Everybody wants to do a Taufik-Batisah nowadays (i.e. to rise from obscurity and become a local superstar overnight via a reality show) and I only had to look at the eager faces of this year's Anugerah contestants to know that it's true.
Frankly speaking, I think the idea of holding auditions in a shopping mall was a very good one but once the dust settles and the audition rounds are over, I'm not very satisfied with the show's concept or format which the producers have decided to "fiddle" with this year. Not that the old format was very good anyway... Splitting the contestants into two groups may seem like a great idea because it helps audiences to focus on the individual singers better but naming them (i.e. the groups) after idiotic colloquial expressions is abit infantile, dontchathink? In the first place, why bother with group-names at all unless there is a group-point system going on or the groups would have to challenge each other or something in the future?
Another factor I am having doubts about is the relevancy of a judge/fashion-guru to dish out style/fashion critique. Though I must admit Hafiz glamor was a tad too blunt in his appraisal of the contestants in previous weeks, I was surprised his role was not scrapped completely. The fact that these contestants are amateurs with limited budget (sponsored or otherwise) and no personal stylist, I thought the style/fashion criticisms should be kept to a minimum. HEck, they're utterly redundant! Anyhow, malay celebrities have always had a quirky sense of fashion. I mean, just look at Rahimah Rahim herself~!
Well, moving along...
Eight contestants battled it out (sort of, anyway) tonight during the first elimination round, singing songs done previously by bands. Two were eliminated, namely, Sharifah Syakila and Nurdiyana (the good girl who helps out at her granny's stall), and both of them, coincidentally performed Cokelat's Karma. Talk about a jinxed song choice! Hehe.
I never liked Sharifah much even during her last Anugerah outing (which didn't go very well either) but it's not like I have something against her; her vocal tone just isn't very pleasant. As for Nurdiyana, she wasn't too bad a couple of weeks ago but tonight, she reminded me alot of Carmen Rasmusen from AI2 -- but in a bad way. Judge Eddy Ali said she was flatter than an airport (obviously not referring to her mammaries!!!) and I couldn't agree more. Since even I could tell she was singing flat (and yours truly is technically tone-deaf), it goes without saying that she wasn't exactly terrific tonight.
Out of the six remaining contestants, there is only one female left and she's wild-card Nurliza, who replaced Indon-PR Andre, who, in-turn, left because he had to go overseas or sumthing. Despite what the fashion guru had to say about her, I like Nurliza's unique and eccentric sense of style and her bizarre song selection. I mean, May's Sinar isn't actually high on my list if I were think of songs from bands but she managed to execute it somewhat OK.
Md Firuz (singing Spider's Aladin), Fauzie Laily (SO7's Bila Kau Tak Disampingku), Md Khairil (Peterpan's Mungkin Nanti) and Khairul Anwar (Padi's Kasih Tak Sampai) might be able to pull the votes and judges' points with their pretty-boy good looks and equally pretty vocals but the only contestant with that extra oomph tonight was Samsuri Salleh, whose Relaku Pujuk was vocally powerful enough to stand alongside the original song.
By votes alone, Samsuri is the public's favorite and although he may not look like your typical star, I can see him winning this competition. Not only does his vocal texture and range remind me of Aqmal N (who won last year's Anugerah), Samsuri was also the only singer who emoted his song appropriately and oozed easy confidence while performing onstage. I definitely want to hear more from him in the weeks to come!
