echo On the 24th March (Wednesday) at 6 pm, SUCCS had their SunVoice 5 semi-finals live on Facebook. To make things more entertaining, this round of semi-finals had a twist. 16 contestants were required to sing a song based on the genre they had drawn beforehand. There are a total of 4 genres which are pop, rock, Chinese classical and folk songs.
The judges for this event were Yingz and Tan Yi Fen from KO Idol.
Besides, the emcees for the night were Soo Chun Xuan and Tan Jia Jin, the same two enthusiastic emcees from SunVoice 5 Official Launching Online Ceremony.
01 Liaw Kai Xuan 廖凯萱 (Inti International University)
The first contestant sang a rock rendition of GEM Tang’s “Goodbye” (《再见》-邓紫棋). Thanks to her angelic high notes, she livened up the live stream.
Hearing from the judges, they both loved Kai Xuan’s clean voice. The only improvement she should work on is her control. She was able to control her voice quite well at the beginning but she lost it during the chorus which made her unable to hit some notes.
02 Toon Kai Xing 张恺芯 (Inti International College Subang)
Kai Xing successfully brought out the meaning of her folksong with her singing her own rendition of Nan Shan Nan by Ma Di (《南山南》-张磊), setting up the song’s tone of melancholy and lament. The judges loved her unique voice. Although this genre of folk song restricts the singer’s creativity, she was able to use this to her advantage to show her mastery of switching between her chest voice and head voice.
03 Tan Thung Leng 陈彤宁 (Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka)
The song she sang was Aren’t You A Little Bit Tempted by Julia Wu (《你是不是有点动心》-吴卓源) The judges pointed out her bravery for choosing an R&B song since it will be harder to maintain her groove of singing as there are more chances of losing a beat. Despite this challenge, she was able to pull off such an amazing song with her chill soothing voice.
04 Lee Yin Yee 李茵怡 (Sunway University)
The song she sang with her gentle and graceful voice was When You Are Old by Karen Mok (《当你老了》- 赵照). The judges comments were that her genre was a bit off as it seemed like she was singing an R&B song instead of a folk song. Despite that, she did manage to sing the whole song on key.
Results for the 1st Round
05 Anna Yap May Wen 叶美雯 (University of Malaya)
The first contestant of second round blessed the audience with her voice by singing GEM Tang’s “Goodbye” (《再见》-邓紫棋). It was a bold attempt for her to sing such a powerful song. The judges pointed out that she has to look out for her groove and make sure to stay on tempo to have better results.
06 Goh Yee Xuan 吴翊瑄 (International Medical University)
For her turn, she sang li li an by Song Dong Ye (《莉莉安》 – 宋冬野). The only feedback the judges gave was for her to add more emotion to the song by changing the tone of her voice more often to bring out the melancholy of the song.
07 Khoo Zheng Hao 傅政豪 (University Malaysia Pahang)
He presented the viewers with his rich performance of the song A Chu Gu Niang by Liang Fan (《阿楚姑娘》-梁凡). Only praises about his gestures and manner were brought up by the judges as he successfully embodied the meaning of the song perfectly. However, at some moments, it seemed like his emotions and gestures came out too strong which distracted people from listening to his voice.
08 Alice Yeo Yi Hui 杨亦卉 (University Malaya)
This rockstar diva was on point! She had the rock look and vibe which helped bring out the genre of her song which was a rock rendition of MayDay’s Eternal Summer (《盛夏光年》-五月天). The critiques from the judges was that they enjoyed her rock vibe but she should take note on her tempo and be more stable in hitting the high notes.
Results for the 2nd Round
Break: Gu Zheng (古筝) Performance by Ko Jia Xin
During the short break, there was a performance by Ko Jia Xin from Sunway University Chinese Orchestra. She elegantly played the heart-wrenching song The Sounds of The Snow Falling (雪落下的声音).
09 Yeak Lai Yuk 叶莱玉 (Inti International College Subang)
With her calm and relaxing voice, she sang for the audience Anual Ring by Zhang Bi Chen (《年轮》-张碧晨). The judges praised her good voice projection and being on key. Even her pauses within the song successfully brought up the calmness of the old folk song genre.
10 Yew Shi Jing 尤诗静 (UOW MALAYSIA KDU)
Shi Jing covered AMIT’s Matriarchy (《母系社会》-AMIT). She sang it with full passion and brought out the message of the song, which was to critique against discrimination against women. Her gestures and expressions brought up the sorrow and anger of women suffering from such pain. She also was wise in picking this song to highlight the strengths of her voice.
11 Jennifer Teng Ziying 丁子莹 (Heriot-Watt University Malaysia)
She also sang When You Are Old by Karen Mok (《当你老了》- 赵照). Her groove was on point and she was on tempo, but the judges suggested she try the method of story-telling because this method would better bring out the sincerity of the song.
Results for the 3rd Round
Due to the 12th contestant quitting for personal reasons, the third round only had 3 contestants.
13 Tan Ying Fei 陈昀蔧 (Taylor’s University)
Overall the judges liked her voice when singing Love Love Love by Khalil Fong (《爱爱爱》-方大同). The comment she received was that she lacked R&B vibes, which could be avoided by changing the tone of her voice.
14 Tan Li Min 陈俐敏 (University Technology Malaysia)
With her soprano expertise and her strengths in voice control, she managed to blow the judges away with her voice. Even her technique in holding her microphone, placing it near or away from her, shows that she has some experience in singing with such high tech equipment. The song she sang was Chi Ling by HITA (《赤伶》-HITA).
15 Chin Jing Yang 陈敬洋 (Sunway University)
Jing Yang unleashed his secret weapon by singing in Korean! One of the judges commented that his song choice, Endless Love by Jackie Chan (《美丽的神话》-成龙) wasn’t the best choice for his voice as it failed to portray the uniqueness of his voice. Despite that, he still managed to show his skillfulness in handing his voice to sing this song.
16 Ching Meng Xuan 钟明轩 (Universiti Sains Malaysia)
With his heart-warmming voice, Meng Xuan has won the hearts of the judges with his song Finally, waited until you came, Eric Chou version(《终于等到你》-周兴哲《梦想的声音》). His voice, tone, falsetto were all praised by the judges.
Results for the 4th Round
Final Rankings
These were the 8 contestants who successfully passed the semi-final round and are on their way to the finals!
With that, SunVoice Semi-Finals had come to an end. Who shall be the victor of SunVoice 5? Stay tuned for their final round on Sunday, 2nd May. For more information, do check out their Instagram and Facebook page.
Written by: Wu Wen Qi
Edited by: Pei Zoe
