television singing competition nowadays

At last, the really so popular Akademi Fantasia closed it’s session for 2007 recently. I watched the final competition with dear dear Z at the comfort of my house.

I always got the availability to watch ASTRO at different times a day. That led me to watch a few of the AF weekly competition concerts; as they aim for the end product during the finals.

Overall, I see that this year’s batch has the singing quality which is significantly lower than that of the last few batches. I am totally not a fan of Mawi, but he’s singing is so solid and accurate compared to this year’s batch.

Perhaps the organizers have their own strategy in mind. Perhaps this year they aimed to transform these participators from zero to well-known singers. But I really question the end product, because with just one year full of so many things to learn, they end up still being vocally challenged. How can it be possible for someone with no music background; can focus on their improvement of singing in the vocal training sessions, when they have to catch up with English classes, dance classes, acting classes and what not?


It’s a wonder why these competitors always sing their songs out of pitch. They can even sing a microtone lower than the exact key; not only at just one or two lines, but for the whole verse, or even the whole song.

And some can go out of the correct tempo, and get lost even.

As for those who can sing in correct pitch and correct timing, they fail to project their vocals; they can’t have their voice at least as the same level as the volume of the whole music being played.

I can see that one singer is so cute and adorable, but I am disappointed to see that he just cannot project his voice at all.

And there were also other singers’ attempts to project, but they end up shouting.

I think that GangStarz is producing so much stronger and better singers than AF. Even singers that got in the bottom three in the ratings could produce solid harmony and can sing as a good ensemble.

These are the type of singers that really know how to use their diaphragm and deliver their vocals to the audience.

But then again, it could probably just be the organizers’ different strategies. I could see that ASTRO still managed to win the interest of thousands of audience.

Only that I am not really sure that the target is on the youngsters. With all the emotional sentiments and the type of humor being injected in the program, it’s more inclined towards an entertainment catered for the aunties who work in the government sector.

It’s like having them a chance to say, “I have worked five days for the country, and I deserve my pay and I can afford to watch AF and afford to send SMS votes”. Most likely they are parents, so if they like to watch AF, they would definitely allow their children to watch the program.

So with the chain effect, besides getting money from concerts and SMS votes, it shows that AF is “an essential entertainment needed”, and will never lose its popularity.

AF is seen as a business product. The target clients were reached, and the profit kept coming in. Hence the goal has been achieved.

For sensitive and musically trained ears like us, maybe we should be more understanding and forgive all the huge flaws of AF. Just relax on the couch, lower our expectations and enjoy or bitch about the show. We can also put our interest in other shows, like GangStarz.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

errr, are you feeling well today? demam ke? selsema ke?

sbb you PUJI mawi?????????

u actually PUJI mawi????

::airswift:: said...

hahah. takkan la nak compare AF with.. err.. ning baizura? siti? that's like langit and bumi already. irrelevant out of the focus already u know. maybe it's more logical that i use a comparison with someone that can "decently" right..

Anonymous said...

my gawd... if even Mawi is better than this year's batch, i really fear for the future of our entertainment industry. It's getting really obvious that it has plateaued.

Hopefully some really creative producer will come up with some sort of inspiration and spice things up a little.

::airswift:: said...

perhaps it's not as scary at it seem to be.

got gangstarz and bibik's favorite dance competition what.. bibik is voting for vishnu.