If you ask me how's the experience like for Singapore Idol, the first thing that comes to my mind, is the hot and humid weather that roasted the contestants.
I queued up with my fellow friend, Donavan at around 7.30am on Saturday. It's been a long time since I've suffered such weather, and we queued all the way till 5.30pm, only to be able to register for the auditions, which happened on the next day.
If you had read the papers, there are over 4000 people who signed up.. In order to create effects for the show, here's a peek for you:
They called some contestants to get high with Gurmit Singh.
It's like: This is Gurmit Singh and...
Contestants: WELCOME TO SINGAPORE IDOL!
You don't see people wearing ridiculous outfits and costumes that will make them a fool of themselves. 99% of them wear smart casual outfits.
Of course, there are the irritating ones who cut queues, and those punk rocker wannabes have their nails painted black, and had tattoos all over. (Paul Twohill wannabe as well?)
When you're queueing up for like 18-20 hours in total, you will start to talk with people around you and you'll be surprised how nice they are. The new friends I've made have joined local singing competitions such as Anugerah and Campus Superstar. And they made it till the next few rounds.
Don, Farhan and I..
Farhan sang Fly Me To The Moon..
The middle one is his girlfriend..
Another friend is Hillary, who's the one in the middle.
Comical and nice girl, she's only 16 and has big dreams!
So ya.. all of us had our auditions on Sunday.. and we met up first before queueing up.
This is my registration number..
4D punters can go buy this number.. 2296! Hehehehe!
Our seats before going up to the waiting room.
In the waiting room were the contestants, and we get to hear them sing because they're rehearsing. I tell you, most of them knows how to sing, while some have fantastic voices. And well, some can't really sing.
AUDITION EXPERIENCE
Finally when it was my turn for the audition, I walked up one of the cinemas (they held auditions in the cinemas they rented) and turned right.
On my right were two motionless-looking producers, and 2-3 super bright spotlights shining down at me, with a huge camera smack right at the middle to film me.
And then, after telling them my registration number, and telling them the song which I was going to sing (Mad World, Gary Jules) and started singing.
The atmosphere was tense, and it was extremely silent. Then, I started singing. My heart was beating extremely fast, and every time I take a breath to continue the next sentence, I felt even more difficult to breathe.
But my notes hit the right tune, the tempo was right and everything seems to go well and smooth. Suddenly, I was asked to stop singing. It has only reach like the 4th or 5th sentence of the lyrics, and it wasn't even at the chorus yet.
The whole audition lasted barely a minute and I asked to leave. There wasn't any comments about my singing or whatsoever.
Then, we had to go to the results room, where they named all our registration numbers, and said we didn't make it and thank us for the participation.
At that point, I personally felt neutral. Not even a tinge of sadness or happiness. I took rejection easily.
I've always felt that a good singer is a good storyteller. A singer does not need to have the powerful vocals of Beyonce, Mariah Carey, or even Whitney Houston. But what the singer needs is to be able to emote and relate to the songs, so that the audience can connect and listen to them.
People ask if I'm going to join more competitions next time. My answer is 50:50.
Once again, I'm really touched and blessed at all the support you guys have given.
I will be recording more songs, and will continue to soar.
