Some kind soul decided to upload the Semi-Finals 4 performances at an undisclosed location on the internet and informed me about it, which helped me to write my performance reviews early so I took my free afternoon today and got them written. It's already late stage into the competition so my comments and scores may seem harsh but I tried to be as objective as I can, pressing hard on the earphones as I listened and watched their performances.
F1 谢慧娴：Love me again 原唱者: 潘嘉丽, Kelly
Huixian made many mistakes in the eunciation of words and had a string of difficulties with the lownotes. I fully agree with Judge Ye's comments about her lownotes are too muffled. For example, her 爱你，世界，每一天，习惯，右边，感觉，白云，一个人，浪漫 are either shaky, unstable or unable to hold properly. The sweetness is there but the warmth of the song is not adequately conveyed because I felt Huixian was not really focusing enough on getting the audience to sway with the song. Huixian did made good improvement in clearing up her heaving weakness and made a good attempt at a more matured stage image. Huixian also tried her hand at doing some R&B but the song was not very suitable especially since she did not integrate those R&B elements properly into the song. Her stage movement with her free arm also looked abit awkward for a very gentle and "bouncey" song. Her scores were 6.5+7.5+6.5=20.5. I would have given her a 6.75.
F2 许政宁：我的爱 原唱者: 孙燕姿, Stefanie
Zhengning's voice could not reach the song's lownotes and I could tell that she was already breathless after the first few lines of the song. Yes, as Judge Lin pointed out, the song is very difficult to sing and Zhengning struggled with it all the way. Her 绕着，取舍，以为，爱，找，真爱 were either too low, shaky, muffled and like all the other two female contestants, she did not open up the song adequately enough to touch the audience with the best parts of the song. I felt that some of the verses sounded more painful than necessary and her bridge was not distinctive. Her 转身 was sung off-key but her emoting was amongst the best for her performances thus far. Her scores were 6.5+6.0+6.0=18.5. I would have given her a 5.75.
F3 阮诗凯：平常心 原唱者: 张惠妹, A-Mei
Keely's opening was muffled and lacked the energy needed to capture my attention. Some of her earlier verses were too slow and awkward such as 承认我是弱者 as she could not seem to catch the rhythm properly and her chorus was not distinctive and lacked adequate punch or 点 within the verses because her endnotes were not clear and not gathered properly. She took a wrong breath at one of the lines and I found that her stage posture of leaning forward looked very strained and unnatural since it made her look shorter than she actually was. Her 要 was not projected in control and her were 曾经 not held properly. I felt that Judge Li was right to point out that Keely's song was not emotive enough because I still felt some constraint in hearing her performance but her emoting was good from the final chorus and she finally saved her performance with the final line. Her scores were 8.0+9.0+8.5=25.5. I would have given her a 7.25.
M1 卓轩正: 爱你不是爱给别人看 原唱者：叶良俊
Shawn definitely did not look confident and comfortable with this song and his eyes were not focused enough either. Judge Li was correct to say that Shawn must work on his lownotes, especially 我们, 任何, 彷徨, 太孤单, and to add on to his comments, Shawn must work on his falsetto techniques too - 别人看, 遗憾 because both these areas have plenty of room for improvement. Shawn was also rushing through the song - 地老天荒, 每次相爱 and it reduced my enjoyment of this song, especially when he sung it in such a painful way with his strained expression when the song was supposed to be light and carefree. The final line of the song was not done properly and the climax was lost too. His scores were 7.5+7.5+.7.0=22.0. I would have given him a 6.75.
M2 李俊纬: 爱如潮水 原唱者：张信哲, Jeff
Marcus did surprisingly alright with his more manly rendition of the song even though I concur with all the three judges' comments that Marcus must learn how to soften lyrics instead of strengthening them all the time. He did make his fair share of mistakes in his performance and I won't let them pass off easily because it is already SF 4 but his groove, though slightly different, was still there and his final choru saved his performance well. Marcus' 流 was swallowed and he was rushing the lines 爱了就不后悔, 我再也不愿见你在深夜里徘徊, also fumbling the line 无怨无悔. His breathing for the chorus was not correct and hence they sounded jarring and he was trying to change the flow of the lyrics, which adversely affected the smoothness of the song. However, I found his endnotes well-stretched and his rendition sincere enough. His scores were 7.0+8.5+7.5=23.0. I would have given him a 7.00.
M3 范平庚: 下雪 原唱者：阿杜, A-Do
Benjamin's opening sounded too low and muffled and I thought he jumped in too early into the song. Fortunately, his emoting was adequate enough to pull through the earlier verses before more problems started to come in at the chorus. Other than , where the lownote was unstable, Benjamin made very little mistakes in eunciating the lyrics but the groove, as pointed out by Judge Li, was not correct. It seemed to me that Benjamin did not buff his lines with enough bass, making the lines choppy and empty. His facial expression remained almost the same throughout his performance and he gradually lost the feel of the song as the performance progressed even though he could hold the endnotes well. Perhaps it was his young age that prevented the accurate emoting of the song but to me, that is no longer an excuse if he wants to excel at the Grand Finals. His scores were 6.5+7.0+6.5=20.0. I would have given him a 6.75.
A word of advice to the Top 4 CSS 2 contestants: To emote a song, you must first understand what it is trying to say and convey. For me, I always listen to the song at least six times over before I even attempt to sing it because I want to get the groove, feel and emoting correct at the start, making adjustments along the way later on. The singing techniques actually come second because the enjoyment of the song always comes first. Jia you to all of you!
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