Superstar Uncle Drama
Admittedly, the title of this post is misleading, it’s simply a combination of 3 things that happened these couple of weeks in June. There’s Project SuperStar, being an Uncle and the Father’s Day drama… and a bit of personal drama that happened in my life. So this is really a really long post from me to me (it’s my blog after all). It was such a packed and eventful 2 weeks of June.
Confession: I’m kind of baiting here
Firstly, Project SuperStar – I saw it and asked this simple question on Facebook. Some have heard me sing and I’m thankful that the comments were all supportive.
What happened next was that I decided to begin a daily routine of warming up my voice to get ready using Singing for the Stars. A couple of weeks later, the news for the audition date was released. The timing was quite perfect as I have just resigned from my Project Management job and will have time to practice.
Again, the comments were positive. I had 1 friend who said “NO!” (jokingly, I’d like to believe) but who later removed his comment.
Choosing the right song was SO HARD. There are a gazillion songs to choose from but ultimately, the song I went with was 張宇 – 月亮惹的禍. It’s an old and dated song, I have to admit. I sing a lot more English songs than I do with Mandarin songs; the few songs that I know… they’re all freakin’ old! However, I struggle to find artistes with similar voice quality therefore, I picked this song as it’s the closest I could find.
Armed with this super old classic, I decided that if I were to make it through, I would very much like to be branded as a “power” type singer – personally, I think we’re missing that from local singers.
So come audition day, I went for the audition, waiting for hours until it’s finally my turn. For the other hopefuls who are planning to go for similar nation wide singing competition auditions, here are some tips…
1. Don’t be shy in rehearsing in front of other contestants. There’s no private place for you to prepare before going for your audition, so if you need to have that final practice just before you get in front of the judges… and you are waiting for your turn with the other contestants,
2. Prepare your story well. You have 1 shot at the audition… prepare the story well and rehearse your introduction. Not all auditions will remind you that you need to introduce yourself so you need to do it. I’ve gone for so many auditions but I keep forgetting this little thing. Helping the judges remember you with an interesting background of yourself can help you gain that little advantage over the others who didn’t.
3. Practice and be your worst critic. Record yourself when you practice the song. If it sounds bad to you, it’ll hardly convince the judges. Practice until you’ve convinced yourself that you’ll be doing your best. Let someone listen to your recording/live singing and get feedback – preferably someone who knows music as well.
4. Be flexible. I think this might only be a problem locally but for many of the auditions I’ve gone to, they don’t want to hear the full song – just the chorus… or the juicy bits of the song. They’ve got several hundred other people to go through and if you don’t help the judges by showcasing the best sound you’ve got, you’re doing yourself a disservice. If you simply must sing the intro, bridges of the song… modify and rearrange it. You’ll never know if the staff at the event commands you to “just sing the chorus” instead of letting you sing to your heart’s content in front of the judges.
5. Make yourself comfortable. Bring water to keep yourself hydrated. Bring tissue paper to wipe off the perspiration – you don’t want to appear in front of the judges breathing heavily yet smiling… and lots of sweat on your face. It makes guys look extremely creepy and girls extremely disgusting. And you’ll be queuing up for a while, bring a portable foldable chair like this one:
You wouldn’t want to be sitting on the floor or some unknown platform and getting your clothes dirty dirtying your clothes before you meet the judges. Plus, you’ll make the people standing up look to you with envy as you make the best of your queuing process.
So anyway, I sang my piece in front of the judges after a quick introduction. I screwed up my modified intro piece (ugh, kill me). The judges gave me a 2nd chance and let me sing the chorus part which I nailed. I’m not sure why they called me in earlier though, that caught me off guard. I was further down the queue but was requested in. In any case, I wasn’t prepared well enough to be caught off guard. After I was done, I thanked the judges and exited the room.
Results will only be known a week later on 15 June (I’ll talk about this in a bit), if I get through, I’ll be back for round 2 on 22 June. Which was interesting because I had 2 things happening this week – 1 of which was my church’s Father’s Day drama (14 – 15 June), I have an overseas trip to Bintan for Drama Camp (22 June) and the other…
I got no problems being called an “Uncle” now
On 10 June 2014, my nephew Noel was born. He weighed 2.78KG and it took me a while before I dared to carry this little life in my hands. He was so light yet so heavy.
He had just been fed but he had the hiccups. His dad, Rick, helped him burp and placed him back into his cot. The hiccups persisted and I carried him as it looked like it wouldn’t stop, I just wanted to help. Shortly later, the adorable (yet, scary) sounds of his hiccups stopped and he went back to blissful sleep.
He was surrounded by friends, family and relatives as he drifted in and out of sleep. His name means Christmas though he’s 6 months early before the event of his name.
Noel is a true blessing to the family as his new entry into our world helped mend some of the strained relationships we were experiencing back home. The timing couldn’t be any better as it was also the only day of the week where I was off and had no rehearsals for the church drama.
So to my sis, Faith… congratulations once again! And to my brother-in-law, Rick…
I was given the role as Ah Huat – the main antagonist for this light-hearted show for the all the fathers. It’s been a long time since we did any kind of comedy show and an even longer time since we did a Chinese period show in church.
This role wasn’t as challenging as Judas, for sure, however… Acting as a Chinese bad guy whose a ruffian did have its own challenges. Personally, I’ve always had a problem acting like a crude ruffian – I’ve tried for other roles before but couldn’t pull it off.
Off topic: What name did Scar from The Lion King have before he got his scar?
I tend to sound too civilized and cultured for my role. Had to be drilled before I became somewhat like a ruffian – definitely can do a lot more to improve my role. Not to mention I didn’t have the right physique. I’ve got friends who ask me why do I always appear as the bad guy and truth be told, I like acting as the antagonist. Quite literally…
We’re all in the “entertainment” industry
This show had it’s own ups and downs. We were drilling hard in the final week before the show. Practically every day (except 10 June when Noel was born) had rehearsals that lasted till past midnight. We had challenges with blocking when we were practicing on a flat ground and then doing it on the stage as we needed to be positioned for the lights and camera. Everyone put in their best and really just wanted to put in a good show for the people.
The royal family guys have bad names – King Orh Ki, Lau Kui and Tua Pao (left to right). The queen… doesn’t have a bad name.
I’m constantly reminded and humbled that these are people who are not paid actors, everyone is doing it voluntarily yet giving their all. I attended my cousin’s wedding in the evening on the last show where a relative was shocked when I was doing this all for free. I’ve been in shows where paid actors throw a diva-tantrum because they are acting “beneath” what they think they’re worth. Everyone on this team, no matter if they have big roles or small roles… all had such great attitudes. This is one of the reasons why I love serving in the Drama Ministry.
During the last show on the 15th, I was in a rather confused mood as this was the day I would find out whether I got through or not. Having gone through auditions and kind of used to disappointments, it still kind of sucks when you fail at something you want. I kind of got used to it… but don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. (I did mention I was confused)
When I met a friend who also went for the audition, she told me that the results are already out and that those got in have been notified. I wasn’t notified. Therefore, I did not make it through to the next round.
It was a sucky feeling to know that I didn’t qualify. I even woke up the next day dreaming that I had an email saying that I got through. Imagine that… dreaming of receiving an email.
Right now, I’m already over it. I’ve got other things to work on – like my CPA marketing business. I’ve got a little profit from last month but definitely not something that’ll sustain me yet. Gotta keep working on the campaigns.
Don’t give up. Glad that you decided to “move on” so fast. Anyway, you have another supporter, Noel Teng!