Singapore Idol
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| Singapore Idol | |
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| Singapore Idol Finalists (with dates of elimination) |
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| Season 1 (2004) | |
| Taufik Batisah | Winner |
| Sylvester Sim | 1 December |
| Olinda Cho | 19 November |
| Daphne Khoo | 12 November |
| Leandra Veronica Rasiah | 5 November |
| Christopher Michael Lee | 29 October |
| Maia Lee | 22 October |
| Jerry Ong | 15 October |
| David Yeo | 8 October |
| Beverly Lim Morata | 1 October |
| Jeassea K. Thyidor | 1 October |
| Candice Foo | withdrawn |
| Season 2 (2006) | |
| Hady Mirza | Winner |
| Jonathan Leong | 25 September |
| Jasmine Tye | 14 September |
| Paul Twohill | 7 September |
| Joakim Gomez | 31 August |
| Nurul Maideen | 24 August |
| Mathilda D'Silva | 17 August |
| Rahimah Rahim | 10 August |
| Jay Lim | 3 August |
| Emilee Kang | 27 July |
| Gayle Nerva | 20 July |
| Norman Then | 13 July |
Singapore Idol is a television show on Channel 5 of MediaCorp TV. It is a contest to find the best young singer in Singapore. Like others in the Idol series, it is modelled after Pop Idol. The judges are Dick Lee, Florence Lian, Douglas Oliverio (replaced by Jacintha Abisheganaden in season 2) and Ken Lim. The show is hosted by Gurmit Singh and Daniel Ong. The show is produced by MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV.
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[edit] Season 1 (2004)
Season 1 of Singapore Idol premiered on the National Day of Singapore (9 August) in 2004. This season produced a few memorable, albeit notorious, performers during the audition round. They included Skyy Sia aka Bananaman, who wore a mask of watermelon and bananas; Kelvin Sim, who accompanied his very bad rendition of Fool's Garden's "Lemon Tree" with a dance that rivalled that of William Hung; Patrick Khoo, who literally whispered George Michael's "Careless Whisper"; and Steven Lim, who stripped down to a pair of yellow swimming trunks.
As with other shows in the Idol series, the viewers' votes decide who goes on to the next round. This has sometimes produced controversial results. In the third preliminary round, Jerry Ong, whose singing was described by judge Florence Lian as being "constipated", was voted through to the finals, beating favourites Beverly Lim Morata and Nur Hasanah (Nana).
In a bigger upset, Jeassea K. Thyidor, considered by many to be a frontrunner in the competition, was eliminated in the very first round of the finals by a margin of a mere 200 votes. Her premature exit was variously attributed to her guarded persona, complacency of her supporters and her nationality (she was originally from Canada).
In the final showdown held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 1 December 2004, Taufik Batisah beat Sylvester Sim with 62% of the votes to become the first Singapore Idol. Both received recording deals from Sony BMG. Taufik's album, Blessings, was released on 17 January 2005. Sylvester's album, Take Flight, was released in 8 April 2005. Another one of the finalists, Maia Lee, also released an album titled Emotionally Advised on 20 August 2005.
- Top 11 theme: Parents' Choice
- Top 9 theme: Rock 'n' Roll
- Top 8 theme: Live Disco
- Top 7 theme: Song by Favorite Singer
- Top 6 theme: Big Band
- Top 5 theme: R&B/Soul
- Top 4 theme: Asian Pop
- Top 3 theme: Movies and Musicals
- Top 2 theme: Judges' Choice, Own Choice and Winner's Single
[edit] Season 2 (2006)
Auditions for season 2 were held on 11 February 2006 at *Scape in Orchard Road and was extended twice due to overwhelming response - 12 February at the same location and 19 February in Toa Payoh. The season premiered on 21 May with clips of the auditions. Dick Lee, Florence Lian and Ken Lim return as judges while Douglas Oliverio was replaced by Jacintha Abisheganaden. After widespread criticism of his hosting abilities in season 1, Gurmit Singh was paired with Daniel Ong as co-hosts for season 2. Ex-contestant from Singapore Idol season 1 Daphne Khoo hosted Singapore Idol On Demand, an online subscription service that provided media downloads and exclusive footages of the show.
A day after the results for Piano Show #4 was announced, MediaCorp revealed that a computer glitch in the voting process had mistakenly sent Mathilda D'Silva into the top 12 instead of Nurul Maideen. Mathilda was placed in the wildcard show and was subsequently voted into the finals. Shortly after the technical glich fiasco, wildcard contestant Meryl Joan Lee announced her withdrawal from the contest.
The final 12 contestants were housed in Hangout @ Mt Emily, a budget hotel, for as long as they remained in the competition.
Every Wednesday from 12 July 2006, the Idols competed in the Spectaculars, with a specific theme every week, for instance "No. 1 Hits" and "British Invasion". On the following day, "Singapore Idol Extra" showed viewers behind-the-scene footage of Singapore Idol. During the Results show later, viewers were entertained with a live group performance, a music video of the Idols and guest appearances. Artistes like Singapore Idol alum Olinda Cho, Taiwanese singer Wilber Pan and local singers Tanya Chua and Kit Chan made appearances in the Results shows. American R&B/Pop singer Stacie Orrico performed her single I'm Not Missing You on the Final 3 Results Show.
- Top 12 theme: Parents' Choice
- Top 11 theme: #1 Hits from 1996-2006
- Top 10 theme: Classic Jazz
- Top 9 theme: Songs by British Singers/Bands
- Top 8 theme: Home, Family and Friends
- Top 7 theme: Rock n Roll
- Top 6 theme: Asian Pop
- Top 5 theme: R&B and Soul
- Top 4 theme: Judges' Choice
- Top 3 theme: Contestant's Favourites
- Top 2 theme: Contestant's Choice from Judges' List, Spectaculars Encore & Winner's Single
Towards the middle of the Spectaculars, viewers observed what seemed to be obvious attempts at admonishing the viewers for voting for weaker but popular contestants, resulting in talented singers getting the boot too early. In the top 8 results show, Rahimah Rahim, the rocker of the competition, was eliminated. In the biggest upset, Mathilda D'Silva, who was recognised as having the best vocals in the competition, was eliminated in the top 7 show. One of the trailers for Rock and Roll week simply had the following words: "this trailer will not show anymore faces...because it's TIME to LISTEN... remember this IS a singing competition."
Hosts Gurmit Singh and Daniel Ong constantly remind the viewers to vote for talent. Such efforts were interpreted as a direct attack on Joakim Gomez, arguably one of the most popular of the group as well as the weakest vocally. During Asian Pop week, Judge Florence Lian even insisted that fans should let Joakim have a "dignified exit" from the show and fellow judge Ken Lim went on to add that while the judges' comments on the contestants were nothing personal, he felt that listening to the audience's silence was better than listening to Joakim's singing. The following results show proved the efforts to be successful, with Joakim landing in the bottom three for the first time during the competition. But his fanbase proved to still be too strong as Nurul Maideen was sent out of the competition the next night.
The Final Showdown for the title featured Jonathan Leong and Hady Mirza singing three songs each at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. One of the songs which both contestants sang was "You Give Me Wings", which will become the winner's first single. On September 25 2006, 26 year old Hady Mirza was declared the winner of Singapore Idol 2006 with about 70% of the votes cast.
[edit] Bottom Group Breakdown
Season 1
| Date | Bottom Three | ||
| October 1 | Beverly Lim Morata | Jeassea K Thyidor | Jerry Ong |
| October 8 | David Yeo | Christopher Michael Lee | Taufik Batisah |
| October 15 | Jerry Ong (2) | Leandra Veronica Rasiah | Sylvester Sim |
| October 22 | Maia Lee | Sylvester Sim (2) | Christopher Michael Lee (2) |
| October 29 | Christopher Michael Lee (3) | Leandra Veronica Rasiah (2) | Olinda Cho |
| November 5 | Leandra Veronica Rasiah (3) | Olinda Cho (2) | Sylvester Sim (3) |
| November 12 | Daphne Khoo | Sylvester Sim (4) | Taufik Batisah (2) |
| November 19 | Olinda Cho (3) | Sylvester Sim (5) | |
| December 1 | Sylvester Sim (6) | Taufik Batisah (3) | |
Season 2*
| Date | Bottom Three/Two | |||
| July 13 | Norman Then | Nurul Maideen | Jonathan Leong | |
| July 20 | Gayle Nerva | Jay Lim | Paul Twohill | |
| July 27 | Emilee Kang | Rahimah Rahim | Jasmine Tye | |
| August 3 | Jay Lim (2) | Hady Mirza | Jonathan Leong (2) | |
| August 10 | Rahimah Rahim (2) | Paul Twohill (2) | ||
| August 17 | Mathilda D'Silva | Hady Mirza (2) | Jonathan Leong (3) | |
| August 24 | Nurul Maideen (2) | Joakim Gomez | Paul Twohill (3) | |
| August 31 | Joakim Gomez (2) | Paul Twohill (4) | Jasmine Tye (2) | |
| September 7 | Paul Twohill (5) | Jonathan Leong (4) | ||
| September 14 | Jasmine Tye (3) | |||
| September 25 | Jonathan Leong (5) | Hady Mirza (3) | ||
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- Not all episodes were the contestants who were "in danger of elimination" necessarily in the bottom 3, merely the contestant to be eliminated together with whoever the producers wanted to choose.
[edit] External links
International franchises: Arab world • Latin America • West Africa • The former Yugoslavia • World Idol
