Review of "The Voice 3" Finale

Not sure how many of you have been following the 3rd season of TVB's singing contest "The Voice". I've actually been following since the first season and of course this most current season was no exception -- I've been keeping up with watching each episode of season 3, but have not been blogging about the show as heavily as I did last year, primarily due to lack of time.

However, since I did a post about the season opener a few months ago, I figured it would be appropriate for me to do an updated post now that Season 3 is officially over (the finale aired yesterday and the winner of the contest was already crowned).

Note that this will only be a summary primarily targeted towards the finale, as I really wasn't keeping notes during the entire 14 week competition, so can't really go into detail on the previous episodes.

Here are the winners this year:

First Place (Champion): Jerry Liu (廖仲謙)
Second Place: Jay Fung (馮允謙)
Third Place: Carrie Tam (譚嘉儀)

** It was a close competition between Jerry and Jay: Jerry won with an overall score of 173.6 versus Jay’s 171.6**

As I stated in my earlier post from the season opener (read it here), the 'quality' of the contestants this year really wasn't too great -- there were only a few standouts among the contestants (namely Jerry and Jay) and the rest were only mediocre singers. Therefore, I have to say that the results this year (in terms of who won the competition) was pretty predictable (to me, it was pretty much a 'no-brainer' that Jerry would be the champion and Jay would come in 2nd). I'm actually fine with the results this year (surprising, huh, since I wasn't happy with the results the past 2 seasons...LOL), as the first and second place winners (Jerry and Jay, respectively) were basically the only contestants who truly did stand out the most in terms of singing skill (and they obviously were the same 2 people I had been rooting for all season). In fact, if the 2 of them DIDN'T win as I (and pretty much everyone else who kept up with the show) thought they would, then that would be proof that the show truly was rigged! Luckily, there was no need to go there....(yes, TVB did their job properly for once...hahaha).

In my opinion, after watching all 3 seasons of the show, this season was definitely the 'fairest' in terms of the judging and the winners -- I pretty much agreed with almost all of the scores and comments that were given throughout the season (except for a few that are not worth mentioning now given the results). I'm thinking that perhaps the judges learned a lesson from the 'backlash' and complaints from last year and so really cleaned things up this time around? Or it could be that since the quality of the other contestants was so poor this year, it was easier for them to give high scores to those who truly deserved it and low scores to those who didn't? Whatever the case may be, kudos to the judges this year for being fair -- in my book, they pretty much redeemed themselves after the horrible job they did last year with the judging!

Anyway, here's my take on this year's winners:

.-- Jerry Liu: Jerry is a kindergarten teacher (hence everyone called him Teacher Liu throughout the competition) and I believe he's also the oldest among the contestants (he’s actually not THAT old – he’s in his twenties, but he’s very mature and looks like he’s in his thirties). From a physical appearance standpoint (we are talking about the entertainment industry after all, so of course 'looks' will matter to some extent), Jerry definitely would not meet the expectations of what most of today's younger generation would look for in a singer (he's short and wears glasses) -- but for us older folks who treasure talent over looks, he fit the bill perfectly. From the moment I heard Jerry sing in the first episode, I was blown away by his amazing voice and as his steady singing skills continued to emerge throughout the season, I pretty much already knew that he would definitely make it into the top 3 (and perhaps even win the competition, since basically no one else could match him in terms of singing skill). His singing actually reminded me of Taiwanese artist Terry Lin Zhi Xuan (林志炫), as his voice sounded almost exactly like his (the way he carried the ending notes to the songs was very similar as well)....perhaps that's why I connected with Jerry from the start, since Terry Lin is one of the few Taiwan singers that I actually liked and listened to back in the day -- with a voice so powerful, it's hard not to grab people's attention with it. Oh, and I should probably mention that he sort of looks like Terry Lin as well – albeit a shorter version of him – though by the last few episodes, I felt that he looked more like Anthony Lun than Terry Lin (even host Sammy Leung thought so, since he joked about Jerry looking like Mr Lun Lun during the finale).

Not surprisingly, Jerry pretty much got the highest scores throughout the season (rightfully so), since he was truly the most talented in the group. His main 'weakness' (according to the judges) was that he needed to work on the emotional aspect of his performances so that he could truly 'connect' with the audiences -- it's obvious that he took that feedback to heart, as his performances continued to get better and better as the competition went on, to the point that in the last few episodes, his singing almost moved me to tears (at certain points, I actually felt like I was watching an actual singer performing at a concert – goes to show how ‘good’ he was). And it wasn't just me who thought this way -- obviously the audiences did as well, since he was voted by the audiences overall as the second most popular contestant in the competition. In fact, he started off with basically 'zero' fans rooting for him in the stands (except his girlfriend) and by the finale, he had a whole section of fans who held up signs bearing his name and happily cheered him on. He also had a great attitude as well and it was obvious that the other contestants looked up to him as a ‘big brother’ (they unanimously voted for him to be the team leader throughout the competition).

I was defintely happy to see Jerry win because he was truly the best singer there – of course, he wasn’t perfect (no one is perfect), but he was definitely very high up there in terms of quality, in my opinion. Very deserving win for Jerry!


.—Jay Fung: Jay is actually from Canada and returned to HK (his family is in HK) to participate in the competition. Of course, being a CBC (Canadian born Chinese), English is his primary language, so his Cantonese (and Mandarin) were not that good. I think of Jay as the Sheldon Law (season 2’s third place winner) of season 3 because they both had very similar singing styles and also both had that cute ‘happy-go-lucky’ personality -- plus both of them were very ‘gwei lo’ who spoke heavily accented Chinese (no wonder they were paired up together in one of the episodes – they performed Jason Mraz’s “I’m Your’s” and pretty much brought the house down with that performance!).

Jay was definitely the most ‘endearing’ contestant -- he had a certain ‘bubbliness’ about him and also an infectious smile that made it very hard not to like him…the audiences (including myself) obviously loved him! (I enjoyed watching the interview segment they did with Jay and his family – which they did with all the contestants – it was hilarious how he wanted to cook a meal for his family to thank them for their support, but because he never set foot in a kitchen before, he didn’t even know how to turn on the stove and almost burned his brother’s house down…hahaha…it was funny and cute at the same time).

One of the things I liked about Jay is that even though his singing skill may not have been the greatest (he was ‘good’, but not always consistent), he had a great attitude, took the judges’ feedback to heart, and most importantly, was willing to step out of his comfort zone by taking on the challenge of singing Cantonese and Mandarin songs (even though his strength was with English songs)…not only that, but to sing mostly Chinese songs during the crucial final episode – which, if not done properly, could have severely jeopardized his chances – is even more admirable. Sure, other contestants have tried challenging themselves as well by singing songs that they weren’t used to, but very few of them actually did it well – Jay was definitely unique in this aspect. The way he performed, it was barely noticeable that his pronunciation wasn’t the greatest because his performances were all so captivating. I definitely agree with the feedback that the judges gave him: He may not be the best singer in the group, but he is definitely the best overall performer / entertainer.


.—Carrie Tam: Carrie was the only female contestant who made it to the finals, which wasn’t all too surprising given that the pool of female contestants thise year was severely lacking in quality. I actually don’t feel that Carrie’s singing skills were that great (she has a nice voice, but she gets off-tune quite often), but I will say that if you look at all the female contestants, she was definitely the best one in that group (which is kind of sad if you think about it, but oh well) – though if you compare her to the guys, there was definitely no doubt that they were better.

When I was watching the finale, I was actually surprised that she made it into the top 3 and to be honest, I definitely feel that her good looks played a part in it, but since she only got 3rd place and the 2 who were most deserving to be in the first and second spots (Jerry and Jay) did win as expected, I won’t complain about Carrie too much. The only thing that I would say was extremely annoying was how the hosts (Sammy Leung and Kristal Tin) kept referring to Carrie as “The Voice” version of Coco Lee, which actually was not a true statement, since she didn’t sing or look like Coco at all (she actually looks more like Florinda Ho if you ask me) – I kept scratching my head wondering where in the world the hosts got that ‘nickname’ from!

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Overall, I definitely enjoyed season 3 way more than I did season 2 (obviously, since I was less frustrated this time around). Though some people may argue that season 2 was ‘more exciting’ due to all the controversies and such (those who watched last season or followed my posts about season 2 on my blog will know exactly what I’m talking about), I definitely don’t fit into that category, as I’m the type of person who doesn’t enjoy being frustrated. Plus, since this is a singing competition after all, my expectation of the program is for the focus to be on the singing, not on controversy.

My ‘TVB Rant’ # 11: TVB Grooming Their Own Crop of Singers / Musicians – Good or Bad??

I’ve noticed a recent trend at TVB in the last 2 years or so….they are relying more heavily on developing the contestants that have come out of their singing contest, “The Voice” (or, as I like to call it, the TVB copycat version of Hollywood’s “American Idol”). Ok, to be honest, I’m actually not surprised in the least that they would focus on pushing out “The Voice” contestants (which I will refer to as the Voice newbies in this post going forward) because, quite frankly, so many things have happened in the past 2 years that TVB really does not have a choice. Just to ‘recap’ and jog people’s memories, here are some of the ‘challenges’ that TVB has faced the past 2 years, a lot of which most likely played a huge part in their decision to promote the Voice newbies:

.— TVB’s ongoing royalty dispute with the Big 5 record companies -- Universal, Warner, Sony, EMI, BMA (also collectively known as the HK Recording Industry Alliance or HKRIA). In December of this year, it will be exactly 2 years since the royalty dispute began and with both sides still standing firm on their “requirements” and refusing to budge, there does not seem to be any sign of the dispute ending any time soon. This means that all of the Big 5 singers (which is pretty much half, if not more, of the HK music industry – including many of the biggest names in music) will continue to be “banned” from any appearance on TVB whatsoever (including on non-music programs such as Entertainment News segments). This also means that audiences will continue to see the same singers (primarily those from EEG, though there are others as well) on TVB over and over again….as if 2 years of seeing the same singers wasn’t already enough, it looks like we have another few years to ‘look forward’ to…GREAT! (I’m being sarcastic here).

.—The music awards “controversy”. More specifically, I am referring to all of the arguing / bickering amongst the various HK record companies and the 4 leading Media stations (TV station TVB and radio stations Metro, CRHK, RTHK) over the fairness / unfairness and credibility / lack of credibility of their respective awards shows, with TVB’s JSG Awards Show bearing the brunt of the criticism. Within this “issue” is also the argument (from mostly the veteran HK musicians / singers) for a single combined awards ceremony utilizing one consistent set of criteria / standards to determine the award winners, which some of the record companies (as well as the 4 stations themselves) are opposed to because it would mean fewer awards (and therefore less opportunity and less money) for their singers…ironically, most of the record companies that have been “vehemently opposed” to a combined ceremony (or any sort of change in award ceremony criteria for that matter) are those that don’t belong to HKRIA – especially EEG and EA (aka the TVB Supporters).

To be honest, I could care less about the HK music industry nowadays because it has already dropped to the “beyond salvageable” point for me and is really not worth paying much attention to anymore (in fact, I can’t even remember the last time I actually watched an HK music awards ceremony in its entirety – I would venture to guess that I haven’t watched one in almost a decade!). Plus we all know that the majority of the awards ceremonies in HK (especially TV and Music) are “rigged” in some fashion anyway and is not a true reflection of “the best” in the industry, so there’s really no point in arguing over this anymore. Who cares?!?! Let TVB do whatever the hell they want to do with their award ceremony – at least the discerning audiences who “know the truth” will see them for what they truly are!

.—The departure of A LOT of talented artists from TVB in the past few years (and the imminent departure of even more), primarily because of frustration over the way they are being treated (amongst other reasons). On the surface, this does not seem to have much to do with the music side of things, but in reality, it definitely has an impact, as the massive shrinking of TVB’s talent pool in recent years has made them “desperate” to get their hands on any artist they can get (even if only for a brief moment). Of course, I have my own opinion with regard to the subject of TVB artists “leaving the nest” (or, more accurately, terminating their management contracts with TVB), but I’m not going to get into that here (believe me, you don’t want to hear about that right now…LOL). Just note that this ‘factor’ is an important one in driving TVB’s decision to promote their own singers.

.—TVB’s unsuccessful attempts at pushing their own (contracted) actors/actresses into the music industry. Ok, quiz time – how many TVB actors / actresses have ‘officially’ added the title of ‘singer’ to their resumes in the past few years? The answer – a lot, but here are the most ‘popular’ ones (in no particular order): Raymond, Bosco, Myolie, Cho Lam, Linda, Ron, Kate, Fala. Many people may disagree with me on this (which is perfectly fine, since everyone is subject to their own opinion), but honestly, how many of these ‘actors/actresses turned singers’ can TRULY SING (meaning actually carry a tune)?? Um, very few of them in my opinion…not only that, some of them already can’t even do their main job (acting) properly, and instead of focusing on honing their skills in acting, they are now trying to enter the music industry and do the same ‘mediocre’ job there? Talk about torture!! (Yea, like the HK music industry isn’t suffering enough already – we really need TVB to break that last straw and push the industry over the edge to oblivion!)

.—The overall negative press that TVB has received in the past 2 years. I’m sure many people have noticed that TVB has been “in the news” a lot in the past few years (and no, I’m not talking about the standard coverage of their series and artists that we see every year) – I’m referring more specifically to all the negative publicity that TVB has gotten due to their internal “dirty laundry” being aired. For example: the criticism over the declining quality of their series and the lack of talented artists, the unending accusations of ‘plagiarism’ and ‘copying’ (a reflection of the lack of creativity in their scripts), the debacle over their handling of the HKFA broadcast, the various complaints from former (and current) artists over low wages, long hours, and just overall crappy treatment, the Stephen Chan corruption case (which confirmed a lot of the internal politics and infighting that exists within the company), and some well-known (and popular) artists blasting TVB because of blatant favoritism (I could come up with way more examples, but I’ll stop here, since I know you probably get the picture by now…). Overall, the number of STUPID MOVES that TVB has made over the past few years is enough to make them the laughingstock of the entertainment world for decades to come!

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Ok, so now that I’ve laid out the background, let’s go back to my point about TVB trying to ‘groom’ the Voice newbies to become ‘the future’ of their company (from a music standpoint).

First off, we’ve got a few of the contestants from Season One singing themesongs and sub-themesongs for various TVB series – a few examples: Tang Siu Hao’s theme song for the sitcom “Some Day”, Ryan Lau’s theme songs for “When Lanes Merge” and “The Truth”, Super 4 (Ryan Lau, Alfred Hui, Auston Lam, Victor Chen)’s theme song for “Gun Metal Grey”, Alfred Hui’s subtheme for “Gun Metal Grey”, Cherry Ho’s theme song for “Only You”…..etc. The reason why this is significant is because ever since TVB created their own music division – TVB Music Limited – in 2003, they’ve been having their own actors and actresses sing the theme songs / sub themesongs for their series instead of hiring professional singers to perform the songs (as was the practice back in the 80s and 90s). This move was primarily to save costs – they would only hire professional singers to perform the theme songs in a few select instances (i.e. a grand or important production or if the singer happens to be the star of the series).

As a side note, in addition to singing theme songs, TVB has also been placing various Voice contestants in their TV series (most notably, the twins Daniel and Adrian Chau as well as a few others). This move I question, as I don’t really feel it’s necessary unless the contestants actually have talent in acting – but then again, it’s TVB – if they are ok with putting talentless MHKs into their series, then no surprise that they would do the same thing with the Voice contestants.

And then of course, you’ve got Mag Lam (whom we all know is the winner of Season 2’s competition). Almost immediately after she won, Mag was heavily promoted, with appearances and performances at various big TVB events, a TV series, a movie, an album in the works, and more series in the works (all in less than a year). Oh and who can forget the ‘surprise’ move that TVB made when they placed her in the front row (usually reserved for TVB’s most popular first-line fa dans and siu sangs) for the group picture at last year’s Light Switching Ceremony? Talk about ‘heavy promotion’…..

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So is TVB’s action of grooming the Voice contestants a good thing or a bad one? Well, it really depends on the way you look at it….

On the one hand, at least the Voice contestants went through a year of participating in a rigorous singing competition and had the benefit of receiving some good advice from various professional judges (singers, producers, etc.) regarding their singing. So at least they do have some skill (or at least by now they do, even if they didn’t have any before) – though admittedly, some of the contestants aren’t quite there yet. Given these factors, I would much rather have one of the Voice contestants sing the theme songs than to have the TVB actors / actresses do it because at least the Voice contestants are considered ‘actual’ singers (albeit non-professional ones, but singers nonetheless). In THAT sense then, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

On the other hand – well, given that this is TVB we’re talking about, I do feel bad somewhat for the Voice newbies being promoted right now because we all know how aggressive TVB’s promotional tactics can be – the ‘stick them in the audience’s faces 24-7 so there’s no way the audience can forget them’ method -- it can definitely reach the “overkill” level really quickly and even though the audiences may not “forget” them (because of constant exposure), they will probably grow tired of them very quickly. And of course, that could mean “bye bye” to their fledgling careers fairly quickly….(looks like they are already going down that path with Mag Lam – I’m already sick of seeing her and hearing about her…and it’s only been a year…).

Also, are these contestants really ‘ready’ for a career in the complicated entertainment industry? I mean, most of them are still fairly young (some haven’t even finished school yet) – with their lack of experience, do they really want to subject themselves to the pressures of the industry at this point in their lives? Better yet, how many of them truly have what it takes to ‘make it’ in the industry? Some of the contestants were actually quite ‘mediocre’ in their skill – seriously, I don’t think the entertainment industry needs more ‘mediocre’ artists, as the industry is already ‘overflowing’ with them….

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I pretty much have to conclude that I really don’t know the answer to whether it’s a good or bad thing for TVB to groom its own crop of singers because there pros and cons to both sides – plus it depends upon the caliber of the contestants for that particular year. I can tell you that the ‘quality’ of the contestants has seriously deteriorated over the past 3 years – Season 1 had some really high caliber contestants, Season 2 ‘s were lesser caliber, but there were a few standouts….Season 3 however – well, let’s just say that it’s been torture sitting through the first 3 episodes so far – none of the contestants really stand out and some of them are actually ‘really bad’ (meaning ‘cringeworthy’).

I’m definitely ‘on the fence’ with this topic – at least for now….

My Thoughts on "The Voice" Season 3 (episode 1)

The 3rd season of TVB's "The Voice (超級巨聲)" started airing this past weekend (in the U.S. at least) and even though I had said that I most likely won't watch the 3rd season because of all the frustrations I had with the 2nd season, curiosity definitely got the better of me and I ended up tuning in for the premiere show.

For what it's worth, here are my thoughts regarding the first episode:

.> I definitely like the theme song for season 2 better -- the tune and lyrics were alot more catchy and the song overall was more memorable (I still remember the "Make me a Superstar" chorus even now!) The new themesong sounds a bit weird to me....who knows though -- it may end up growing on me later on? We'll see....

.> The 2 hosts (Sammy Leung and Krystal Tin -- the same hosts as last year) were still as annoying as ever in terms of talking too much. As I said last year, I really don't want to hear so much from the hosts, especially since their role in this instance is to facilitate and the 'meat' of the show is really the singing and the judging -- too much time is wasted with the hosts' nonsensical banter and crude jokes. Again, like I said last year -- I would much rather TVB cut out the banter from the hosts and include more of the feedback / commentary from the judges regarding the contestants' performances.

.> So far, the 'quality' of the contestants this season is nowhere near that of Season 1 and 2....in fact, I have to honestly say that almost every contestant's singing made me cringe, except for 2 or 3 who actually sang quite well -- considering how many people auditioned and how few people actually made it into the final, that's not a very good number at all. Come on TVB -- don't tell me that the 18 people you guys picked as finalists were the 'cream of the crop' because they are nowhere close (but then again, it IS TVB -- a company that doesn't know how to recognize talent if it's staring them in the face)...go figure!

.> According to the hosts, there were 4000 people who auditioned and out of that, 18 people were picked as finalists for the show. Hmmm.....makes me wonder what the "criteria" is for determining the finalists....I would dare to say that 90% of the finalists (the 18 chosen ones) are from outside of HK and aren't fluent in Cantonese or Mandarin (actually, to be honest, the percentage is probably closer to 99%). After listening to the first round of singing, I pretty much came to the conclusion that most of the contestants have bad Chinese pronunciation. It's really hard for me to believe that out of 4000 people, they had to pick 18 who didn't speak Chinese....um, were there no native Chinese speakers who auditioned? Or did their singing really suck that badly? Call me biased, but I just feel that if you are going to participate in a Chinese language singing competition, you should at least know Chinese....is that too much to ask?

.> Surprisingly, I'm actually satisfied with the judging on this first episode (those of you who have been following my posts on the previous season of The Voice will know exactly why I say "surprisingly"). The judges were pretty tight with their scoring this time around and their scores were appropriate to the performances for the most part....I'm hoping that it stays this way for the rest of the season (though I highly doubt it)....

.> The addition of Coco Lee and Jun Kang to the judging panel is definitely refreshing and gives a whole different perspective on the performances (especially considering the other judges were all the same as last season). Unfortunately though, I don't think they will be on the judging panel permanently....I read somewhere that Coco and Jun are only going to be guest judge for a few episodes....that sucks!

The above is just my initial reaction after watching the first episode....I may have more thoughts later on as I watch additional episodes (though I probably won't blog about every episode because I just don't have the patience or time for that....)

My Thoughts on variety show “Solid Goldies 金曲擂台”

I ‘discovered’ this variety show on TVB this weekend (watched it on DVD) and decided since it involves the 80s/90s era again, it was worth blogging about. The show is actually pretty recent, as it aired on TVB last year (2010) – unfortunately, the show only has 8 episodes, which, IMO, is way too short (I’ll explain more about this later).

In order to understand the rest of my post, it’s necessary to understand what the show is about and the format of it. So here’s a brief summary of the show:

.>> I guess you could consider this show a ‘music variety show’. It’s also a ‘game show’ of sorts because there are groups competing for prizes. Basically, various artists are invited onto the show every week to compete in singing performances and are given points by the audience. The group with the most points at the end wins.

.>> There are 3 groups: The first one is led by veteran singer Lee Lung Kei and consists mostly of veteran singers from the 70s (well, some of the singers were actually active prior to the 70s too, technically). The second group is led by actress/singer Susanna Kwan and consists mostly of actors/actresses who are also singers or who have good singing abilities. The third group consists of contestants from the first and second season of “The Voice” (of course, leave it to TVB to shamelessly plug / promote their ‘own’ singers) and is led by either Mag Lam (for like 2 or 3 episodes) or Ryan Lau (for majority of the show).

.>>  The points from each episode are tallied and at the end of episode 7, the group with the lowest score will be eliminated and the other 2 groups will move on to compete in the finale (episode 8)….’coincidentally’ (or not??), all 3 groups ended up in the finale because the 2 lowest scoring groups ended up in a tie (seems fishy to me, but ok).

.>> Every episode, there is a ‘theme’ -- they feature one ‘superstar’ singer from the 70s/80s HK music industry and compete amongst the groups using that singer’s songs.

Here’s a rundown of the singers that were featured in each episode:

Episode 1: Anita Mui
Episode 2: Roman Tam
Episode 3: Sam Hui
Episode 4: Adam Cheng & Liza Wang
Episode 5: Leslie Cheung
Episode 6: Teresa Teng
Episode 7: Paula Tsui
Episode 8: Classic TVB Theme Songs (mostly from the 70s and 80s)

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Obviously, the reason why I watched this show was because of its focus on ‘classic’ HK music – otherwise, I would not have even wasted my time (knowing how much I can’t stand the HK music industry in the last decade)!

Below are some 'highlights' and ‘lowlights’ from the show:

HIGHLIGHT #1:
.>>The featured singers! Most of the ‘superstars’ chosen (with the exception of Adam and Liza) were great choices, as they were truly icons of the HK music industry and had a hand in defining Cantopop music. And most of the singers have a huge repertoire of awesome songs that are definitely considered classics, even now, 20-30 years later!

LOWLIGHT #1:
.>> Um, maybe it’s just me, but Adam and Liza were definitely out of place in the list of ‘superstar’ singers. I absolutely WOULD NOT consider either one of them icons or superstars in the music industry (not even close!!!). There are so many more stars who are more worthy than them, so why the hell did TVB include them? Well, here’s my theory: 1) since this show was filmed last year, the royalty dispute with the big 4 record companies was still going on, so obviously they could not feature any of the singers from those companies…that eliminates some obvious choices that were (glaringly) omitted, such as Alan Tam, George Lam, Danny Chan, etc.; 2) TVB has a ‘history’ of putting Liza on a pedestal and right now, she’s pretty much one of the few still active artists they have left who still has a connection with the ‘old TVB’ – they probably chose Adam to ‘pair’ with her because to be honest, Liza is an actress more than a singer, so she doesn’t have a whole lot of songs, plus they are good friends in real life and used to be a popular ‘onscreen’ couple.

.>> Btw, TVB was obviously ‘playing favorites’ in terms of Adam and Liza, as their songs were technically featured in 2 episodes (a few of the themesongs that the artists chose to sing from the 70s and early 80s were the ancient series ones that Adam and Liza sang).


HIGHLIGHT #2:
.>> The nostalgia! As a long time follower of HK entertainment, of course I was familiar with all of the ‘superstars’ that they featured as well as most of the songs that the artists chose to sing. With the exception of episode 4, I knew almost every single song that was sung (yes, even the ones from the 70s) and was actually singing along almost the entire time (yay – a mini music fest for me…hahaha!!). After watching all 8 episodes (which I did pretty much in 1 sitting), all I wanted to do was just pull out my ipod and listen to all those songs again!

LOWLIGHT #2:
.>> A few of the song choices were a bit obscure – with all the great hits that each of these singers had, some of the artists picked a few relatively unknown ones to sing – which was kind of interesting, but ok, fine, since majority of the songs were the popular hits that most people were familiar with.


HIGHLIGHT #3:
.>> Mimi Lo! Mimi was on a few of the episodes competing for the actors/singers group. She was absolutely awesome – her singing skills are excellent and her performances were touching. She was the main reason why the actor/singer team won – each time she performed, the audience voted for her performance, so she racked up a lot of points. (A highlight within a highlight – during the finale episode, right after Mimi’s great performance, the camera panned over to her husband Power Chan, who had come to support her and was watching near the stage – it looked like he was clapping the hardest out of everyone there….awwwww!!!).

LOWLIGHT #3:
.>> Most of the artists who were invited to participate were pretty good choices, as a lot of them had pretty good singing skills. But there were some really ‘bad’ choices in the groups (most notably in the Voice and the actor/singer groups) where the artists who were invited to perform really weren’t that good at all (a few were even ‘cringe-worthy’)! Luckily, each artist’s performance wasn’t too long, so didn’t have to endure for long.


HIGHLIGHT #4:
.>> The humor. Though I don’t think the show was meant to be funny, but a few of the episodes really cracked me up. There is one segment where the artist is supposed to mimic the classic costume or image of the particular singer (i.e.: Paula Tsui’s polka dot dress, Sam Hui’s ‘leopard’ themed costume, Teresa Teng’s classic ‘qi pao’ look, etc.) or in the case of the TV themesong episode, dress up in the attire of one of the characters. Some of the costumes that the artists chose to wear just didn’t fit them at all or were just really bad choices altogether and made them look weird – but it was funny though (which I guess is a plus…).

LOWLIGHT #4:
.>> Despite some flaws, this show overall was quite good (in my opinion) – it not only gives viewers a ‘glimpse’ into the ‘golden era’ of the HK music industry, it also was a good opportunity to bring all those classic Canto-pop songs to a new generation of listeners. BUT, unfortunately, the show was only 8 EPISODES! That is way too little considering this is one of the better variety shows that TVB made last year and way more ‘educational’ than some of the other crap that TVB produces – why did TVB only make 8 episodes of this show when other retarded (and borderline raunchy) variety shows such as Super Trio and Fun with Liza & the Gods got a whole year’s worth of episodes? Obviously we know where TVB’s priorities are!!!

.>> I also have another theory as to why this show was only 8 episodes – because the fact of the matter is, today’s younger audiences don’t know how to appreciate classic HK Canto-pop (yup, a lot of them only care about their current ‘idols’ who may look good but can’t sing to save their lives). And since a third of the artists who participated in the show were from the 70s (most of today’s audience’s probably weren’t even born yet), I’m sure they were not ‘familiar faces’ to majority of the audiences. So based on the above, TVB probably felt that the ratings wouldn’t be good, so didn’t bother investing much in it (plus it’s not like any of their ‘favorite’ sons or daughters were part of the show – except for the Voice kids, that is)

.--.
To be honest, I didn’t think I would like this show because one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing people do a bad job mimicking some of my favorite artists and ‘butchering’ their songs. There was definitely some of that (of course), but overall, majority of the artists were actually quite good in terms of singing, so there wasn’t as much ‘butchering’ as I anticipated (otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sit through it).

In terms of whether I recommend this show – well, it depends. If you’re an 80s/90s person like me, then definitely yes, because even if you don’t like the artists who compete, at least you can still enjoy all those classic hits of the biggest names in HK music. For me, this was definitely the case – the trip down memory road was well worth it for me…I didn’t mind enduring a few bad performances as long as majority of the show was worth watching!

Review of "The Voice 2" Finale

After 17 weeks, “The Voice 2” is finally over. The finale just finished airing yesterday and the winners have been determined. Not surprisingly, I don’t agree with the results this year and once again, I tend to agree with the sentiment out there that perhaps TVB ‘rigged’ the show to allow their ‘favorite’ to win (more about this later on in the post).

Below are my thoughts regarding the finale and the results:

The episode already didn’t start off well for me because the first thing I noticed right off the bat – why was Teresa Carpio not part of the judging panel for the finale? I had truly thought that she would be there because she had returned to do the judging for the previous 2 episodes after being gone for so long….but yet, she only returned for those 2 episodes and not the most critical one. WTH?? I don’t get the logic behind that at all, especially given the controversy surrounding her departure and the ‘hype’ over her return. So yes, for me, I pretty much already knew the judging would go downhill because of the lack of balance on the judging panel -- Miss Chan Chan, Anthony Lun, and Hanjin are all pretty lenient when it comes to the scoring, Ruth Tsang is pretty consistent and fair, but she's only 1 person and so won't be able to sway the scores too much, and Danny Summer is just plain odd plus his scoring is all over the place…the only ‘strict’ judge on the panel is Chiu Cheng Hei, but then there have been times where I’ve wondered what he’s thinking.

Teresa’s scoring has been consistently fair and appropriate and her comments are always spot on -- she’s pretty straightforward with her judging and from what I can see, she doesn’t give any ‘sympathy’ points to people (which is the way it SHOULD be so that it’s a fair playing field for everyone). Between her and Ruth, they would have been able to balance out the scoring for sure.

So obviously, I was disappointed with the judges (more to come on this later, as I have a lot to say about the actual scoring/judging of the performances).

On to the hosts….in my opinion, Krystal and Sammy talk WAY too much – it’s like, who really cares what they have to say? They aren’t the ‘main characters’ in the finale, the contestants and the judges are, so their (the hosts’) opinions don’t matter to me. I would much rather hear more comments from the judges critiquing the performances rather than all the lame gibberish from the hosts….to me, a lot of time was wasted listening to the hosts talk – time that could have been better spent hearing comments from more judges (we only got to hear the comments from 2 judges, which was not enough, especially for such a critical episode as the finale). Oh, and it was extremely annoying how the hosts (Krystal especially) kept interrupting the judges (not only in this episode, but in previous ones as well) and inserting their own comments / thoughts / reactions – once again, who the hell cares what the hosts think? They’re not the judges for one and two, an effective host – especially in these types of ‘major professional’ shows -- should always be neutral and keeps their own opinions out of it – so by continuing to insert their opinions in each episode, it goes to show the lack of ‘professionalism’ in their hosting.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s move on to the actual competition itself – the ‘singing battle’ between the 6 contestants who ‘made it’ to the finale. The first part of the show was on determining the top 3 contestants with the highest scores who would be able to move on to the final battle for #1. In part 2, only the 3 highest scoring contestants sang and it was basically to determine the standings (1st, 2nd, 3rd place).


Part 1 – Performances from the Top 6:

First up was leader of the group, Penny Chan. He performed Aska Yang’s song “洋蔥” and ended up scoring 82.8, which was the lowest score of the night. Even though the judges thought he did a good job (at least based on their comments, which again was not in line with their scoring – a common problem throughout this entire season), I really have to disagree. Penny was a bit shaky throughout the performance, though some parts – mainly the chorus – were okay. I don’t know why the judges said they felt that Penny had a lot of emotion in the performance and was very ‘moving’ because to be honest, I didn’t get that feeling at all...perhaps it’s because the original singer (Aska Yang) is REALLY good and is known for putting a lot of emotion into his singing (to the point where he moves fans and audiences to tears with his performances) so since I’m used to hearing his version of this song, Penny’s version just didn’t cut it for me. One thing I will agree with though is that Penny did seem to be a lot more ‘open’ with this performance and less ‘stiff’ than before. I think his score was fair.

Next up was ‘high score king’ Hubert Wu, who performed one of Jam Hsiao’s songs (forgot which one) and received a score of 87 (the second highest of the night). Hubert’s performance was actually pretty good – he was consistent, steady, and barely made any mistakes (except for that 1 part where he went slightly off-key, but it was barely noticeable). I don’t listen to Jam Hsiao’s songs, so I have no clue how Hubert’s rendition compares to the original, however just on its own, I was pretty impressed – Hubert definitely did everything he needed to in terms of singing and skill and he sounded good. In my opinion, he definitely deserved the high score that he received (though it wasn't enough to clinch the #1 spot).

Sheldon Lo performed next – he very bravely performed a song he wrote himself called “Speechless” and also played the guitar while singing. He was REALLY good – the best performance of the night in my opinion. I really like the song – it was very well-written and well-performed (I definitely agree with what judge Ruth Tsang said). His performance sounded really natural and effortless (well, that could be because he’s probably performed this song many times and since he wrote it himself, the familiarity definitely helps). In a nutshell, his performance was pretty much right on – no mistakes made and the song was moving. I also was personally impressed by the fact that he chose to play the guitar while singing the song, especially in such a critical competition because not everyone is cut out to do that (playing an instrument while singing can get distracting for some people because need to keep track of the playing as well as the singing at the same time) – unfortunately, he didn’t get any bonus points for this though (nor did he get extra points for writing the song himself). Throughout this season, Sheldon has pretty much been the only contestant that I actually liked because unlike many of the other contestants, he doesn’t come across as arrogant to me – plus his singing always sounds very natural and carefree…I’m sure he feels a lot of stress and pressure from the competition, but he must have a good way of handling it because it never shows and he doesn’t let it affect his performances. Sheldon’s score was 84.5, which in my opinion, was way too low considering how well he performed. But Sheldon didn’t seem to mind – he was so happy with his score that when the hosts asked him to react, he started talking in English because he was so excited (it was kind of cute and funny at the same time) – now THAT’s the right attitude to have!

Mag Lam – the ‘favorite’ going into the competition – sang next. She performed Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This” and received a score of 87.8 – the highest score of the night (obviously she gets to advance to the 2nd part). I will reserve majority of my comments about Mag’s overall performance for later, as I have a lot to say about it obviously. In terms of this particular performance, well, it was obvious that Mag wasn’t at 100% -- she actually had a vocal cord infection, which affected her performance. I, for one, found it even more difficult to understand what she was singing – the vocal cord issue made the already ‘nasally’ rendition even worse…plus she was very apparently off-key on a few parts. Some people may say that her performance was ‘touching’ but I personally did NOT feel or see it – I got too distracted by all the other stuff to be ‘moved’ by her performance. It was very obvious even to the judges that Mag’s performance was not up to par, as Miss Chan Chan even said so herself….so I guess my question is why did she still manage to get the highest score out of the 6 performances? (She received 2 scores in the 90s and the rest in the high 80s, which is why it averaged out to 87.8 in the end.) I would have really liked to hear from all the judges – especially the ones who gave her the highest scores – to understand the reasoning behind it.

Some people may feel that it would be unfair to Mag to score her lower for her performance just because she is sick, since she’s been getting high scores throughout the entire season. My argument against this -- it’s even more unfair to the other contestants who gave their all in their performances but weren’t rewarded with the appropriate scores because Mag has an ‘excellent track record’ and let’s not blemish it by giving her a low score despite her performance not being up to par. If the winners are supposed to be determined based on their past performances rather than by their performances that night, then what’s the point of having them sing in the finale? Mag having consistently high scores should not have anything to do with the finale or whether she wins or not because the scoring is not cumulative – the high scores in the previous episodes allowed her to pass and not get eliminated so she could be in the finale and possibly get a shot at winning – it should not be the determining factor for winning….

Also, once again, I question what the point is for the hosts to mention Mag’s illness – is it to gain sympathy points from the judges? I can understand if the judges asked why she performed so poorly and the answer given was because of illness – but mentioning it before the performance? Why? To extract sympathy from the audience and judges from the get-go so they can be lenient on the scoring? Well, that’s the way I saw it – and it annoys me to no end. With regard to Mag’s vocal cord infection and how it affected her performance -- this may sound mean, but I will say the same thing I said about Vivan when she performed while she was ill -- TOO BAD....if the contestant happens to get sick prior to the competition, it's unfortunate and I hope they get better soon, but that doesn't mean he/she should get sympathy points from the judges for it, especially not in a 'supposedly' professional singing competition.

Ok, enough about Mag (for now). The next person to perform was James Ng (also known as Kwan Gor). He sang Na Ying’s “夢醒了“ and scored 83.3, which was the second lowest score of the night. I actually don’t know what to make of his performance….he wasn’t bad, but I didn’t really feel it was a ‘wow’ type of performance either. But at least he didn’t make the types of mistakes that he did mid-season when he sort of ‘lost his way’ and struggled with finding direction. I heard today that a lot of netizens and Kwan Gor supporters are upset that he didn’t get into the top 3 with his performance and that he should have – can’t say whether I agree or disagree…his performance overall was ‘okay’ to me.

The last performer of the night was Brian Tse (aka Station One Leon Lai) who did a song by Taiwanese artist Fan Yi Chen and scored 84.1. He pretty much came in fourth, as Sheldon beat him out for the 3rd place spot by 0.4 points. I’m actually okay with his score this time around because even though he sang well, I really wasn’t as moved by his performance as I was with Sheldon’s. Also, Brian has the same problem that Penny does – the ‘stiffness’ that perhaps just comes with nervousness and limited stage experience. I definitely think that Brian could have done better, as I’ve seen more emotion from him in a few previous performances – but overall, it wasn’t too bad.

So based on the above scoring, Sheldon, Hubert, and Mag advanced to the final (part 2).


Part 2: Top 3 singing one song ‘Unplugged’

Sheldon performed first and sang “Apologize” by One Republic. Then Hubert performed one of Fish Leong’s songs. Lastly, Mag performed Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”.

Instead of scoring the second part separately on the show, they ended up combining the totals from the first round and whoever had the highest total score was the winner. Even though they didn’t announce the score for the Unplugged round, based on calculation, Sheldon received a score of 86, Hubert got 84.3, and Mag got 83.7. Okay, I have to say that Sheldon definitely deserved to win this round and Mag rightfully got the lowest score (did the judges finally wake up or what?) – but of course, since her score from the first round was so high, she ended up winning (though she only beat Hubert by 0.2 points overall).


Final Thoughts:

In a sense, I’m not too surprised that Mag won (though whether she deserved it or not is another story) – since it was clear from the beginning that Mag was slated to be ‘the one’ this season. She’s been getting consistently high scores on every single episode, even for performances where she was so-so…and the judges seemed to have completely ignored both her consistently unclear pronunciation as well as her nose condition that causes her singing to sound deep and ‘nasally’. Actually, to be honest, as I was writing this post, something clicked in my head and I realize now why Mag is so popular despite her singing being so-so (plus her nasal and pronunciation problem) -- IMO, she manages to pick songs where she can sing one part extremely well that leaves an impression with the audience so even if the rest of her performance is average (or difficult to understand), that one part is what people remember and the rest forgotten. For example, with the A.I.N.Y performance last time (which is what made her such a Youtube sensation), the only part that I remember about the entire performance is the "yeah yeah yeah" part, which she did sing quite well -- the rest, I can't remember (probably because I couldn't even understand anything she sang the rest of the time due to her pronunciation problem). I don't get the hype over the A.I.N.Y song either, so I can only attribute it to the above theory. Same with her "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" performance from the finale -- the only part she did well with that song was the chorus, the rest of it was so-so....I actually think that Sheldon and Hubert sang much better than Mag, yet they lost out to her....

(As a sidenote: I read in an article last week where someone said that the fact that Mag's A.I.N.Y. video got so many hits on Youtube proves that her performance was good -- that's just a bunch of BS -- just because a video has alot of 'hits' doesn't mean the performance was good -- there could be alot of reasons why there are that many hits -- for example, some people who missed that particular episode of V2 may have wanted to watch it, so dug up segments on YT, or it could just be the curiosity factor -- people could have read about it and were just curious to see what the hype was about...)

I actually think that Sheldon did REALLY well with both of his performances and actually outperformed Mag big-time.....but since the judges and TVB favor Mag, of course they were going to make her the winner...I feel that the judging was way too biased towards Mag -- well, it always has been, but this time it was VERY obvious because Mag's performance was not good at all (I actually cringed listening to her sing and kept wishing for it to be over) -- yet, she got the highest score for that poor performance??? Most of the other contestants sang better than she did, yet they got lower scores than her! It's no wonder that all the rumors are circulating right now that TVB 'rigged' the show so Mag could win....

"The Voice 2" -- Episode 15: Duets

After the ‘high’ from the last 2 weeks’ episodes (classic TV theme songs), I must say that this week’s episode was a new ‘low’ – I really didn’t like any of the performances, except for maybe Hubert and Penny’s performance at the beginning. I don’t know what happened this week, but everyone seemed to be really off – even the ones who have traditionally gotten high scores in the past didn’t do too well.

First, I must say that the judging seemed to get back to where it’s supposed to be (finally) – the judges were pretty fair this time around and gave low scores where deserved rather than playing favorites (hey, maybe they learned something from Ruth Tsang the past 2 weeks!). There was only one contestant who received a score in the 80s (Hubert) – everyone else received scores in the 70s, which meant that the judges were being very tight with the scores this time around – of course this is perfectly fine with me, since none of the contestants did particularly well anyway.

The only ‘good’ thing about this episode was that one of my least favorite contestants – Vivian Chan – finally got eliminated this time. Those who’ve been reading my V2-related posts know what I think about her singing…I’m glad the judges finally ‘woke up’ and figured out that her singing is not quite up to par. I don’t feel bad at all that she got eliminated, since I’ve always thought that she should have gotten eliminated a long time ago. Plus, I’m tired of hearing her say the same thing every week – that she will work on her ‘issues’ and ‘bad habits’ and improve the next time…well, obviously she still has the same issues with her singing or else she wouldn’t have to say that each week.

I also really didn’t like that Vivian was paired up with Sheldon, as he really could have done better if he was paired with someone else….he actually had to sing a couple octaves lower than usual because his voice really doesn’t blend well with Vivian’s extremely high-pitched one.

Also, I really was surprised that Mag gave such a poor performance this week – I’ve never liked her singing since the beginning, but she has been a ‘favorite’ among the judges as well as the audiences for some reason (I still don’t get why). Her singing was WAY too low and too nasally this time – to the point where I could barely understand a single word that she sang….I actually got goosebumps listening to her this time around.

Oh, and one thing I noticed from the previous few episodes, which I already thought was annoying but didn’t say anything because I was waiting to see if it would continue: basically, the 2 hosts talk WAY too much in the beginning of each episode – to the point where I’ve found myself telling them out loud to ‘cut to the chase’ and get on with the program. Plus, people tune in to watch the contestants singing and the judges commentary as well as scoring – no one really cares that much what the hosts say, so they don’t need a 10 minute monologue at the beginning of the program. What makes it even more annoying is that TVB has been ‘cutting’ a lot of the judges’ comments due to the time constraints – if that’s the case, then I would rather they cut the stupid banter between the hosts (which, btw is just nonsense most of the time and isn’t even funny) and include more of the judges’ comments.

Overall, I felt that this episode was extremely boring – it was obvious that none of the contestants put much effort in their performances this time around and it really affected the entire atmosphere of this episode.

Thoughts on “The Voice 2” – Episode 14

First, I have to ask – did TVB cut out a lot of the commentary? Because some of the stuff I saw in the preview did not actually happen – like some of the comments that the judges made during the preview didn’t even air….for example, Hanjin’s comments from the preview about how he felt that someone was “going against the band” and also the part where he asked why one of the contestants wouldn’t take the judges’ opinion to heart (regarding someone singing in a higher pitch rather than lower)…I was actually scratching my head after the show and was like…WTH??? That’s one of the biggest things I hate about watching TVB’s variety shows on TV overseas – they cut out A LOT of stuff – this isn’t the first time….they’ve done this on almost every single variety show that they’ve aired here in the U.S….that’s why I don’t even bother watching some of the shows (like the anniversary gala and other specials) on TV, since it’s edited so badly that the show ends up not making sense.

Anyway, back to the actual performances – this episode was actually a continuation of last week’s “Classic TV Themesongs” edition, so of course, I was waiting to see what was going to happen.

Overall, I must say that I was disappointed with this episode again because even though it was one of the themes that I liked (classic TV theme songs) and I knew every single song, the judging sort of sucked….I didn’t understand why certain judges gave the scores that they did…especially the scores for Vivian.

Since I was really paying attention to this episode, I decided that this time around, I would do the review a little differently and actually comment on each of the 6 contestants who performed instead of just a few of them. So here goes…

Sheldon – sang the themesong from “Triumph in the Skies” (originally sung by Eason Chan)
>> His performance was actually ok, in my opinion. True, there was not enough emotion to the singing and he did sing some of the lyrics wrong (he needs to continue working on his Chinese), but overall, his performance was very pleasing to the ears. Plus he really started getting better near the end of the performance (probably because he was less nervous and felt more comfortable) – in fact, I was actually starting to enjoy the performance near the end…too bad it wasn’t consistent though (meaning he was a bit unsteady in the beginning and middle parts). The other thing I like about Sheldon though is his positive attitude – he comes across as very carefree and happy-go-lucky and seems to be the only one (I feel at least) from V2 who does not give off the impression of being arrogant and the “I’ll do as I please” feeling.


Penny – sang the theme song from “A House is Not a Home” (originally sung by Roman Tam)
>> Ok, I have to admit that I was quite disappointed with Penny’s performance. After being ‘blown away’ by his “The Challenger” performance with Mimi Lo, I actually expected more from him. But this performance was very shaky and he sang it WAY TOO HIGH!!!! I was wondering throughout his entire performance why the heck he chose to sing the song so high – especially since the original singer Roman Tam had a famously beautiful deep voice that was extremely powerful (hence the reason why he was able to sing so many classic, beautifully written, powerful songs). Also, because Penny sang higher than usual, his pitch and tone were really off and even borderline shaky at certain points – you could actually tell that he was out of his comfort level…


Deep – sang the subtheme song from the Taiwan series “Romance in the Rain” (originally sung by Vicki Zhao and Leo Ku – both have their own versions of the song)
>> I actually liked Deep’s performance the best (well, I guess it helps that I love this series and am very familiar with all the songs in it as well). Her performance was very comfortable and sounded very nice -- I especially liked how she had a smile on her face the entire time, which is perfect because it helped her express the song better and it fit exactly with the ‘atmosphere’ of the song. (Though I must say as a sidenote that I like Vicki Zhao’s version better because you can actually feel the “happiness” and “sweetness” to the song when she sings it). Anyway, I also actually agree with the judges (for once…lol) in terms of Deep’s performance – basically that Deep did a good job overall, though in terms of skill and other technical stuff (like singing certain parts with more power and strength rather than just using a loud voice), she could have done better.


Shadow –sang the theme song from “Beauty of the Game” (originally sung by Denise Ho)
>> I didn’t like Shadow’s performance at all – her pitch and tone were off at certain places and the overall ‘feel’ of the song was a bit weird….I also felt like she was trying too hard not to ‘yell and scream’ (since of course it would be inappropriate to ‘scream’ like a maniac while singing a slow song). My opinion is that she is absolutely not cut out for slow songs at all – her performance just didn’t sound natural. This performance proves my point that she can’t sing and has been covering up her lack of singing skill with crazy yelling and screaming (of course, this means that I disagree with Anthony Lun’s comment about her actually knowing how to sing because that didn’t come across to me at all).

I also have a huge problem with the scoring of Shadow’s performance – she actually received the lowest score out of this batch of contestants (the 6 who performed this week), but it was still enough to keep her out of the “elimination zone” (she got a 75.4 – the “passing” score is 75). I noticed that out of the 5 judges, 4 of them gave her a score in the low 70s (less than 75), yet one of them gave her a score of 79…I am pretty sure that the 79 score is what put her over the “passing” mark and therefore put her in the “safe” zone. I am very interested to know who that 1 judge is that gave her a high mark (I think I know, but since I’m not 100% sure, don’t want to unfairly accuse).


Vivian – sang the theme song from “Golden Faith” (originally sung by Gallen Lo)
>>OMG, I hated her performance (even more than I hated Shadow’s performance) – her voice is WAY TOO HIGH, her pitch was very unsteady, and she was off-key in quite a few places. Plus she has a bit of a ‘slur’ when she talks/sings, so at some parts, I couldn’t understand what she was singing (or saying either). Also, since her voice is SO high-pitched, it’s actually hard for her to carry certain notes, so some parts of the song feel very ‘abrupt’ – and of course, as usual, her voice always sounds like it is on the verge of cracking. And as one of the judges said, she sounded more like she was ‘reading’ the lyrics more than ‘singing’ them, so to me, there wasn’t much emotion in the song at all (though Sammy appears to love her – but he’s only the host and part of his job is to be neutral / positive, so can’t blame him for praising everyone – even if they suck). Btw, her singing still gives me the goosebumps!

Again, I have a huge problem with the scoring….one of the judges (I believe it was Anthony) actually said that she only sang 1 line beautifully and the rest of it was so-so (which any normal person would interpret as ‘she needs work’…) – yet, she got a really high score (81.2, which is quite high, considering the highest score with both eps combined was around 84 and elimination was at 75 – plus most of the others got scores in the high 70s or low 80s). Ok, so if the judges are telling her that her performance wasn’t quite up to par (which, based on some of the other comments, that was the impression I got), then why did they give her such high scores (AGAIN)??!!!!??!!! They are obviously favoring her again….

Oh, one more thing…. STOP THE CRYING ALREADY!!!! It’s like, every single time Vivian performs, she either cries or looks like she is on the verge of tears….can’t stand it – very annoying…


Brian – sang the subtheme song from “Healing Hands” (originally sung by William So)
>> I actually thought Brian’s rendition wasn’t too bad – true, it wasn’t the best, but it was a lot better than a lot of the other contestants. I actually agree with Hanjin when he said that this could very well be Brian’s ‘representative work’ to date – he was pretty steady with his performance and showed emotion when he sang (though of course it can’t compare to the original version by William So, who has a very awesome, powerful voice).

I was surprised that Brian’s score was low (though definitely not the lowest) – I definitely feel that he should have gotten higher than Vivian because his overall performance was better. And the judges’ comments were pretty positive with regard to his performance (except for the comment about his breathing), so I don’t understand the low score at all….

*=*=*

In terms of who ended up getting eliminated after all was said and done, of course it was Kenson, since he was the only contestant who fell into the ‘elimination zone’ (scored lower than 75 points).

I’m actually quite disappointed that Kenson got eliminated over Vivian and Shadow -- not that I like Kenson or anything, but at least his performance was way better than the 2 ladies in terms of overall effectiveness and consistency. And I must admit that he has the most “stage presence” among all of the contestants – meaning he moved his body and hands and actually had facial expression – which we all know is important for a singer to have. In fact, when he sang the “Witness to a Prosecution” themesong (originally sung by Eason Chan) in last week’s episode as well as when he sang it today after he was eliminated, I could actually feel some of that Eason-type jumpy personality thing ….which means that the song actually worked well and fit him.

I would have preferred that none of the contestants fell into the ‘elimination zone’ because that meant that the judges would have to pick someone to eliminate from those who got low scores (which means of course that there was a huge chance of Shadow being eliminated, since she had the 2nd lowest score)…however, as I said earlier, her score was skewed, so she just barely made it into ‘safe’ territory.

Overall, I definitely did not enjoy this episode as much as I did the previous one – for obvious reasons. I think I'll just leave it at that...

Thoughts on this week's episode of "The Voice 2" (classic theme song edition)

Ok, here’s my weekly review of the latest episode of the “The Voice 2”. Since last week’s episode was pre-empted due to the MHK pageant, it has pretty much been 2 weeks since I last watched the show – which perhaps was a good thing because the previous episode really left a bad taste in my mouth….so having the longer lag time between that episode and this one helped wash away a little bit of the bad stuff from last episode.

In this week (and next week’s) episode, the theme is “classic TV theme songs” – so each of the contestants choose a theme or subtheme song from one of TVB’s series to sing. This definitely works for me because FOR ONCE, I actually know the songs that the contestants are singing (a lot of the songs that they picked previously were so obscure or from artists I don’t listen to) – since I’ve watched so many series and know almost all of the classic theme songs from the previous few decades.

Anyway, in terms of the contestants’ performances this time around, I must say that so far, with only the first 6 performing, I haven’t found anything particularly horrifying yet -- not sure if it’s because they chose the right songs this time around or some of them actually started taking the judges’ feedback to heart and are working hard to improve. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this particular episode of the show – not to mention it’s the first episode this year where I have not walked away criticizing everyone like crazy.

I think the other reason why I enjoyed this episode was because 2 of my least favorite contestants – Vivian and Shadow – didn’t perform (they’re slated for next week’s episode)…so I didn’t have to sit through the torture of having to hear them sing (thank goodness!!!).

In terms of this week’s episode….I must say that this time around, Ng Yip Kwun really did a good job – I was actually surprised because in the past few episodes, he has been very unsteady and his performances were horrible (to the point where I was yelling at the judges for not eliminating him already)….this time though, it’s obvious he put some effort into his performance – or perhaps the song that he chose was perfect for him. Either way, I have to give him credit for this particular performance, though it doesn’t erase the negative impression I already have from his previous performances . Of course, if he wants to “make it” to the end, he has to continue like he did this episode and not be so “hit and miss” and unsteady with his singing.

I also wanted to comment on Mag’s performance….contrary to popular opinion, I actually don’t like her singing much – even since the beginning, when everyone kept saying that she sings well, I’ve always felt that her singing is actually not that great. The problem is that her singing is way too “nasally” – it always sounds like she has a stuffy nose or something…plus add to that the fact that her Chinese pronunciation is not that great (which the judges have been pointing out for a long time now) – half the time, when she sings, I can’t understand her. I really did NOT like her performance this week at all and felt that she was the worst of the 6 (though the judges once again thought differently, which I totally can’t understand – maybe they are giving her sympathy points because she has an issue with her nose that affects her singing??). Anyway, the song she chose to sing is one of my favorites from the “after 2000s” decade (Joyce Cheng’s “No One Is Perfect” -- the theme song from "Off Pedder"). I honestly felt that Mag ruined the song because she added all that stuff to it (the humming in between sections, the ‘yeas’ and ‘hmms’ at the end of certain phrases, etc.) – Joyce’s version is WAAAAYYYY better (of course, she doesn’t have the beautiful voice that Joyce has either). She actually got one of the higher scores of the night, which I thought was a bit surprising because her performance was not that great (hence my assumption that the judges are giving her sympathy points).

Lastly, I wanted to also comment on Hubert’s rendition of the theme song from "Point of No Return" (originally sung by Julian Cheung Chi-Lam) – he also did a pretty good job with the song in terms of technique and handling some of the difficult parts (the end notes) pretty well, which is good. However, I must disagree with the judge Hanjin’s comment that he sang it better than the original singer – no one can sing that song better than Chi-Lam, and Hubert definitely was not even close. Chi-Lam has a very unique way of singing and these types of love ballads are his specialty (I always get teary-eyed when I hear him sing these ballads because he sings with so much emotion) – I definitely did not get that feeling with Hubert’s rendition. Hubert did a good job in terms of the technical aspect, but still has a ways to go with the emotional piece – he has improved a lot, but not exactly where he needs to be yet.

Overall, definitely the most enjoyable episode for me so far this year (I think if said this several times already). However, I don’t think the “enjoyable” piece is going to last because based on the preview of next week’s episode, looks like a few people’s performances are going to be REALLY bad (plus it’s Vivian’s and Shadow’s turns to sing)….

"The Voice 2" -- More Thoughts (Episode 12)

I’ve been blogging a lot about “The Voice 2” recently because that’s pretty much one of the few shows I’ve been watching recently (since most of the series on TV have either not been too interesting or I haven’t had time to watch).

Anyway, at this point, I am thinking about giving up on watching “The Voice 2” as well because I’ve been very disappointed with the judging the last couple episodes. Ever since Teresa Carpio left, the judging has really gone downhill – they’ve been eliminating people who are truly good singers and “keeping” people who really suck….

I just finished watching episode 12 (the 2nd half of the V1 versus V2 competition) and I must say that I absolutely disagreed with who the judges ended up eliminating. Out of the 3 competitors who scored lowest (Vivian Chan, Justin Lee, and Ng Yip Kwan), the 2 who obviously sang really poorly were Vivian and Ng Yip Kwan – Vivian was totally off-key with the song and even the judges said that her performance wasn’t up to par. And Ah Kwan’s performance was absolutely horrible -- not only that, but his attitude was bad as well…he looked absolutely arrogant when the judges commented on his performance being less than standard. And it seemed to me (both in the clips showing their practice session as well as actual performance) that he does not take the competition seriously and is just “playing” and so never even tries to do well. Out of the 3, Justin actually sang the best – not perfect, but at least he was steady and sounded good -- and he didn’t make my hairs stand up on my skin when he sang (unlike the other two)…..he just lacked some confidence and seemed a little nervous, but at least he didn’t go off-key. To my surprise, the person that the judges ended up eliminating was – Justin…

My question is – why did they eliminate Justin when it was obvious that Vivian and Ng Yip Kwan sang the worst? I absolutely don’t get it – and the comments that they gave him weren’t that bad either – it seems like overall their criticism of Vivian and Ah Kwan was more negative – yet they kept the 2 of them in the competition and got rid of the person who sang the best out of the 3 (and whom they did not give much negative criticism to). This is not the first time this happened – they did the same thing the last few times as well – the people they eliminated sang pretty well, yet the ones that they kept were really bad.

I’m not sure what is going on with the judges this season – it’s like the scores that they give are completely opposite from the comments / criticism they give. For instance, the last few episodes, there were a few contestants that they criticized to the point that it seemed like they thought their performances sucked, yet they ended up giving those contestants high scores. And the opposite as well – a few contestants whom they praised as doing a great job, they ended up giving low scores….

I can’t wait to see whether Teresa Carpio will actually return to “The Voice” as a judge – if she does, then I think things will definitely turn around in terms of the judging. But if she doesn’t come back, then I don’t know what is going to happen because to be honest, the V2 contestants have not been performing well at all and the caliber is definitely lower. I guess we will have to wait and see….

Thoughts on "The Voice 2" -- episode 11

I just finished watching the V1 versus V2 episode as well and I must say that I agree with you....I've said this before, but I definitely like the V1 contestants better than V2. And it's not just about the technical skills -- sure, the V1 contestants have had a year to mature, so of course they will be "better" than the V2 contestants in terms of skill -- I'm talking primarily about attitude and overall feel. The V1 contestants had better attitudes for one (which is why they were more receptive of the judges' feedbacks/suggestions and therefore able to improve so much from when they started) and they have more of that "potential singer" feel....the V2 contestants on the other hand are more arrogant in terms of attitudes and to be honest, none of them give me that "rising star" feel.

Also, I've said this before but I'll say it again -- if I hear Shadow screaming like a lunatic one more time, I am seriously going to turn off the TV....the more I hear her sing, the more I dislike her. I really hope she gets eliminated soon because I can't stand her. And I totally agree with what Danny Summer said after her performance -- basically that singing "rock" doesn't necessarily mean you have to yell and scream like crazy.....I'm glad Danny said this because he is actually a long-time "rocker" himself, so he of course knows a thing or two about rock and therefore, his feedback would have more of an impact than if someone else were to say it. I doubt that Shadow is going to take his feedback to heart though because the impression she has given me so far is that she is very arrogant and doesn't care what the judges think (that's probably why she still can't sing well and relies on her yelling and screaming each episode to cover up her lack of skill).

Vivian is another one whom I can't stand....but since she didn't perform in this past week's episode, I will save my comments about her for next week.

And after watching the preview of the coming week's episode, I am not looking forward to it at all because it looks like they are going to bring the kid who got eliminated (the boy named Harddie) back on the show again to perform -- not sure if it's just for entertainment purposes or as part of the actual competition....if it is for competition purposes (like as in he will be scored for his performance), my question is -- why would TVB do that other than for commercial value? I mean, he was eliminated long ago for one, and two, it was already determined that he can't sing and is not ready to be in such a "grown up" competition....so what's the point??? Plus the V2 team is already "behind" in terms of the scoring and will need to work really hard to overtake the V1 team as it is, so why would they want to put someone in the competition who doesn't even belong there and could potentially bring them down? I mean, this isn't a game....it's supposed to be a serious singing competition -- well, I guess that goes to show how "seriously" TVB is taking this....

Some Thoughts on "The Voice 2" and the Plight of HK Music

I haven't really been watching a lot of series lately (though I definitely have tons on my list that I still need to watch), so I've unfortunately been "slacking" with blog updates. Since I'm feeling a tad bit guilty (for not keeping up with blog updates), I figured that I would post something.....so here goes.....

I've been watching the singing competition "The Voice 2" every weekend and I must say that I am quite disappointed with the caliber (or lack thereof) of this season's contestants. And I'm also a little bit disappointed with the judging (BRING BACK TERESA CARPIO!!!!!)....or maybe perhaps I'm just too harsh when it comes to judging music, because to be honest, a few of the contestants that I felt should have been eliminated by now are still in the running (and a few that I thought were pretty good actually got booted).

For example, I really feel that Vivian Chan (the short skinny girl with the squeaky voice) should have been eliminated a long time ago -- her voice is so squeaky and she sings soooo high that I get goose bumps every time I hear her....plus she's been off-tune a couple times already. Yet, the judges seem to think that she is awesome (???) -- at least that's what it sounds like based on their comments (though last week, I'm not sure what happened because the judges would praise the contestants for being great, but then turn around and give them extremely low scores.....it's like their comments aren't in line with their scoring...weird). Anyway, I don't see what is so "awesome" about this girl -- plus I feel that she also needs an attitude adjustment....she comes across to me as very stuck-up and arrogant, which I absolutely cannot stand! If I were judging, I would have kicked her out long time ago (like right after Emily and Harddie got kicked out, since she seems to be of the same "mix" as them in terms of singing skill -- in my opinion at least). Ok, I admit that since I'm not a "pro", I may not be able to see the supposed "nuances" in her voice or her singing that the judges may see (and hence why they continue to let her pass), but speaking from the perspective of a regular audience member and a long-time music listener, her singing REALLY hurts my ears!

Another example is Shadow (I forgot her last name)...honestly, all she does is yell and scream when she sings (and I mean that literally -- anyone who has heard her knows exactly what I mean). And it's not just a normal scream, but one that I would describe as borderline 'bloodcurdling' (I'm surprised she hasn't totally ruined her throat by now). Yet, since she is doing the screaming all in the name of Rock (I guess you're supposed to yell and scream when singing rock songs??), the judges seem to be ok with it -- which, to be honest, is something I don't understand.... could it be that perhaps 1/2 of the judges are "rockers" so they appreciate that type of music more? But if we're talking about a mainstream singing competition, I would think that the focus should be on getting them to learn regular singing skills (like pitch, tone, pronunciation of lyrics, etc.) first, then branch off into other "specialty" fields such as rock, rap, etc. Yes, I do understand that each "singer" has their own style and perhaps Shadow's "strength" is in singing rock songs -- but by only singing rock songs where majority of the song is yelling and screaming, isn't that "taking shortcuts" in a sense? I mean, how can one truly hear correct pitch and tone, etc. if the entire song consists of yelling and all "skills" are masked by the loud music and screaming? You don't need skill to yell and scream -- heck, if that's what a singing competition is all about, then a 2 year old child can surely participate and win!!

These are just 2 examples that come to mind (though there are definitely more). The bottom line is that singing competitions in Hong Kong have definitely changed over the years (more like decades) – and NOT necessarily for the better. Part of it could be that there just aren't that many talented people out there anymore, but I think the more likely reason is because the standards are so much different now -- society has become so focused on "political correctness" nowadays that it seems we've all had to lower our standards to accommodate everyone for fear of "hurting their feelings" or be accused of being "insensitive" or "discriminatory." In the long run, this hurts society more than it helps....

Teresa Carpio temporarily leaves The Voice 2 - AsianFanatics Forum

Teresa Carpio temporarily leaves The Voice 2 - AsianFanatics Forum

Below are some additional comments that I posted in AF's news thread today:

I've been following some of the comments on the TVB.com forum since the beginning of the 2nd season and seeing the mindset of these people is truly disappointing as well as disturbing. If this is what is being taught to the younger generation (which it obviously is, since they had to have gotten the mentality from somewhere), then it will truly be a sad case 10, 20 years from now when the middle / older generation will no longer be in the picture and the younger generation will "rule". If the HK entertainment industry has been going downhill the past 10 years (which it definitely has, maybe for even longer depending on who you ask), it will be much worse years from now, to the point where the industry may even become extinct (sad sight indeed).

The direction of the show this year has definitely gotten off track in that it is no longer a singing competition, but rather a talent show. How else would you explain why TVB would even let some of the contestants (like Hardy and Emily) get into the semi-final round in the first place? I mean, if you have let's say 100 people audition and you had to pick 20 to be on the show, I am sure they would be able to find 2-3 people from that batch who sing better than Hardy and Emily -- so why did TVB let them advance this far? I definitely blame TVB for this as well because I also feel that part of this is being done for show.

For example, with Emily -- it was so obvious from the beginning that she was going to be eliminated -- I mean, she CAN'T EVEN SPEAK CHINESE!!!!! And she is trying to compete singing Chinese songs when she can't even pronounce majority of the words and people can't understand a single word she sings? Is it any surprise that she wasn't going to make it? And then to bash Teresa for being "harsh" or "blunt" in her comments toward Emily, causing her to get eliminated? Ridiculous!

Same with Hardy...his performance from the beginning was already bad -- he actually was supposed to be eliminated on the first episode, but the judges gave him a chance (so as far as I'm concerned, they were already 'lenient' toward him) -- and so when his performance continues to suck because he is just not ready to be in such an aggressive competition (and it's obvious to everyone, not just the judges), now Teresa is being made the 'scapegoat'? Why don't they question TVB on why they let him and Emily advance to this round in the first place when it was obvious that they weren't going to make it? Was it just so there would be some "controversy" so that they could get higher ratings?

More comments:

Exactly!!! And that's what the judges were trying to tell him! To be honest, none of the judges said that he sucked -- they basically told him that he is not ready yet, that he should concentrate on his studies and come back in a couple years to try again -- it's the truth, so what is wrong with that? Just because the comments were directed at a little boy who was too young to take any type of criticism -- and frankly, it doesn't matter whether the judges say something positive or negative because the boy was going to cry anyway (which was another thing that annoyed me -- he cried before his performance, after his performance, it seemed like all the time....that in itself already shows that he is not ready to be out in the "real world" competing like this)...

And Teresa's comments may be more blunt, but as you say, she definitely knows what she is talking about....plus the other thing that some people failed to realize is that Teresa didn't just criticize the boy -- she's very fair and defends when necessary. That's why Sammy (the host) got yelled at by her -- because he was laughing at the boy (sort of in a mocking way, though not purposefully) and she told him not to laugh and that it wasn't funny (basically reprimanding him for indirectly "making fun" of the boy) -- and she did praise the boy when she asked him why he wore that particular outfit (the one he wore when performing Jacky's song) and he gave a good answer. Unfortunately, those who keep saying that she was "too harsh" and "unfair" towards him are not looking at the whole picture....

“The Voice: Season 2” Thoughts – Where’s the RESPECT?

News Articles

Chinese Version:
http://www.mingpaoweekly.com/htm/20100603/mch1.htm

English translated version:
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/723061-teresa-carpio-temporarily-leaves-the-voice-2/

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy, but reading this article really got me fired up to the point that I feel I should write about it. I actually made some comments in the Asianfanatics news thread about this as well, some of which I will reiterate here.

I've been watching the 2nd season of the TVB singing competition "The Voice" lately (not because I'm interested, since I hate hearing amateurs 'butcher' my favorite artists's songs -- but because it happened to be on TV). I also happened to be reading some of the postings in the "The Voice" blog on TVB.com's website.

The conclusion that I've come to is that in today's society (and more specifically in the HK entertainment industry), there is absolutely no respect for professionalism, talent, and the older generation. It's no surprise then, that the HK entertainment industry (whether it's music, TV, or movies) is so bleak and dismal -- the industry nowadays is full of younger generation 'eye-candy' whose attitudes are horrible (the arrogance and thinking that they know better than the older generation so they don't have to listen to them).

The 'latest' controversy with "The Voice" is over Teresa Carpio's comments about 12 year old Hardy Lam's performance last week -- he sang Jacky Cheung's "Born to be Wild" and got eliminated (I will refrain from commenting about my disappointment in hearing my idol's song get butchered.....painful, to say the least). Her comments were basically that Hardy chose the wrong song, he should have chosen something that fit his age, his outfit was questionable, etc etc. -- pretty much the same thing that she (and the other judges) had said in the previous episode (it's too early for him to be trying to compete in a serious singing contest such as this, he should be concentrating on his studies, etc. etc.). Of course, with her personality, she was alot more "blunt" about it then the other judges -- especially in her facial expressions....she totally was not laughing during his performance (as everyone else was, even some of the judges) and in fact, looked quite "pissed off" throughout his entire performance. (I'm pretty sure that if she had a bell on her podium, she would be pressing it like mad to tell him to get off the stage!)

To be honest (and this coming from me -- a "non-professional" in the area of music), Teresa was ABSOLUTELY right! The song did not fit Hardy at all! In fact, my first impression after his performance was that he's trying out for the wrong show -- it felt like a performance for a talent contest rather than a serious singing competition. First of all, the kid is only 12 years old (and he actually looks like he is only 9 or 10) and his singing was very childish -- what made the performance worse was that he was trying to sing in a deeper voice (perhaps trying to 'fit' the song or just to make himself seem older) which totally did not fit him at all. After the performance, I was like -- seriously? You call that singing? I mean, yes, the performance was "cute" in that you have this little kid dancing and singing and all, (I thought I was watching one of those "America's Got Talent" type of shows for a second there) but isn't this supposed to be a professional singing competition? What does "cute" have anything to do with it? We're talking about real world professional singing career here!

I can see now why Teresa was so upset. As a professional singer and music teacher with great talent and over 30 years in the industry, she absolutely knows what being a singer entails. And Hardy's performance (and a few other contestants' performances in my opinon) was not only a disgrace, but also disrespectful to the show and to the profession itself. That's why she was so blunt and telling it like it is -- heck I would be pissed too! One thing that I didn't know but found out about when I read the article is that Teresa not only reprimanded Hardy for his performance, but she also reprimanded his parents as well for putting him up to it and encouraging him (again, she's right) -- however, when TVB actually aired the episode, they edited out her comments (go figure -- typical TVB).

Teresa was absolutely in the right (and spot on) with her comments -- yet, the public (and others) criticize her for being "too harsh" towards a little kid! First of all, her comments were not harsh AT ALL (it's not like she cursed at him or anything -- she was very professional, abeit very straightforward with her words). Second -- who cares if he's a little kid? I mean, just because he's a little kid, does that mean they should be lenient and let him pass even though his performance was horrible? What kind of "professional, credible" judging would that be then? Again, the point here is that this is a PROFESSIONAL SINGING COMPETITION -- 'cuteness' and 'good looks' are not going to get anyone anywhere! People who try to play the "he's just a little kid so cut him some slack" card are just trying to cover up the true issue (the fact that he shouldn't have competed in the first place because he's not ready) and being too overly "PC".

I'm actually quite disappointed at all the negative criticism that I've been hearing about Teresa's comments on "The Voice". I was reading some of the postings on TVB.com's "The Voice" blog and it is very apparent that society nowadays does not value professionalism and talent. Last time, when Emily Chan (the 'westerner' who couldn't speak Chinese) got eliminated, there was already alot of criticism about Teresa being too harsh (which has no merit because she was just doing her job -- many people would've done the same thing). Some of the contestants (including Emily) wrote about the situation in the blog and some of them even went so far as to criticize the judges (not just Teresa, but all of them)...I was particularly irked by one person's comment who said something along the lines of "don't mind them (the judges)...they don't know what they are talking about anyway." HELLO????!!!! If this person is bitter about being eliminated because they can't sing to save their life, then that's their issue -- but how dare they disrespect the professionals who have been singing / producing / creating music for years who are just trying to give them constructive criticism to make them better people? Just because they are young and pretty, they think they can be arrogant like that?

It's no wonder that the HK entertainment industry is so dismal nowadays -- there are too many arrogant young know-it-alls in the industry who think they are better than those who came before them and therefore have no respect for the older generation (or even the middle generation for that matter)!

One last note --- regarding the contestants from Season 1 versus season 2: that brings up another point. I actually liked the season 1 contestants because most of them did have some talent (for one) but also because I felt that they were more humble and willing to learn...the impression that I'm getting from the current contestants is that they are more arrogant and are just in it to get there 15 minutes of fame rather than being serious about improving their skill so they can become good singers. The season has just started and already I've gotten pissed off on several occasions because of the attitudes of some of the contestants...it is definitely going to be a loooong season....