that he is one of the most good looking male contestants on all the seasons. Despite having weaker vocals compared to his counterparts that have similar positions, I feel that Wayne Huang 黃偉晉 (Huang Wei Jin) has the sincerity that some of the others don’t. This song is one of those that you can hear how humble he is and the what he wants to bring across from this song – that he is not going to give up in love no matter what tough it is. Doesn’t it reminds you of his journey in Xing Guang? The never give up spirit. Average vocals but tremendous hard work put in in every song he sings.

17th: 閻奕格-Fighter

One of most classic performances from Janice Yan 閻奕格(Yan Yi Ge) who is the champion of the All Stars Season 星光傳奇賽. She performed the song Fighter during her debut appearance as a PK contestant in Season 6 and scored full marks for this delivery. I remember the week before when the producers previewed one short 5s or so clip on this performance, I knew immediately this was going to be a high scoring performance and to my wonder, the performance was even better than I imagined. The dialogue at the start sucked me right into her story already and when the line “WHEN I” kicked in, it was obvious this performance was going to be the cream of the crop. True enough, the song got better and better despite one weak high note when 2:33 “Me” but the credits of this song greatly outweighs this small demerit. The only thing lacking? Why didn’t she had a behind the curtain a capella singing just like the other PK contestants!

16th: 施旭婧-問

Description found here 🙂

15th: 馬靚辳-透氣

Ma Jing Nong 馬靚辳 rocked this song! There is no doubt at all how she is enjoying herself in this music. Her vocal expression and voice just blends into the bass at the background very well. The voice and the bass have a very intimate interaction which adds on to the charm of this song. In addition, she is not holding back at all! The confidence she is showing really shines through and you can see this performance is done at its 100% which is something the audience loves to see! She is also one of the role models that can show people that you can be plus size… But… When you have confidence in yourself, this is where you can look really pretty! I really wished she went on further in the competition!

14th: 閻奕格-愛如潮水

Janice rocked yet another song! That week’s theme was to add a variation genre to a song and she decided to play with rock in this ballad 愛如潮水. The initial acoustic sounded okay to me. Nothing too impressive but the rock version really caught me! It is so intriguing to know that the song can actually sound like this! She manages to find out the other side of the lyrics. The lyrics doesn’t only represent the sadness that the victim is facing but also the eagerness to change the victim’s mindset to be a stronger one so as to not get hurt more. And I chose this screenshot because… Don’t you love her interaction with the guitarist! Sometimes I think it is really a total waste if you bring a musician on stage and only mingle with him musically. There should be more! And Janice gave us more! Love her look her too.

13th: 陳美嬌-不管有多苦

Description found here 😀

12th: 陳詩莉-星星 I’m not a star

This Malaysian Singer (Female champion of Project Superstar in Malaysia) Desiree陳詩莉 (Chen Shi Li)came to PK during season 6 and scored a respectful 24 marks. I think she is very professional and she knows how to work with the camera. She is making herself look pretty while singing! I love how she added her own elements while singing this song. More importantly, her voice gives you a lot of room for imagination because she uses a more subtle way of bringing forth the story she wants to tell instead of blatantly singing it out. This makes her music so interesting because you get hear her creativity in singing while your creativity is triggered to interpret it. And really, there is hardly any flaws.This girl deserves to be more popular!

11th: 杜華瑾-說好的幸福呢

Jenny Du (Du Hua Jin) has a lot of good songs along her way to get second in season 6 such as 解脫, 如果沒有你 and 追. (Added so many other links because I feel there are all deserving to be in this pick too but I just don’t have enough spaces and time to write for so many songs Heh). Jenny has many advantages compared to the rest. One- She has a very unique vocal tone that people can immediately recognize. Two- She has this classy feeling around her that doesn’t make her too commercial. Three- She has a very special 口气 that can easily win people down (especially in a capella singing like what one of the judge used to tell her- she is almost unbeatable in a capella). If Jenny gets to cut an album, her album will never be one of high music quality! I cannot wait for her to have one!

10th: Olivia Ong- I Feel the Earth Move

This is a very special full marks performance in Xing Guang. Olivia totally nailed this song and what I like about this because it has neither any strong out-of-the-world high note nor tears wrenching emotions but you know its impressive! The grooving is near excellence, pronunciation totally fine (sometimes poor pronunciation by some of the Asian singers spoil the feel). I love how she looks like she is singing effortlessly but yet all the notes are sang without having discount (you can hear the end of her notes, they are all kept very well.) As a fellow Singaporean, I feel very proud that Olivia Ong has a chance to make it big in Taiwan because her vocals are really soothing to ears. I think she is also the 3rd Singaporean to receive full marks from Xing Guang after Rachel Chua(蔡艾珈 Cai Ai Jia)’s Wo Gai De Dao 我該得到 and Kelvin Chen Wei Lian’s (陳偉聯) Da Hai 大海.

9th: 黃郁善-石榴女人

Shanils Huang 黃郁善 (Huang Yu Shan) has few commendable performances but I particularly love this because it is too classic. Like I think this is her representative performance in her journey in getting 4th for Season 6. It is very attractive and you can see that she designed alot for this performance especially for visual purposes which is something not many contestants take note of. And this is such a special song suited for her special vocals so I don’t get what David Huang the judge is talking about in his critics lol. And don’t you love her hair? Heh! Before makeover she looked so bland, after makeover she is so stylish!

8th: 陳珂冰-愛上一個不回家的人

Description found here. =D

7th: 劉明湘-你怎麼捨得我難過

I love Rose Liu 劉明湘’s voice a lot. As much as people find her chinese songs weak, I find them really down-to-earth. I mean you can actually hear a person’s story behind her singing. There’s life behind her song. I love the whole outlook of this performance– The violinists, the beautiful dress and of course the story behind the song. Even though the pitching was bad and you can feel how affected she is, I find that her voice sits nicely into the music hence making the song all the more believable. She has this singing style that I love. At 2:48 最爱你的人, there is this nice end to the note for “人”. It is distinct in some other songs she sang before and i totally love that!

6th: 方琳-牽手

Right from the verse, Deborah Fang 方琳 (Fang Lin) was already into the song. But that is not all. The feelings built up more and more right until the last note. The way she sang this song is so special, nothing like how the mainstream Chinese singers will do. You can feel that every word she sang means alot of her. She is not only singing a song, she is really singing what is in her heart. At the middle of the song, you can sense that she is struggling to keep her tears but she held on to it right until the end. Love the overall feel of this song and her parents must be proud of her! An underrated contestant in the competition!

With the 6th to 21st out, it is left with 5 final spaces! Which songs do you think will be?

Your Average Critic
YAC

星光七: 26/12/2010 十強決定賽 Xing Guang 7: Top 10 Revealed!

The top 10 of Xing Guang 7 星光七 is revealed! As a whole, this episode is a fairly good one. Not in term of performances but rather, the kind of drama provided. Some contestants are improving but it seems quite clear that some others are remaining stagnant.

Highlights of this episode:

1. Tanya Chua’s 蔡健雅 appearance near the end of the show.

2. Surprise Elimination.

3. Jess Lee’s 李佳薇 outstanding performance

李佳薇-鼓聲若響

This must be one of her best performance ever! Despite not knowing the language at all, I thought she had believable pronunciation that didn’t come off as awkward. Apart from that, this song allowed her to flaunt the versatility she always had- gentle feminine softness at the start before moving on to a more solid and thick delivery. Of course, like what we know of Jess, she is soo going to end this with an extremely high and loud note as a hook for us to remember. Predictable the performance may be, I will gladly choose this than any of her diva-ish English song choices.

Anyway, I am not sure if anyone had notice, but I feel that this girl is starting to be more confident of herself after the makeover. You can see how she is more daring on stage and putting in effort to command the stage instead of letting the stage command her. I see her more and more like a star now and if she continues, I see her being the champ(which she isn’t because she is going back to her Celine Dion songs again!). But we all know she has got a wide range now especially after her singing that opera-ish sounding song at the end of the video. Surprises and more surprises!

One HUGE problem for Jess now is that of her closing her eyes for more than half the time when she is singing. She really needs to do that less often because the audience wants to connect with her eyes and receive the signal she wants to put forth! Most screencaps I tried to snip were mainly with her eyes closed!

Slightly underrated score. Deserve 2 or 3 marks more.

舞思愛-海闊天空

Wu 舞思愛 came with a very sad and heart-wrenching story which I’m glad she spoke out and let many other potential victims to be aware of such issues. This story meant a lot to her which may be the very reason this performance managed to touch my heart today. I felt that this song managed to let her tone stand out for the first time. Yes, I haven’t really caught the essence of her vocal tone until this video. She is another contestant that seems to get more and more confident each week but I sincerely hope her confidence isn’t just equals to singing more tribal and Amei Songs.

Reasonable score.

常佳寧-旋木

11 year old Chang 常佳寧 definitely overstayed in the competition. Right from the first time she came, I didn’t feel that her voice was nice at all. Even her speaking voice sounds weird… Like she seems out of breath most of the time. For me, this girl is the cream of the crop when compared with people of similar age but with the commercial world and the other contestants in this competition? Not much of a chance. Plus, not that she isn’t cute, she IS cute but as episodes go by, I feel her character is getting more and more commercial! Oh man. I miss the old her. She seems more interested into singing rather than now, she seems concerned with many other factors and hence starting to lose the 11 year old innocence (Ok, maybe it is because she is 12 now so she changed! Hahaha).

Criticism aside, I feature her this week because this song… is surprisingly good. I love this song!!! And when I first know she wanted to sing this, I was quite pissed because there is no way she can make me enjoy the delivery. However, she went for a different approach for this song and I quite… like it. Haha, the start was absolutely fresh and you can see her effort in trying to making songs fit her instead her trying to fit into songs. For that extra effort, I feel that I should feature her here.

In conclusion to her journey so far… Overstayed. But, based on this performance only, I feel she shouldn’t be in the failure zone this week. 🙂

Elimination.

And so the Korean group 鄰家王子 got eliminated despite this being only the second time they scored poorly (Statistics provided by fans showed that they were 2nd in terms of the overall score received since day 1 of this competition). They are probably the most hardworking contestants in the lot but there is no denial that there isn’t going to be much more room for improvement for them already. They have done their best, yes we can see it, but I don’t seem them going any further actually. Maybe not getting into top 10 was a waste but if I were the judge, I would have eliminated them as well among the 4 who were in the failure zone.

Media Darling Tan Bee Keow 陳美嬌 got eliminated as well. Another shocker because despite performing below standards for a few episode, the audience still perceived Bee Keow as one of the strongest competitor in this season. It was a very depressing occasion when the her elimination was announced. You can even see how much the host Matilda Tao 陶晶瑩 (Aka 陶子) adores her from the many times she introduced Bee Keow to the alumni. Pity she didn’t get into top 10? Yes. But the circumstance this week is justifiable given her lackluster performances recently. I always wondered why don’t she try tackling more Chinese songs because her voice has this easy-to-touch-people quality in it and with that, she can easily bring a different flavour to the songs (such as 不管有多苦). I sincerely hope some record company signs her because her personality is so unique, she can easily stand out in the music market. And of course, I see her getting loved by many of the elderly apart from the young music listeners.

This journey isn’t going to end for the both of them.

That’s all for the episode review.

Summary:

Fair episode. Good drama, average singing

. I hope the lucky people who managed to squeeze into the Top 10 up their game by a notch and make themselves seem worthy in Top 10 in one of the most competitive season ever.

Your Average Critic
YAC

Mediacorp: The Remaining of Mediacorp’s 7 Princesses 七公主 Era

Everyone in Singapore probably heard of the 7 Princesses七公主 of Mediacorp.

source:http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i277/spideycoug/77-2.jpg

They were once the next big thing of Singapore’s entertainment industry. Bestowed with this grand title, the 7 of them were supposed to fight it out and receive the baton from Zoe Tay and Fann Wong. But after few years, we are now down with only three. Jeanette Aw, Joanne Peh and Rui En. It’s hard to say the best 3 are left in this tough competition because all 7 of them are greatly loved and all tackle different segments of this industry but you have to admit that these 3 are easily the most popular stars in Singapore now.

–

Jeanette Aw 欧萱

source: XinMsn

The girl that entered Mediacorp with a bang. Having won Best Newcomer at Star Awards 2002, she was one tough girl to beat. Almost a year later, she got herself a fleshy role as a naive and slightly mentally challenged girl in Holland V.荷兰村(one of the most successful dramas in Singapore) which shot her to fame. However, she found herself unable to impress again and showed only mediocre performances. Then came her role in Little Nyonya小娘惹 which gave her the meteoric rise she was working towards and people then touted her as the Ah Jie of Mediacorp. Of course, a testimony to her achievements would be the constant nomination in Star Award Best Actress category and having 4 of her characters in 2008 to be part of the Top 8 Most Likeable Female Lead Characters which was revealed during Channel 8’s Countdown Party.

Star Quality: 8.5
She always has this calm disposition. Elegant and poised, she exudes this A-list actress feel around her whenever she attends ceremonies. Staying in touch with fans through her site, one can easily feel the humility from her and know she isn’t one diva who put on airs.

Acting: 7
Expression wise, I feel she has the depth in her emotions. One example would be when she acted as the mute role in Little Nyonya, with only facial expression and body language to portray the character, i think she did a very good job. But her weakness is occasionally predictable acting (like you know how is she going to be like in certain circumstances) and of course her speech. She did try to make an effort to change her tone in speaking in the show Breakout but I feel it was convincing yet not good enough

Future Prospects: 7.5
Even though her prospects in Singapore seem stagnant, like there are already people who love her to bits and people who really dislike her, I feel that there are much more in store for her. With the typical Asian beauty look sprinkled with a little of European beauty, I am sure the market for her internationally will be quite huge. Maybe we can see more of her on magazines’ cover in future? I can imagine her owning those photo shoots. I remember one issue of I weekly where she posed with her manager or something, wow, that was gorgeous! Besides, Jeanette has experienced considerable success in China so I guess she can build on there. Apart from
that, Jeanette has an addition talent which is dancing. But she needs to know how to put this into an advantage because her knack for dancing went to waste in The Rainbow Connection 舞出彩虹 where the delivery of the role as a dance was lackluster.

Joanne Peh 白薇秀

source:XinMsn

This girl came a long way. Started with a slow start, many criticised Joanne Peh with mediocre acting that didn’t believable over and over again. Just as she was about to be labelled as looks>acting, then came her role in Like Father, Like Daughter 宝贝父女兵 which gave Joanne the attention very much needed. People then noticing her improving acting and this has subsequently gave her a nomination in Star Awards Best Actress in 2007. Despite the recognition, the declining popularity which saw her being out of the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste from 2006-2008 was started to be of concern to the media. She then had her chance when she acted as a demure girl in Little Nyonya who turned insane after being raped by an evil young businessman. Because of the role, she managed to be the first in the princesses to win the much wanted Best Actress Award in 2009 and had consequently been hailed as the Ah Jie of Mediacorp together with Jeanette Aw.

Star Quality: 9
Joanne was Miss Elegant and Miss Personality in Miss Singapore Universe 2002. No wonder she always look so confident yet personable when she is up stage. She must be one of the few stars in Singapore who can just simply stand there on stage doing nothing and yet look like a mega star. One look at her and you know that she isn’t just another someone.

Acting: 6
I’m sorry. Even though she is the only one amongst them to have won Best Actress, I don’t feel that her other roles were good enough for someone who has received so much attention. Her body language and expression do not seem to work as well as Jeanette’s even though she has a clear advantage in terms of her articulation. However, more effort needs to be put in to make her acting much more natural. And her recent performance in Your Hand in Mine is rather disastrous. I do not hope to see this girl with so much star quality going downhill in her acting because I know she is much more than that.

Future Prospects: 8
Among the 3, I see Joanne as more of the commercial girl. Her lovely personality can garner her lots of endorsements which will definitely give her more exposures in the TV. In addition, being fashionable gives her the advantage as it will give her more opportunity to appear in variety shows related to fashion. This is crucial for artistes because you want to make sure you get yourself more screen time. Also, through appearances in commercials and variety shows, audiences can know more of you instead of knowing just your roles in drama serials. So now… Joanne has a lot in her bag but the only thing lacking is her versatility in acting. Work more on the acting and I believe her status in Mediacorp will be very very stable in years to come.

Rui En 瑞恩

source: XinMsn

Rui En must be one of the few in mediacorp that makes you want to know more of her. She is just one mysterious girl who reveals so little of how she feel, you can’t help but want to probe more from her. I noticed her in a nearly a decade ago as a singer. I remember her singing songs for the drama serials. Later on, she started focusing on her acting career which brought her to a new level of success. Her more noticeable roles are mainly those that she acted as a C.I.D officer. An example would be the role in Metamorphosis 破茧而出 which got many to acknowledge that Rui En is one acting machine! Unfortunately, that very same role failed to win a nomination in Star Awards 2007 which caused many to feel injustice for her.

Star Quality: 8
I know many find Rui En very charismatic and cool but to me, what Rui En is giving me now is just the qualities of an actress. Like… I look at her, I know she is someone different but I don’t get the feel that she is the queen. I don’t have much to say here. It is hard to justify why I feel she has the least star quality here in spite of the interesting feel she is giving. It is just my feel~

Acting: 9
Easily the artiste with the best acting techniques in her generation. Rui En has time and again impressed us with the diverse characters that were given to her. Whether it was the sorrowful wife, cute and silly girl or the cool and respectful officer, she has always nailed the performances. Like many others, I am wondering what is taking her Best Actress nomination so long but I believe 2010 is her year. Having aced so many assignments this year, Rui En has to at least receive a nomination. Also, I must commend on her effort because her versatility allowed her to not fit into any stereotypical roles. Like, even though we all know she has what it takes for action-packed drama, producers have time and again given her other extreme roles because they have the confidence she can do it.

Future Prospects: 7
Being a singer, Rui En definitely can tackle the music industry as well especially since her popular hit Tao Yan 讨厌 has been constantly sung in different singing competitions regionally. However, from what I observe, her singing doesn’t seem to be as good as before and her second album did not showcase what she had. Maybe she can start picking things up by singing more drama serial theme songs. I miss those days when the actors and actresses involve in the drama sing the theme songs as well. It makes the whole production a more complete one. Acting wise, I feel Rui En has almost reached her peak already. Like yes, she is going to receive more roles and continue nailing them but that is all, from what I predict. Her acting career isn’t going to be pushed to another level especially with the cool and quiet nature she is showing to the masses. This will shut her off commercials and even variety shows which I mentioned was crucial for ample exposure. Good thing is… She doesn’t care about all these. She just wants to concentrate on what she is supposed to do. Heh, thumbs up for her dedication!

Summary:

These 3 actresses should regardless of anything, receive a pat on the back! Having gone through many years of competition, they are now Mediacorp’s A-list actresses and I believe they will continue to do well.