Article by William Kustiono
Edit by Yvonne Lo
Photo by Peter Yang Zhao
Who wants to become famous? Yes? Check this one out. On Saturday, June 22th 2013, AsianInNY co-hosted ETTV’s Top Idol Contest. Auditions were held at Flushing Mall, Queens. This year’s ETTV’s Top Idol Contest celebrated its 11-year anniversary. The annual Top Idol event is a talent search contest with contestants from across the United States and overseas to attend the event. The Top Idol has debuted since 2003 and every year it has successfully showcased voices while promoting the Chinese culture.
This year’s Top Idol auditions were located in three different cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. There are five phases in the Top Idol Contest. The first phase is the audition. If selected, the contestants proceed to the second phase, Boot Camp and Elimination. The remaining continues to the Preliminary, followed by the Semi-Final, then the Final Round. The winner of the Top Idol will receive a cash prize and gifts from ETTV America Corp. The last location for auditions was held at Flushing Mall.
Final registration for the event ended at 12PM, before the auditions began. At the audition, each contestant is given an allotted time to showcase their voice to the judges and audience. The contestants are judged based on the vocal, potential, stage performance, and costume. There were several contestants who pleased the judges and managed to move to make it to boot camp. At this boot camp, vocalists will be trained in singing, dancing, and stage presence. This will ensure that the next performance they give proves that they are a star.
With thousands of eyes staring and waiting for something spectacular, there will definitely be pressure on the performer. A few contestants who made the stage displayed stage fright. The judges were very strict about this matter and advised them to prepare better for future auditions. One of the judges shared advice on how to counter the stage fright. This action was not taken lightly by the judges. If the judges were lenient on the issue, the show’s quality would have dropped. Overall, many contestants proved that they were brave and strong enough conquer this fear.
The Top Idol Contest attracted a crowd in Flushing Mall. A few were curious about the noise while many came to show their support to the future Asia’s Top Idol. For those who did their best, but were not selected, we wish them luck and hope to see them again next year.
For more: http://www.asianinny.com/?p=29033
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