Fred Said . . .

This is the video clip from last night's announcement of the first Asian Idol, Hady Mirza of Singapore. You can see that it was a total shock for him. The judges (from the various local Idols searches) were asked about their opinions, and no one even mentioned his name. They were all opining that it might be Mike (Indonesia), Jac (Malaysia) or Mau (Philippines), since they have the stronger voices.

Of course, the text voting process makes Mike the favorite to win since the contest was held in Jakarta. Here in the Philippines, this Asian Idol contest was hardly felt since the network carrying it (ABC5) was a small one, and did not drum up enough awareness to vote for Mau. In fact last night, the two bigger networks both broadcasted elaborate Christmas concerts, coinciding with Asian Idol. Worse, our last minute votes for Mau could not even get through the text line!

Very interesting show though. It is rare for us to see Southeast Asian pop music live. Guest appearances were made by Australian Idol Guy Sebastian and American Idol Taylor Hicks, who both sang their coronation songs. Rivermaya, with its new lead singer, sang "You'll Be Safe Here" with Mau.

It was also interesting that Hady had sung "Beautiful Day" by U2 as his English song in the competition. This is also the song sung by Norway's Kurt Nilsen when he won World Idol back in 2003. He also had an electrifying performance of George Michael's "Freedom" with Malaysia's Jaclyn Victor last night.