Afterthoughts of Campus Superstars 3 Pre-Concert Performances

Hahahaha..I was so bemused by the commentaries given by the CSS 3 judges on the emcees' performances. I was glad to see the emcees took the comical comments from the equally jovial and spontaneous judges in their stride and generated the humour for a good ending to the Pre-Concert.

To the emcees: Not easy eh? Trying to perform onstage is much harder than it seems. The general rule of thumb to note (beyond the harmonizing misses, offkey singing and messy stagework - hahahaha) is - the more people onstage, the more practice is needed. I am sure if the four of you throw in ten practices, the performance would have been delightful. Jia you! ^_^

Also, I have finally saw the first broadcasted performances of the top 12 Campus Superstars 3 contestants and I will compile a short summation of my afterthoughts about their general singing and performing abilities. The summation won't be accurate because parts of their performances are enhanced by the obviously more experienced CSS 1 and CSS 2 seniors. It was nice to see some of the seniors such as Yuyang, Geraldine, Benjamin making good improvements.

In order of appearance:

1) Mavis - good projection of singing and voice. I expect good things from her but I kept feeling that though your throat projection is full but you don't seem to open your mouth as big to accommodate that projection. I thought your projection can be steadier. Ask your competition music teacher, Peter Laoshi, if you think you noticed it too.

2) Jeremy - very smooth voice which is very different from your coarser appearance. Your singing seems alright but I did notice your falsetto started a bit jarringly. Maybe you are distracted by your singing partner?

3) Benita - your CSS senior was right to point out that you look fierce on the camera. The song you sang did allow for some facial expression and you don't really need to force the notes out. Let the singing flow out melodiously.

4) Jiamin - by far the steadiest performance so I concur with Sugi's comment. good harmonizing and calm composure. However, your special talent performance revealed a certain room for improvement - your note scaling tends to be weaker so you may want to improve on that.

5) Shelly - the major complaint would be your enunication - the "sh" and the "jing" sounds are a little off so it was harder to completely absorb in your performance.

6) Adrian - you look very manly onstage but you don't seem to use your eyes to electrify the stage - a pity. Take care of how you end and collect your notes back because you tend to leave your endnotes hanging more than necessary.

7) Ridhwan - you need to keep up with your efforts to understand what the songs mean because at the end of your singing, I could see you seem lost and just slurred through some of the lyrics. It may be fine during the earlier stages of the competition but you need to advance your knowledge on your songs to convince the listeners.

8) Joselin - very steady and impressive rock and roll performance with Geraldine. Both of you look confident and motivated so the performance was convincing and entertaining. However, the next question will be whether you can recreate yourself to be competent in softer and more controlled singing - for example like Olivia's Little Nonya's theme song?

9) Rachel Lim - let me guess - Benjamin helped you tremendously because you looked worried and sometimes lost onstage. I could see the hesitation when you tried to harmonize with him. Try to be calmer next time onstage.

10) Ai Jia - by far the best stage and presentation skills. You know exactly when to go where and when to pose which speaks volumes of your stage experience. However, it will come a time when judges will start questioning you on whether you can better yourself together with a coherent image of a Campus Superstar.

11) Rachael Chang - you benefitted from Yuyang's lead in the singing performance too because your stage momentum was way slower than his and thankfully he saw that and helped you along. You have a beautiful smile but try not to forget your stagework and take care enunciating the "sh" sound.

12) Jarod - I am most worried for you because although you have an adorable blank stare, a interesting sense of humour, and you seem to project your voice well enough, you lack the depth to maneuver complex songs like 《新不了情》 because if you have claimed you have been singing this song everyday, there was no feel in your rendition. You should seriously consult Peter Laoshi how to properly use your unbroken voice or risk permanent vocal damage like Shawn's.

I know some of my above comments may not sit well with some contestants or their ardent supporters but those were made from my perspective. I am not out to put down anyone of them. Good luck to all the top 12 contestants!