"I Just Wanna Sing!" Singing Competition 2009 @ Jurong Point
Grace, one of the singing enthusiasts, has managed to get herself into the semi-finals of the above-mentioned singing competition and I decided to go down and support her because I thought it's the right thing to do since she has the passion to sing and the will to perform. I did my reconnaissance of the stage at around 12.30pm and went looking for lunch at the now-huge Jurong Point and eventually settling down for Japanese bento lunch. Initially, I was hoping the new extension wing would have NYDC because I had a craving for their mushroom-ham baked rice but only New York New York was the closest call. 
My lunch was a tempura-cum-salmon in teriyaki sauce-cum-beef teppanyaki set lunch at the second floor of the old wing one floor below Fish and Co. It costs around $12.90 + $1.80 for an additional iced lemon tea. The meal was quite filling and I actually could not finish the beef. The salmon was delicious I must say. 
After lunch, I took a quick window-shopping trip before settling down at my chosen spot to watch Grace in the competition - second floor overlooking the stage without the rooftop sunlight glaring down on my camera. Immediately, I noticed something terrible with the stage - it was located too close to the basement escalators and there was barely enough standing room near the stage area. There was less than three metres of space in between the stage and the CNY booth. Looks like Jurong Point management was too greedy trying to squeeze too many stalls and booths without thinking about realistic space management. The acoustics at the competition stage was terrible so it was really impossible to do any accurate assessment of the contestants because the speakers' projection was swallowed up by the ruckus of the CNY stalls and humdrum. 
W.3.Muzic, the organizer of the competition, was not very efficient or at least skilful in their management of the competition either. My reasoning for saying so - the briefing of the first 10 of the 20 semi-finalists were done at 1.30pm under the hot sun when most of them were wearing makeup and their stage costumes. After the briefing, the semi-finalists were made to stand until their turns were up. I thought it must have been really uncomfortable for them to wait in such a way when chairs could have been provided backstage. 
The first contestant was dressed up to the nines for her performance, which was good because it showed she respected the stage enough. Although the judges had a lot of negative remarks, I thought she was pretty impressive enough to draw more than 100 people around the stage within three minutes of her singing. If she makes it into the top 10, I wouldn't be surprised. 
This contestant sang 差肩而过 but his performance was lacklustre and was actually boring, compared to the high-energy performance immediately before his. 
I thought her physical appearance was most star-like but her singing was too timid as if she was trying to hold back her image. A pity because she would have done much better if she let herself loose abit. 
This female contestant was also too timid. Her singing was drowned out by the background music and she did not even notice it so she sang as safely as she could without the effort to master the song as her own. 
I really don't like the way this contestant under-dressed for the competition. He looks more like he was going shopping on a lazy day rather than giving a serious performance onstage. 
This contestant did quite well with his Jay Chou's song, 不能说的秘密 but he kept cocking his head to and fro like an ostrich to keep his rhythm, which looks really odd onstage. The judges were not wrong to point out that he sounded more like rehearsing as Jay Chou instead of giving his own rendition of the song but all in all, he should be able to qualify. 
The best among the first 10 semi-finalists - solid control of the song though he was a little too shy to commandeer the stage because his gesticulation was too conservative. Still, he has the best vocal controls and an even better understanding of how far his voice can go without tipping over into the danger zone. 
Nice polished shoes but it doesn't go very well with his other outfit pieces and his performance was unsteady at best, which was a waste because I thought he was trying hard to get whatever he wanted. 
Grace was contestant number 9 and she fielded 热带雨林 instead of what she initially chosen 纸飞机. I thought she would be regretting her decision because she could not pull off the three separate voices in S.H.E and she was duly criticized by the judges for choosing a wrong song. (Grace, I actually wanted to tell you that your song choice was bad but you told me you changed the song yesterday night so it was too late to vacillate by then. Hope it will be a lesson learnt for you not to attempt multi-singer songs if you cannot change singing styles within the song.) 
Poor Grace tried her best but the song was rather bland because expectations of her song were high since it's a highly popular song and she lost tempo of the song at a few portions. She was also too stiff-looking because she could not overcome her nervousness onstage - hence the judges commented on her expressionless face during singing. (Grace, I thought I told you yesterday to keep talking to your friends whilst waiting? Apparently, you were left to allow your tensions to mount for a full 50 minutes because I could clearly see your nerves fraying during your wait.) 
Too soft and bland were my impressions of this contestant's performance. 
As expected, the security guards at Jurong Point started chasing members of the audience to the side of the stage and I thought it was extremely rude to do so after the members of the public settled down comfortably to watch the competition. If there ain't enough space, tape the direction arrows on the floor rather than chase people away from the front of the stage. Minus 5 points for Jurong Point for failing to consider spatial constraints before signing on so many stalls and booths.
My lunch was a tempura-cum-salmon in teriyaki sauce-cum-beef teppanyaki set lunch at the second floor of the old wing one floor below Fish and Co. It costs around $12.90 + $1.80 for an additional iced lemon tea. The meal was quite filling and I actually could not finish the beef. The salmon was delicious I must say. 
After lunch, I took a quick window-shopping trip before settling down at my chosen spot to watch Grace in the competition - second floor overlooking the stage without the rooftop sunlight glaring down on my camera. Immediately, I noticed something terrible with the stage - it was located too close to the basement escalators and there was barely enough standing room near the stage area. There was less than three metres of space in between the stage and the CNY booth. Looks like Jurong Point management was too greedy trying to squeeze too many stalls and booths without thinking about realistic space management. The acoustics at the competition stage was terrible so it was really impossible to do any accurate assessment of the contestants because the speakers' projection was swallowed up by the ruckus of the CNY stalls and humdrum. 
W.3.Muzic, the organizer of the competition, was not very efficient or at least skilful in their management of the competition either. My reasoning for saying so - the briefing of the first 10 of the 20 semi-finalists were done at 1.30pm under the hot sun when most of them were wearing makeup and their stage costumes. After the briefing, the semi-finalists were made to stand until their turns were up. I thought it must have been really uncomfortable for them to wait in such a way when chairs could have been provided backstage. 
The first contestant was dressed up to the nines for her performance, which was good because it showed she respected the stage enough. Although the judges had a lot of negative remarks, I thought she was pretty impressive enough to draw more than 100 people around the stage within three minutes of her singing. If she makes it into the top 10, I wouldn't be surprised. 
This contestant sang 差肩而过 but his performance was lacklustre and was actually boring, compared to the high-energy performance immediately before his. 
I thought her physical appearance was most star-like but her singing was too timid as if she was trying to hold back her image. A pity because she would have done much better if she let herself loose abit. 
This female contestant was also too timid. Her singing was drowned out by the background music and she did not even notice it so she sang as safely as she could without the effort to master the song as her own. 
I really don't like the way this contestant under-dressed for the competition. He looks more like he was going shopping on a lazy day rather than giving a serious performance onstage. 
This contestant did quite well with his Jay Chou's song, 不能说的秘密 but he kept cocking his head to and fro like an ostrich to keep his rhythm, which looks really odd onstage. The judges were not wrong to point out that he sounded more like rehearsing as Jay Chou instead of giving his own rendition of the song but all in all, he should be able to qualify. 
The best among the first 10 semi-finalists - solid control of the song though he was a little too shy to commandeer the stage because his gesticulation was too conservative. Still, he has the best vocal controls and an even better understanding of how far his voice can go without tipping over into the danger zone. 
Nice polished shoes but it doesn't go very well with his other outfit pieces and his performance was unsteady at best, which was a waste because I thought he was trying hard to get whatever he wanted. 
Grace was contestant number 9 and she fielded 热带雨林 instead of what she initially chosen 纸飞机. I thought she would be regretting her decision because she could not pull off the three separate voices in S.H.E and she was duly criticized by the judges for choosing a wrong song. (Grace, I actually wanted to tell you that your song choice was bad but you told me you changed the song yesterday night so it was too late to vacillate by then. Hope it will be a lesson learnt for you not to attempt multi-singer songs if you cannot change singing styles within the song.) 
Poor Grace tried her best but the song was rather bland because expectations of her song were high since it's a highly popular song and she lost tempo of the song at a few portions. She was also too stiff-looking because she could not overcome her nervousness onstage - hence the judges commented on her expressionless face during singing. (Grace, I thought I told you yesterday to keep talking to your friends whilst waiting? Apparently, you were left to allow your tensions to mount for a full 50 minutes because I could clearly see your nerves fraying during your wait.) 
Too soft and bland were my impressions of this contestant's performance. 
As expected, the security guards at Jurong Point started chasing members of the audience to the side of the stage and I thought it was extremely rude to do so after the members of the public settled down comfortably to watch the competition. If there ain't enough space, tape the direction arrows on the floor rather than chase people away from the front of the stage. Minus 5 points for Jurong Point for failing to consider spatial constraints before signing on so many stalls and booths.
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