Campus Superstars 3 Round 1 Part 1 of 2 Performance Commentaries

Reply to tags:

-: Thanks for your support. At least some readers see the points I was trying to make. Yes, Rachel did have the best stage charisma for that night but the higher the bar she sets for herself, the higher will be the expectations weighing on her.

pew: Well, it's hard to please everyone if my style of commentaries. I am still trying to balance technical details and scope. Maybe my ears can pick up some of the details better. My idea is trying to show the gaps and indirectly hinting at the portions for improvements without being too direct.

(::I am not a vocal doctor but from the Pre-Concert performance, Shawn's singing voice sounded more hoarse than broken as an adult voice. He himself even said he could not do any of his previous songs anymore which lead me to believe either his key dropped tremendously or he had strained his unbroken voice during CSS 2 period so much that it became hoarse now instead.

Atn: I thought the contestants were trying but maybe they might have underestimated the pressure of a live stage with rolling cameras and staring eyes. Perhaps the unfortunate loss of Adrian will probe the remaining eleven contestants to reassess that the live stage is both a fun and serious platform at the same time.

Shawn: I believe I have already explained my rationale for writing performance commentaries below in blue italics. Thank you for tagging your thoughts anyway.

Update: I have some blog readers still asking me why I am providing all these performance commentaries when it's "none of my business". Some called me "very mean" whilst others called me "crazy". Although I have stated my objectives in doing so in previous blog posts, let me put down my intentions again.

I have no wish to torment any contestants or their supporters - singing is supposed to be enjoyable and beneficial to many. The whole idea is to point out the loopholes and gaps in their performances so the contestants can better themselves every time they go onstage.

Am I qualified to do so? Maybe? It depends on whether you feel my commentaries are constructive, accurate and to the point or not. What business is it of mine to comment? Obviously, I am not one of the four judges sitting there but I firmly believe if they read this, they know my reasons and I hope those blog readers in doubt do too:

As with all members of the audience, I have the basic right to vote, appraise and comment on their performances because I put in time, effort and expectations to watch their performances on the public stage. I want to be rewarded with good performances and instead of passively waiting for things to happen, I want contribute so that those good performances may happen in front of my eyes. Some people choose to vote with their purses; some choose to shake their hands and hug them as encouragement; others choose to hold placards and cheer; I choose to write performance commentaries.

1) Adrian
- singing was quite closed because I keep feeling his mouth did not fully open and he did not fully project his voice as strongly as the song would require.
- “更好” was a little too low.
- forgotten most of his first verse lyrics but finally stabilized the song by the 2nd repetition.
- judges scores were 6.0+6.0+4.5+4.0= 20.5
- I would have given Adrian a 5.0 because although forgetting lyrics is a major mistake for live performances but I personally also want to forgive him because he is the first person onstage and that usually un-nerves many performers.

2) Rachel Chua
- “自在” was a little low.
- good stage presentation skills.
- “头发” was enunciated incorrectly.
- singing was broken off at “不很习惯”.
- good falsetto reach during chorus portions.
- judges scores were 6.5+7.5+8.0+7.5= 29.5
- I would have given Rachel Chua a 7.5 because there were still a number of mistakes obvious enough in her performance. My next question to Rachel would be - if you clear this round, can you better your performance with another song of such difficulty?

3) Rachel Lim
- “星”，“照”，“翅” were enunciated incorrectly.
- “笑容” seemed to be a little flat.
- I keep feeling that your buildup has more room for improvement.
- “Myself” was added when it was not in the lyrics.
- your final note could have started out lighter and ended in a fade.
- judges scores were 6.0+7.0+6.5+6.5= 26.0
- I would have given Rachel Lim a 6.0 because although you really tried to reach the song out for the audience, you looked really stiff and as what one of the judges said, I was unable to see a completely comfortable performance with a confident singer onstage.

4) Shelly
- I kept getting distracted by your body language because you move too much.
- the buildup was probably lost because you focused too much on stage movements.
- “爱情” seemed to be enunciated incorrectly.
- the song in general was flat when I was expecting some bounce in your singing.
- I believe you broke your voice in one of the ending lines.
- judges scores were 5.5+7.0+5.0+5.5= 23.0
- I would have given Shelly a 5.5 because even though your singing was not on par with your stage movements, you were really trying hard to entertain the audience and I saw your sincerity onstage.

5) Jarod
- did not finish enunciating "Believe"
- 哭腔 at the wrong verses when it was not necessary.
- “不”，“时候” X 2, “宁可”，“当作” was not properly enunciated.
- stage movements and gesticulations were wooden and unpolished.
- ending was not completed properly.
- judges scores were 6.5+9.5+8.5+7.0= 31.5
- I would have given Jarod a 7.0 because he was very brave to attempt a difficult song for his age and somehow managed to bring out some flavor in the song. Upon the explanation given by the CSS 3 host, I understood that Jarod had not been in control of his emotions before stepping onto the stage so for his ability to endure his crying especially in the first episode of the competition, I gave another 0.5 points. However, such leniency would be a luxury in the future stages of the competition.

6) Joselin
- did not seem to be in syn with the beat of the song, especially obvious in the opening line.
- the emphasis on “坠” was a little too strong.
- “值不值得” was dragged out when it was not necessary to do so.
- the song did not achieve the expected waves of buildup and resolution so it sounded flat.
- her facial expression was pretty deadpan for an attitudinal song. Perhaps she was affected by the backstage crying but I had expected her to brave it as little better than the others.
- judges scores were 6.0+6.5+6.5+6.5= 25.5
- I would have given Joselin a 6.5 because her performance suffered a major setback in not being able to keep in beat and it was lacking that kind of radiance seen in her previous Pre-Concert performance.

Jia you for all of the contestants! ^__^

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Campus Superstars 3 Roadshow at Ngee Ann Polytechnic Open House 10 Jan 2009

I arrived quite early at Ngee Ann Polytechnic to do some reconnaissance of the area before the actual roadshow begins. The place was still quite sleepy but the CCA Fiesta were almost fully awakened with activities humming at the respective booths. I even went all the way to the Convention Hall and spoke to some of the lecturers there about the recent courses offered. I thought it was a good Open House with friendly Ambassadors giving out pamphlets and directions to the visitors about where to go for what.

As with most MediaCorp appearances, the roadshow only started at 12.16pm so the two Polytechnic student hosts had to come up with ways to entertain the growing crowd of about 150 people gathering at the tent. Most of the CSS 3 contestants seemed raw and bewildered during the roadshow so I supposed they would need more experience if they could do better and relax themselves. Let me just recollect some of the more memorable episodes during the roadshow there.

For Adrian, I thought he could have been more well-prepared for his talent performance instead of trying to borrow the percussion drums onstage at the last minute and thus he was the only one who did not do a talent performance onstage whilst most of the others repeated what they did during the Pre-Concert last Sunday night.

Rachel Lim, Shelly and Joselin were caught on my camera chitchatting away onstage whilst Jarod was performing. Perhaps they had forgotten to pay attention to their classmates' performances which should be an act of courtesy. It's easy to fidget onstage but don't forget there were at least eight photographers there snapping away.

Pornsak was exceptionally quick-witted and threw many of the contestants speechless in their replies to the quick-thinking hosts and thus most of the contestants must learn how to interact onstage as well rather than merely standing there and smiling (I believed they were mostly quite nervous at the turnout).

Jiamin had forgotten her lyrics for "Fly Away" and had to restart. She eventually steadied out but I thought she could have mentally rehearsed the song before her turn came along then. Thankfully, that was not the actual performance or Li Fei Hui Laoshi would come after Jiamin for it.

Rachael Chang did another balloon giraffe and made use of the opportunity to apologize to Pornsak for her earlier comment during the Pre-Concert. I thought it was a golden opportunity to clear up any misunderstanding. Pornsak, of course, accepted and I personally thought the case is finally over.

He Guohao of Campus Superstars Season 2, also gave a guest performance and I want to compliment him on his marked improvement here since I last heard him sing. He took a lot of fire from me during the competition then but I am even more glad to see him improving and I finally get to enjoy a good performance. The applause he got from the audience was unanimous and he earned it alright.

Near the end of the roadshow, Felicia led the crowd for a quick round of games, trying to find caps, watches, socks (yucks)and balloons in order to give away prizes and true indeed, some lucky chaps walked away with unique goodies.

The roadshow ended around 1.26pm and I left the Ngee Ann Polytechnic campus for some lunch.

Movie Review: Red Cliff 2 《赤壁 （下）- 绝战天下》

Today is my off day so I took the opportunity to be one of the first to watch the movie since it's opening today at the big screens. There could be some spoilers in the review so if you want to keep yourself in suspense, read only the next two paragraphs.

I have always liked epic war movies so I thought this movie was quite well-made because it tried its best to balance character development, military ingenuity and cunning between characters, as well as friendship and humanity issues in the setting of a spectacular finale battle. Unfortunately, Part 2 sacrificed more of the action-oriented scenes of individual warriors on the battlefield and focused on the scale of the battle and effects of the fighting. The final parting scene of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu could have been much better though.

Well, at least the morals of why wars and conquests are bad things are not forgotten the middle of all the dead that piled up as the finale battle pushed through. I remember one quote from Zhou Yu when he emerged victorious from the intense battle "In a war, we are all losers." The analogy of Xiao Qiao was also quite intelligently put - "Just like a cup of tea filled to the brim, a person brimming with ambition will eventually encounter a situation which empties his person's ambition."

Story: ****
Acting: ***1/2
Direction: ***1/2
Visuals: *****
Overall: ****

Part 1 was quickly recapped through a series of cut scenes to show viewers where the movie has left off - Zhuge Liang (military adviser for Liu Bei) was working closely together with Sun Shangxiang (sister of Sun Quan) using messenger pigeons to find out more about Cao Cao's (Prime Minister of Han Dynasty) military camp layout and plans.

Part 2 deviated quite some portions from the original Three Kingdoms but I supposed since it's a movie adaptation worth only 141 minutes, I would just go along with the new movie subplots rather than complain and whine about the deviations from historical records.

The movie showed a nice friendship subplot about how Shangxiang befriended a simple-minded soldier of Cao Cao during her disguised identity as a Cao soldier. There were also subplots such as: Zhuge Liang who made use of scarecrows onboard ships in the middle of a fog to "borrow" 100,000 arrows from Cao's fidgety naval archers; Zhou Yu (viceroy of Sun Quan's army) who deceived a miliary adviser of Cao, Jiang Gan, and stirred Cao Cao's suspicions to rashly execute Cao Mao and Zhang Yun (naval commanders who newly-surrendered to Cao Cao).

The final battle was very intense and tightly choreographed which was also the climax of the movie - it alone justified the ticket price. Expect - spectacular explosions, impressive infernos, storms of deadly arrows and pummelling rocks, cunning Roman-tortoise formations, heroic sacrifices of the valiant, military ingenuity and deception, dangerous stand-offs at swordtips and moving parting scenes of friends on battlefield.

For an epic war movie, I left the cinema contented.

Campus Superstars 3 Round 1 - 代表自己的歌 Song Choices Part 6

CSS 3 contestant, Jeremy, has chosen the following song for Round 1 competition on 19 Jan 2009 Monday.

歌名：专属天使 歌手：Tank

Personally I have heard this song umpteen times and am quite familiar with it because one of my VIP friend loves to sing this song every time we go for karaoke sessions. It's a love ballad with the theme of a guardian angel of love.

The song has a few things to note if one is to make sure he/she covers the song properly.Note that there are a few places where the buildup happens - the end of the 2nd verse, the bridge area, the final chorus and the final solo portion so I would consider those places as important areas to emote the song fully. The song was meant to sound grateful and contented so these two emotions are expected to come out throughout the song as well.


(1st verse)
我不會怪你　對我的偽裝
天使在人間是該藏好翅膀
人們愚蠢魯莽而妳纖細善良
怎能讓妳為了我被碰傷

(2nd verse)
小小的手掌　厚厚的溫暖
妳總能平復我不安的夜晚
不敢想的夢想　透過妳的眼光
(buildup)
我才看見它原來在前方

(1st chorus)
沒有誰能把妳搶離我身旁
妳是我的專屬天使　唯我能獨佔
　
沒有誰能取代妳在我心上
擁有一個專屬天使　我哪裡還需要別的願望

(3rd verse)
小小的手掌　大大的力量
我一定也會像妳一樣飛翔
妳想去的地方　就是我的方向
有我保護笑容儘管燦爛

(2nd chorus)
沒有誰能把妳搶離我身旁
妳是我的專屬天使　唯我能獨佔
　
沒有誰能取代妳在我心上
擁有一個專屬天使　我哪裡還需要別的願望

(bridge)
要不是妳出現　我一定還在沉睡
Oh 絕望的以為　生命只有黑夜

(final chorus - climax)
沒有誰能把妳搶離我身旁
妳是我的專屬天使　唯我能獨佔
　
(solo)沒有誰能取代妳在
我心上
擁有一個專屬天使　我哪裡還需要別的願望

Random Photos and Random Thoughts

Been relentlessly publishing blog posts on Campus Superstars Season 3 for the past week so I thought I would write something different for those blog readers who are more interested about other things.

Took some photos during New Year Day 2009 but only managed to dig them up right now.

My first breakfast of 2009 - MacDonald's Hotcakes with Sausage Meal paired with a glass of iced Milo. I love a good breakfast each morning and I love to have my favorite breakfast to start off the new year. It's sinfully good and filling and I really like to take my breakfast slow and comfortably so I'd rather wake up extra early than to rush through my food.
Took my parents out for a New Year Lunch and they chose to eat Western food. We had three nice portions of chicken chop at a nice Western food stall. The chicken was nicely complemented by the sauce and the coleslaw was firm and fresh.
This was a spur-of-the-moment lunch created by my mother who suddenly decided to try her hand at doing some steamboat thingy at home. With no apparent experience at such meals, she tried her best to compile some ingredients for cooking. Unfortunately, other than the pork slices, most of the other food were not exactly suitable and the pot was way too small to do decent cooking. I thought she is still better suited with a wok and a spatula rather than steamboat cooking. Haha.
A candid shot taken when I saw three of my fishes lining up in my home aquarium for a photo-shoot. The second eldest, the youngest and the big brother fish. The three of them share a intelligent bond amongst themselves as either one of the two eldest is always seen protecting the youngest by staying close to the youngest at any point of time (even during sleeping time). This is because the youngest fish is the smallest fish in the aquarium and is always being bullied by the other fish, especially the pouting Parrot fishes which will go around poking other fishes with their mouths. One fine day, the three dark brothers decided to line up at one corner of the tank for a family shot so there it goes.

Nothing much else is happening right now - pretty lethargic start for 2009. Just waiting for Chinese New Year to come and hope there is some form of festive mood for this seemingly bleak year ahead.

Campus Superstars 3 Round 1 - 代表自己的歌 Song Choices Part 5

CSS 3 contestant, Rachel Lim, has chosen the following song for her Round 1 competition on 12 Jan 2009 Monday.

歌名：I Believe 歌手：石欣卉 A song about the determined search for love. Depicting the various obstacles in each verse, the song persona shows a firm level of self-confidence so it will be necessary for the singer to project that kind of "I believe myself" confidence in the singing.

The technical challenges will mainly be at the chorus where the lines are long and have undulating notes to cope with. At the end of the second chorus, there is some free room for the singer to exercise creativity on how to trail off the second chorus. Two key areas will be the bridge and the final chorus where the most emotional buildup and the climax of the song is.

(1st verse)
抬头看远方的星光
悄悄的照亮　幸福的方向
紧抓这梦的翅膀
穿越漫长黑夜的荒凉
看见你在前方

(2nd verse)
拥抱我　一天天累积这感动
在心中　温暖了我的天空

(1st chorus)
I believe myself 做最完美的我
在风雨中我会看见你珍贵笑容
I believe myself 带这伤我勇敢的痛
你会陪这我直到最后阳光闪动　I believe

(3rd verse)
心愿等待一个时机
成全梦想的美丽　震放在手心
我等待相遇的奇巧
所以用力呼吸　翻越你的足迹

(repeated 2nd verse)
拥抱我　一天天累积这感动
在心中　温暖了我的天空

(2nd chorus)
I believe myself 做最完美的我
在风雨中我会看见你珍贵笑容
I believe myself 带这伤我勇敢的痛
你会陪这我直到最后阳光闪动　I believe

(bridge)
流浪在未知的路上　也许偶尔会彷徨
但心中渴望的力量　让我不停飞翔

(final chorus)
I believe myself 做最完美的我
在风雨中我会看见你珍贵笑容
I believe myself 带这伤我勇敢的痛
你会陪这我直到最后阳光闪动　I believe

CSS 3 contestant, Benita, has chosen the following song for her Round 1 competition on 19 Jan 2009 Monday.

歌名：心动 歌手：林晓培

This is THE ballad song by Shino because it redefines her as a singer who is capable of both rock and roll as well as sentimental ballads. Also the movie soundtrack theme song of 《心动》 which was directed by 张艾嘉. The song depicts how the song persona moves from searching and reminiscing a lost love till the realization that that love has always been inside her thoughts all these while, transforming into a form beyond the physical.

The song was originally scripted to be slow and sentimental and because of its short length, there is only that much space for a singer to properly develop the song, build up its feel and climax at the mere two choruses. I will highlight what I think are the phrases that a singer needs to pay particular attention to for the song to fully reach its flavour.

(1st verse - light)
有多久没见你 以为你在哪裡
原来就住在我心底 陪伴著我的呼吸

(2nd verse - buildup)
有多远的距离 以为闻不到你的气息
谁知道你背影这么長 回头就看到你

(1st chorus)
过去让它过去 来不及 从头喜欢你
白云 缠绕著藍天 Ah~~ 如果不能够永远走在一起

也至少给我们怀念的勇气 拥抱的权利
好让你明白 我心动 的痕跡

(music interlude)

(2nd chorus)
过去让它过去 来不及 从头喜欢你
白云 缠绕著藍天 Ah~~ 如果不能够永远走在一起

也至少给我们怀念的勇气 拥抱的权利
好让你明白 我心动 的痕跡

(final verse)
总是想再见你 还試著打探你 消息
原来你就住在我的身体 守护我的回忆

Hey~~Ah~~