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SINGAPORE: Out of 4,000 people who came for the auditions, only two remain in the Singapore Idol finals, Sezairi Sezali and Singapore's very first female Idol finalist Sylvia Ratonel. The pair will go head to head at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on December 27 to win your votes to be crowned the next Singapore Idol.
Taufik Batisah won the first Singapore Idol in 2004 while Hady Mirza won the competition in 2006 and went on to become the first Asian Idol. Both have cut their own albums.
The winner of this season's Idol competition will join their ranks and clinch a juicy recording contract with Universal Music.
Sylvia, whose father is Filipino and mother is Eurasian, is the favourite to win this season. She garnered a lot of fans who were impressed with her smooth vocals and charisma. She even got the nod from caustic Idol judge Ken Lim, who named her one of the top contestants in the competition.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for the 21-year-old hotel secretary. She found herself on the verge of elimination on a few occasions.
"There were a few times when I was at the bottom two and I felt like 'Oh okay, I'm going to leave already. This is it. I am just going to cry and go back to the hotel and work as a secretary'," she said.
Sezairi had similar experiences.
"In your head, you'd be like thinking 'I'm going to sing my exit song, I'm going to watch this very sad VT (video) and I am possibly going to cry and then, okay, you know, I shouldn't cry on national TV' and you start thinking of all these things," he said.
The fear and trepidation contestants have to go through each elimination week may be a great burden for many but for 22-year-old Sezairi, the biggest challenge is actually making time for rehearsals and training for the competition.
Sezairi told Primetime Morning that he had to delay his education and give up his only source of income to get his shot at fulfilling his Idol dreams.
"I withdrew from school and I was actually gigging as well. I was playing music at night, so that was my only source of income and I had to stop that as well, because I really had no time for anything else other than the Idol thing," he said.
Christmas? What Christmas?
Christmas this year will not be the same for the pair as they will spend the entire day rehearsing at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Despite having to work through the holiday season, both of them are keeping their chins up.
"We won't be doing a lot of celebrating," Sylvia said
"But I think it will be fun, I've never done it," she added. "I am more excited than dreading the fact."
"They might throw us a surprise Christmas party, I don't know," Sezairi said cheerfully.
It may not be much of a Christmas for the two finalists but it promises to be the most important one ever for the pair.
"[This competition] is like the biggest thing we've ever done in our lives, so there is pressure in that sense but other than that, we are really excited," Sezairi said.
Come December 27, Sezairi will sing "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai, "Crazy" by US rock band Aerosmith and "Touched By An Angel", a song penned by Idol judge Ken Lim for this year's winner to include in his or her album.
Sylvia will perform "Mercy" by Welsh singer Duffy, "Yellow" by the Brit rock band Coldplay as well as "Touched By An Angel".
Out of 4,000 Idol hopefuls, now only two finalists remain, but when the dust settles this Sunday at the Grand Finale, there can be only one Singapore Idol.
Catch the live telecast of Singapore Idol on Channel 5 on Sunday, December 27, at 8pm. Tickets to the show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium are available through various giveaways. More details are available at http://idol.mediacorptv.sg.
- CNA/ha
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