Singapore Idol has just ended and Hady Mirza emerged winner. Congrats! An impressive performance indeed! In fact, although the competition this year was pretty lackluster, the finals which consisted of Hady and Jonathon Leong was actually better than the previous one in the sense that both finalists were wonderful singers in their right.

But you know what, after watching this clip which a friend posted on his blog, all the past performances that I've seen on the Idol franchise seem to pale in comparison... (maybe Katharine McPhee's rendition of Over The Rainbow could compete somewhat)

Watch Anthony Callea from Australian Idol singing The Prayer.



Beautiful beautiful.... Such a touching, sentimental performance...

For those who are interested, here's Callea's recorded version of The Prayer.

The original singers of the song were Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find this version on Youtube. Nevertheless, here are 2 other versions:

Charlotte Church and Josh Groban

Celine Dion and Josh Groban

For those not in touch with the Australian version, I did some research and found that Anthony Callea was runner-up in the 2nd season of Australian Idol (2004). Casey Donovan, of Aboriginal origin, was winner in the competition. She was also the youngest in the competition at a tender age of 16.

This is just a sample of Casey Donovan in an episode of Australian Idol, singing Listen With Your Heart. Two different styles, but impressive performance, though this one doesn't have that kind of heart-wrenching quality to it like Callea's The Prayer.

Nevertheless, here's Callea's version of Listen With Your Heart.