Singapore's 2nd Idol Hady Mirza won the Asian Idol?!?!?

Shocked? Suprised? Indifferent?

I, for one, actually didn't even realize that the Asian Idol competition had ended. Anyhow, I was really quite astounded to see this news on the Straits Times front page. So since I missed out on the whole action, I decided to update myself via Youtube...

First, of course, I searched for Hady's performances, since he emerged winner. The first song he performed, written by Taufik, was a very nice rendition indeed. In fact it gave me goose-bumps, in a good way, of course.



Unfortunately, I thought his second song choice was quite hard to digest... In fact, this may sound harsh but watching him sing that song reminded me of Sanjaya from American Idol, singing songs that are just not for him. Just not a wise choice of song, for me, that is.



In watching the 2 performances, I would say Hady was really not bad. But still, here are my 2 cents worth of comments on just some of the other contestant's performances I found online...

After watching the other contestants, I think given my choice, I would probably pick Indonesian Idol Mike Mohede as the winner. Just watch his performances below (both songs in that video below, with a Vietnamese translator dubbing over the judges' comments...). Smooth, effortless, contemporary and a very very beautiful voice.



Malaysian Idol Jaclyn Victor came in just by a margin behind Hady. A beautiful lady with really good vocals. A very powerful contender too and certainly a potential winner.



I liked Phillipine's Idol Mau Marcel too with her powerhouse vocals, though her performances were really in another league of its own. I liked her second song choice especially.



Many people were shocked with Hady's win but I guess after all it came down to appeal. I mean, Hady is definitely a decent singer and he surely has good looks on his side too.

A video on the announcement of the winner of the Asian Idol. A business class trip all around the world??? Weird choice of prize for such a huge competition. At least got some prize money and the promise of an Asian concert tour or something lar...


Anyhow, being a Singaporean, at the end of the day I was excited and very proud that a Singaporean won in Asian Idol, whatever they say. In fact, I was reminded of it all day long at by our clients who followed the competition and rooted for Hady. I remember praising Hady in one of my blog entrys after he won Singapore Idol over Jonathan Leong in 2006 for what I said was an "impressive performance". I'm gonna do it again today - Kudos Hady! You've made us proud!

Ok. After Asian Idol, I have to ask... When is Blake Lewis' debut album "A.D.D." coming to Singapore?