Singapore Idol is a Singaporean reality television singing competition produced by MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV. It began airing on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 9 August 2004 until 27 December 2009, as an addition to the Idol franchise based on the British show Pop Idol, and became one of the most popular shows in the history of Singaporean television.
The concept of the series is to find new solo recording artists where the winner is determined by the viewers. The series employed a panel of judges who critique the contestants' performances. The original four judges during season 1 were singer-songwriter Dick Lee, Florence Lian, record producer Ken Lim and singer Douglas Oliverio.
In season 2, all the judges from season 1 returned to the show except for Oliverio who was replaced by singer Jacintha Abisheganaden. In season 3, Abisheganaden left the judging panel and the rest of the judges returned to the show. From the start, the show has been hosted by Singapore celebrity and funnyman Gurmit Singh. Radio deejay Daniel Ong was the co-host of the show for season 2, while season 2 winner Hady Mirza replaced him as the co-host during season 3. Through telephone and SMS text voting, Singaporean viewers chose Taufik Batisah, Hady Mirza and Sezairi Sezali as winners throughout the three seasons.
Season 1 (2004) Season 1 of Singapore Idol premiered on the National Day of Singapore (9 August) in 2004 right after the National Day Parade. This season produced a few memorable, albeit notorious, performers during the audition round. They included Skyy Sia aka Bananaman, who wore a mask of watermelon and bananas; Kelvin Sim, who accompanied his very bad rendition of Fool's Garden's "Lemon Tree" with a dance that rivalled that of William Hung; and Patrick Khoo, who literally whispered George Michael's "Careless Whisper".
As with other shows in the Idol series, the viewers' votes decide who goes on to the next round. This has always produced controversial results in every singing competition. In the third preliminary round, Jerry Ong, whose singing was described by judge Florence Lian as being "constipated" and "weak", was voted through to the finals, beating favourites Beverly Lim Morata and Nur "Nana" Hasanah, both of whom were thought to be better singers. Candice Foo, who got into the finals from the second preliminary round, withdrew from the contest at the last minute due to "financial difficulties". In a bigger upset, Jeassea K. Thyidor, considered by many to be a frontrunner in the competition, was eliminated in the very first round of the finals by a small margin of 200 votes. This sparked a brief, two-week anti-Jerry campaign that lasted until his elimination on 15 October 2004. In the final weeks of the Spectaculars, many speculated that Olinda Cho, one of the most consistent performers, would go on to the Grand Finals with Taufik Batisah, but Sylvester Sim, who had been in the Bottom Group more than anyone else, made it through instead in an upset.
In the final showdown held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 1 December 2004, Taufik beat Sim with 62% of the public vote to become the first Singapore Idol. The song both Taufik and Sylvester were required to sing was I Dream. Both received recording deals from Sony BMG on the same day. Taufik's album, Blessings, was released on 17 January 2005. Sim's album, Take Flight, was released on 8 April 2005. Another finalist, Maia Lee, also released an album titled Emotionally Advised on 20 August 2005. Sim was granted a release from Hype Records in mid-2006 due to personal problems. Daphne Khoo also release her debut album 'Desperate' in 2007 and won Best Breakout Solo Artiste, and EP 'Wonderland' in early 2014.
Top 11-Top 2 Weekly Song Themes Top 11 theme: Parents' Choice Top 9 theme: Rock 'N' Roll Top 8 theme: Live Disco Top 7 theme: Song by Favorite Singer Top 6 theme: Big Band Top 5 theme: R&B/Soul Top 4 theme: Asian Pop Top 3 theme: Movies and Musicals Top 2 theme: Judges' Choice, Contestant's Choice and Winner's Single
Finalists (ages stated at time of contest)
Contestant Age Hometown Voted Off Liveshow Theme Taufik Batisah 22 Winner Grand Finale Sylvester Sim 21 1 December 2004 Olinda Cho 24 19 November 2004 Movies & Musicals Daphne Khoo 17 12 November 2004 Asian Pop Leandra Veronica Rasiah 17 5 November 2004 R&B/Soul Christopher Michael Lee 19 29 October 2004 Big Band Maia Lee 21 22 October 2004 Song by My Favourite Singer Jerry Ong 28 15 October 2004 Disco Hits David Yeo 22 8 October 2004 Rock 'n' Roll Jeassea K Thyidor 24 1 October 2004Parents' Choice Beverly Lim Morata 25 Candice Foo 19 Withdrew
Elimination Chart + Legend Did Not Perform Female Male Top 30 Withdrawn Immune from Elimination Wild Card Public Vote Wild Card Judges' Choice Top 11 Runner-up Winner
Stage:Top 30Spectacular Shows (Finals)FinaleWeek:27/83/910/917/91/10 8/1015/1022/1029/105/1112/1119/111/12PlaceContestantResult12nd Immune2ElimPVRunner-up31st ImmuneBtm 4ElimEliminated (Week 8)41st ImmuneBtm 4ElimEliminated (Week 7)5 1st ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 6)62nd ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 5)7ElimJCElimEliminated (Week 4)83rd ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 3)93rd ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 2)10–112nd ImmuneElim Eliminated (Week 1)5thJCWithdrawn3rd ImmuneWD Withdrew(Week 1)
Season 2 (2006) Auditions for season 2 were held on 11 February 2006 at *Scape in Orchard Road and was extended twice due to overwhelming response – 12 February at the same location and 19 February in Toa Payoh. The season premiered on 21 May 2006 with clips of the auditions. Dick Lee, Florence Lian and Ken Lim returned as judges while Douglas Oliverio was replaced by Jacintha Abisheganaden. After widespread criticism of his hosting abilities in season 1, Gurmit Singh was paired with Daniel Ong as co-hosts for season 2. Season 1 fourth place finalist Daphne Khoo hosted Singapore Idol on Demand, an online subscription service that provided media downloads and exclusive footage of the show.
A day after the results for Piano Show No. 4 were announced, MediaCorp revealed that a computer glitch in the voting process had mistakenly sent Mathilda D'Silva into the top 12, instead of Nurul Maideen. Mathilda was placed in the wildcard show and was subsequently voted into the finals via the Wildcard. Shortly after the technical glitch fiasco, frontrunner and wildcard contestant Meryl Joan Lee announced her withdrawal from the competition to focus on her studies.
The Top 12 finalists were housed in Hangout @ Mount Emily, a budget hotel, for as long as they remained in the competition. Once the contestant is eliminated on the results night, he/she will head back immediately to Mount Emily to pack up his/her belongings and head back home.
Every Wednesday from 12 July 2006 until the Grand Finale, the Idols competed in the Spectaculars, with a specific theme every week, for instance "No. 1 Hits" and "British Invasion". On the following day (13 July 2006), "Singapore Idol Extra" showed viewers behind-the-scene footage of Singapore Idol. During the Results Show later, viewers were entertained with a live group performance, a music video of the Idols and guest appearances.
The Final Showdown for the title featured Jonathan Leong and Hady Mirza singing three songs each at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Due to the frequency jam that took place in the first season, the finals was held on 2 separate days; the performance show on 24 September at 8:00pm, and the results show on 25 September at 8:00pm. One of the songs which both contestants sang was "You Give Me Wings", which became the winner's first single. On 25 September 2006, 26-year-old Hady Mirza was declared the winner of Singapore Idol 2006 with about 70% of the votes cast. Hady's self-titled debut album was released in mid-November 2006. Hady would then go on to compete in Asian Idol and become the first Asian Idol on 16 December 2007 in an upset victory.
Top 12-Top 3 Spectaculars & The Final Showdown Weekly Song Themes Top 12 theme: Parents' Choice Top 11 theme: #1 Hits from 1996 to 2006 Top 10 theme: Classic Jazz Top 9 theme: Songs by British Singers/Bands (British Invasion) Top 8 theme: Home, Family and Friends Top 7 theme: Rock 'N' Roll Top 6 theme: Asian Pop Top 5 theme: R&B and Soul Top 4 theme: Judges' Choice Top 3 theme: Contestant's Favourites Top 2 theme: Contestant's Choice from Judges' List, Spectaculars Encore & Winner's Single
Finalists (ages stated at time of contest)
Contestant Age Hometown Voted Off Liveshow Theme Hady Mirza 26 Winner Grand Finale Jonathan Leong 23 25 September 2006 Jasmine Tye 18 14 September 2006 Contestant's Favourites Paul Twohill 17 7 September 2006 Judge's Choice Joakim Gomez 18 31 August 2006 R&B/Soul Nurul Maideen 19 24 August 2006 Asian Pop Mathilda D'Silva 23 17 August 2006 Rock 'n' Roll Rahimah Rahim 16 10 August 2006 Home, Family and Friends Jay Lim 27 3 August 2006 Songs by British Singers/Bands Emilee Kang 28 27 July 2006 Classic Jazz Gayle Nerva 17 20 July 2006 #1 Hits from 1996 to 2006 Norman Then 18 13 July 2006 Parents' Choice
Elimination Chart
+ Legend Did Not Perform Immune from Elimination Female Male Top 28 Wild Card Wild Card Public Vote Wild Card Judges' Choice Top 12 Runner-up Winner
Stage:Top 28Spectacular Shows (Finals)FinaleWeek:1/68/615/622/629/613/720/727/73/810/817/824/831/87/914/925/9PlaceContestantResult11st Immune21st Immune 32nd Immune Eliminated (Week 10)4 2nd Immune ElimEliminated (Week 9)52nd ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 8)61st ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 7)7ElimPV ElimEliminated (Week 6)81st ImmuneElimEliminated (Week 5)9 3rdPVElimEliminated (Week 4)102nd Immune ElimEliminated (Week 3)11 3rdJCElimEliminated (Week 2)12ElimJCElimEliminated (Week 1)Wild CardElimElim Eliminated (Wild Card)Elim 4th Piano Show 4 3rd Eliminated (Piano Show 4)ElimPiano Show 3Elim Eliminated (Piano Show 3)Piano Show 2Elim Eliminated (Piano Show 2)Piano Show 1 3rd Eliminated (Piano Show 1)Elim
Live Show 1 Parent's Choice
Gayle Nerva - I Feel The Earth Move by Carole King
Rahimah Rahim - Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps by Doris Day
Mathilda D Silva - Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey
Hady Mirza - Rock DJ by Robbie Williams
Jay Lim - My Funny Valentine by Mitzi Green
Emilee Kang - Believe by Cher
Joakim Gomez - How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees
Nurul Maideen - Don't You Worry Bout A Thing by Stevie Wonder
Norman Then - High and Dry by Radiohead
Jonathan Leong - Wherever You Will Go by The Calling
Jasmine Tye - Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
Paul Twohill - Superman ( It's Not Easy ) by Five for Fighting
Eliminated - Norman Then
Season 3 (2009) On 15 December 2008, MediaCorp mentioned in its free-circulating-paper, TODAY, that Singapore Idol Season 3 would be one of the new programmes for 2009. The third season comes three years after the previous.
Registration for Singapore Idol 3 officially started on 1 May 2009, and the season premiered right after the National Day Parade on 9 August 2009, 8:30 pm on Channel 5, with subsequent episodes telecast on Wednesdays at 8:00pm from 12 August.
Returning host Gurmit Singh co-hosted with Singapore Idol 2 winner Hady Mirza, replacing Season 2's Daniel Ong. The returning judges were Dick Lee, Florence Lian and Ken Lim, with Jacintha Abisheganaden leaving the show.