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Top 100 Auditions.

There was a boy.
A very strange enchanted boy.
They said he won't go very far, very far.
Over land and sea.
A little shy and sad of eye.
Went very far indeed.

That little boy, it was me.

I thought i would just join this madness for the fun of it. For the experience. Never did i think that i would make it past the first round, and even to top 100.

Yes, i fantasized about it so, but never did i dare hope it could actually happen.

Introducing my entourage.



Taken by the skilled photographer, 1555 (that's his ref. number, whose hands shook so much while holding the camera.) There's (right to left) Alvin therapist, JW publicist, Colin fashion consultant, Mabel cheerleader, and KW the bitch. I'm my own manager.

When the rude crew guy called my number to step out, i heard him mutter under his breath, "so many people ar"...

Yes, why cannot? It's the minimum what.

I was a bundle of nerves. It was 9am in the morning and my voice was not exactly tip top. Everyone was brought into the HDB hub's auditorium, but not before "Contestants please step away from your supporters and follow me. Supporters please follow behind after the last contestant".

Crappy! I was alone! No entourage to cover me from media scrutiny!

In the auditorium, i got my seat and was told that this was gonna be my "group". It was the second group, consisting of 5 strangers, me being the last stranger.

Just then, i heard singing! At the foot of the stage were cameras and someone was getting interviewed. Suddenly, he broke into song, somewhat in tune. It dawned onto me that everyfreakingone had to go through that! After successfully avoiding being interviewed for the first audition, there's a freaking compulsory one now. With singing even!

I felt my heart leap. I was not ready to sing. Too early! Too unprepared! Soon it was my turn.

"You know what to sing right?"

Can don't sing?! "Yea."

We were informed beforehand that we were to sing our 2nd or 3rd song choice.

"Do you have any supporters? Do you want to call them down to say something?"

Cheerleader said something cliche (what else is there to say but cliches?), everyone stunned for a minute before cheering loudly for me (i wasn't in the picture, i snuck off).

After that, i tapped a frazzled crew lady on the shoulders, "Can i go to the toilet?"

"NO CANNOT! YOU CANNOT GO! YOUR TURN SOON!"

What. The. Fuck.

Soon enough, my "group" got shuttled out of the auditorium to the holding area.

Gurmit Singh, Daniel Ong, cameras, lights!

Gurmit did an interview individually. One guy was a storeman, one girl didn't make it the first time round so she's back, one guy just ORDed from MP, one guy was still studying.

My turn.

"Hi, what is your name, what are you doing now, what song are you gonna sing, wow it's a powerful song, why are you singing that song, good luck!"

Everything was a blur. I was nervous. No, i was more then nervous. I was a wreck!

The group started getting smaller. My turn loomed nearer.

Storeman didn't make it. It was a tie on the girl but sorry, no. ORD personnel too plain. I didn't get to hear about the student. It was time!

Opened the door. It was a small dark space. There were 2 crew members huddling in the corner.

Suddenly, a curtain that i didn't realise was there was pulled aside and i got shooved into the actual room.

"When you enter the room, you will see a Singapore Idol sticker on the floor. Stand behind the sticker and face the judges. Never look at the cameras."

I remembered the lady's words and walked towards the sticker, stopping just before i could step on it.

I looked up.


Dick, Florence, Jacintha, Ken.

Grim faces stared back at me. Waiting. Silence.

"Uhh, my name is insert name and i'm singing Ain't No Mountain", looks around, "can i start?"

Throughout the song, not a single one of their facades cracked. No encouraging smile telling me to go on. No appreciative nod of the head. Nothing.

It wasn't until the toughest part of the song, "cos you were my giiiiiiirrrrrrllll" (a high note held for a long time and followed by an even higher scream) that i saw an ever so slight upcurling of Florence's lips.


So slight that you'll miss it if you weren't looking for it.

"Ain't no mountain hiiiigh enougggghhhhhh... Ya."

I still can't believe i ended the song with a "ya".

Dick Lee:

"Ya?!?! You can sing, but you just look so wrong. You know, i want to start a group with all these people who dunno how to dress and you can be the lead singer, because i like your voice, you've got a clear powerful voice. But you just look so wrong... Oh what the heck, yes!"

"Thank you!"

Florence Lian:

"Yes, you look very wrong. You're like the typical Singaporean who doesn't know what to do with yourself. But let's see what the makeover can do for you, you know, like Clay Aiken, who started out wrong too. So i say yes!"

"Thank you!"

By now, everything was a blur. 2 of the judges said yes! OMG!

Jacintha Abisheganaden:

"You have to sex yourself up and come back to the next round showing us something different. Yes!"

"Umm, pardon?"

Ken Lim:

"I hope you dress nicer the next time. Yes!"

"Thank you!!!"

I was at a loss for words. All of them said yes!

I stood there, rooted to the spot, half expecting someone to shove the golden ticket into my hands, but nothing happened...

I went back the way i came in, which was through the curtains into the dark cramped corner.

I saw the same 2 crew members. I whispered to them, "Now what?"

Then from behind his back, one of the crew whipped out the golden ticket (it was more like a yellow cardboard though)!

OMG! I couldn't stop thinking OMG!

The door was opened and i could see everyone outside waiting in anticipation. Gurmit, lights, cameras, my friends.

As Colin said, the moment was like slow motion.

I started squeezing through the door (because it could only be opened a crack), my left side coming out first.

As i was holding on to the golden ticket with my right hand, i could literally see everyone holding their breaths! They could see me, but where was the golden ticket?



The moment i flicked my right hand out from behind the door, the world exploded in screams! But i was freaking oblivious. As i walked towards the camera, Gurmit came up to me and stuck out his hand to my face. I shook it and he asked the standard questions.

"How are you feeling, what did the judges say, how are you gonna change, how do you think you can be sexier?"

I was literally floating. This was not happening to me...

I followed a crew lady, with my entourage behind me, to another holding area where i was to wait to go into this room for yet another interview.

There, i saw the student waiting. I subconsciously shifted my hand so that the ticket was obscured by my thigh. Almost immediately, the door to the room opened and out came the ORD personnel. He saw my ticket and congratulated me, which was nice of him.

I was now alone with 2 crew members. Made some small talk with them and it turned out that they were my age and they got to be Singapore Idol crew members because they were currently studying mass comm in poly.

I so so so wanna do mass comm.

They also told me (surprise surprise) that i was the first to get through today!

Anyway, it was soon my turn. I went into the room and was made to stand before the Singapore Idol background. I was told to say something, anything into the camera. My mind was blank. When the camera started rolling, i opened my mouth and started spewing gibberish. I was word vomitting, and what made it worse was i was actually giggling!

I was told that i had to attend a briefing later this month which was on the theatre show next month, where we have to stay at a hotel over 3 days and go through more auditions.

The thing is, there's elimination every night. It would be quite sad if i were to take leave for 3 days just to get eliminated on the first night.

I would freaking cry.

Anyway, after the interview, i went back into the holding area to get my things and there was this girl standing there holding a golden ticket too! I went up to her and gushed while shaking her hands.

"You have! I also have! Yay!!!"

I could tell she was in the same state of mind as i was. It was like being intoxicated.

And guess what, it was only 11am.

What did we do for the rest of the day? Lots.

Get updates from the blog that i mentioned in the last entry cos i sure ain't gonna do it tonight...