SINGAPORE: Hady-mania swept through Changi Airport on Monday evening when the Asian Idol returned home.
Hundreds waited more than an hour to congratulate Hady Mirza and to see their idol in person.
It was the generous voting of many of the fans that had helped the Singapore Idol win the Asian crown.
One of his fans, Zahratul Asyeeqah Mohamed, said: "For my family, the combined cost (of sending text messages to vote for Hady) would definitely be more than S$700."
Basking in the attention of hundreds of supporters, Hady did not forget to attribute his success to his fans.
He said: "This is not my own... this is our win together. I'm so happy, look at them! This is all too overwhelming."
Asian Idol Hady Mirza receives hero's welcome home
Wednesday, December 19, 2007Singapore’s Hady Mirza crowned Asian Idol
A dark horse in the singing competition, the 26-year-old winner of the second season of Singapore Idol beat five other contestants, including favourites Mike Mohede, 24, from Indonesia, and Jaclyn Victor, 29, from Malaysia.
The other contestants were India's Abhijeet Sawant, 26, Philippines' Mau Marcelo, 27, and Vietnam's Phuong Vy, 20.
All six contestants sang two songs each on the performance show last Saturday night.
Hady lost his composure when his name was announced as the winner just after midnight at the end of a two-hour-long results show telecast on Channel 5.
The Singaporean singer dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands for a full minute before being hoisted up by his fellow contestants.
To a 5,000-strong live audience at Jakarta's Mega Glodok Kemayoran convention hall and millions more television viewers around Asia, Hady sang-U2's Beautiful Day and Berserah (Surrender), originally sung by first. Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah, last Saturday.
Hady racked up the highest votes via SMS voting.
Viewers could vote as many times as they wanted - but they had to vote for two contestants.
This ruling ensured a level playing field for countries with smaller populations.
Hady sent an SMS to The Straits Times soon after his win.
It said: "I'd like to thank everyone and my fans for voting for me. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am now. I love you... see you all back in Singapore!"
His win caught many by surprise. Singapore Idol judge Ken Lim, who was also on the judging panel for Asian Idol, gave him a 50-50 chance at best before the competition.
He told The Straits Times in an SMS after the results were announced: "I have been waiting for a long time to prove that Singapore should be proud of its home-grown talents, and this win has finally made Singapore Asia's best."
Hady's friends were also shocked.
"I am shocked but happy for him. It was unexpected as he was up against strong competition," said his friend of eight years Shahfii Ali. The -28-year-old is from hip-hop group Triple Noize and has performed with Hady since the late 1990s in the independent hip-hop and R&B scene.
Singapore’s Hady Mirza wins first Asian Idol contest
Monday, December 17, 2007Hady defeated five other Idol winners from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The show was hosted by RCTI — Indonesia’s largest TV network.
Voting via text messaging began when it was televised simultaneously to all six participating countries, with an unprecedented millions of viewers.
Hady Mirza, Singapore Idol Season 2 winner, earlier said: "The pressure I think is that it’s going to be shown across six countries. I started off being quite nervous. But then, as we went along, it was fine and I did pretty well. I think I did pretty well and I’m happy with my performance."
To ensure fairness, judges from all the six countries also took part.
Even a voting system to neutralise the numerical supremacy of big countries such as Indonesia and India was instituted.
Votes were not considered valid unless the sender picks two singers.
The voting system may had already ensured the victory for Singapore, Singapore had advertisement over the television every few hours on the importance to pick TWO singers instead of one may be one of the reasons behind the Singapore to get higher VALID Votes. ^_^
I wondered if other countries does the same too? Maybe they do but still Singaporeans are a very careful and precise in their voting hence I consider us to be pretty high in the probability of winning.
If I remember correctly (correct me if I am wrong), the telecast for the Asian Idol in channel 5 is not complete as not many of them have 2 songs each?
Hardy did sung wonderfully that night and had the crowd crazy with his looks, it may be true that looks does help. It's been acknowledge that female fans are more fanatical in voting for idols in such contest and male fans are more "wait and see" attitude.
The voting cost at 60 cents a sms (in Singapore) may also deter many countries from voting more for their idols.
Nevertheless, congratulation to our very own ASIAN IDOL HARDY MIRZA!!!
Hady Mirza, the first Asian Idol winner
Congrats to Hady Mirza, the winner of the first Asian Idol competition. To be honest, I’m not really surprised with the result. The main reason behind this is the voting system in Asian Idol. Last night, Mike, Jaclyn, and Mau gave their best performances. But their best performances won’t make most people outside their home country to vote for them. Since we have to vote for two idols, people will tend to vote their home idol and idol with weaker performance.
For example, most people in Indonesia won’t vote for Mike and Jaclyn or Mike and Mau since Jaclyn and Mau are the closest competitor for Mike. But people in Indonesia tend to vote Mike and idol with weak performance such as Hady Mirza, Abhijeet Sawant, or Phuong Vy. And I think this is also happen in other countries where people vote their home idol and idol with the weak performance. So, no wonder that Hady Mirza could become the first Asian Idol. But it doesn’t matter who is the winner of the first Asian Idol. All of them are the winner to me. BTW, it’s just my analysis.
Asian Idol Winner Announced - Hady Mirza!
In case you are confused (as I was), Asian Idol is a version of the singing competition featuring winners of Idol competitions from six Asian countries (India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam). Mirza has been given an international recording contract and a free trip around the world to watch international Idol shows.
The final performance and results shows were held on December 15 and 16, 2007 in Jakarta, Indonesia. American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks and Australian Idol winner, Guy Sebastian, made guest appearances.
Hady Mirza - You Give Me Wings lyrics
Hady Mirza - You Give Me Wings lyrics
Sometimes it's hard just to be yourself
I know you know
So close to tears wanting to give up
I felt all alone.....
But now you're here right by my side
And I just want you to know
You give me wings when I'm falling
You lift me up when I'm down
Taking me high touching the sky
Yeah,you make me fly...
Now I am stronger than I was before
Because of you
I feel so alive and I'm wanting more
I can't believe it's true
And now you're here,right by my side
Don't ever let me go.....
You give me wings when I'm falling
You lift me up when I'm down
Taking me high touching the sky
Yeah,you make me fly...
Ooo baby, woah wooah
Come fly away with me.....
You give me wings when I'm falling
That's why I'm saying to you
Whoa...
You give me wings when I'm falling
When I'm falling
You lift me up when I'm down
When I'm down
Taking me high
Taking me high
Touching the sky
Touching the sky
Yeah,you make me
You make me fly.....
You give me wings when I'm falling
Whooa yeah
You lift me up when I'm down
When I'm down
Taking me high
Taking me high
Touching the sky
Touching the sky
Yeah,you make me
You make me fly.....
You give me wings
Reactions on Asian Idol Results
Hady Mirza's win came as a surprise, as at least three of the judges predicted that the winner would either be Marcelo, Mohede, or Victor.
There were claims that Hady may have gotten the crucial second vote outside of his home country, wherein it is claimed that votes for strong candidates were paired with weak ones like Hady and Sawant who were trailing in Asian Idol's online survey. This voting tactic was said to avoid viewers' home Idols be beaten by their closest rivals.
In Singapore, the victory stirred hopes of a revival of the country's golden age of music during the 1960's and 70's. Taufik Batisah, first season winner of Singapore Idol, said that the win is something their country should be proud of and hopefully this would "open the eyes and ears" of listeners. However, there were viewers in Singapore who still doubt Hady's singing ability, claiming that his performance in Asian Idol was not as strong as other competitors and it was a matter of "luck over talent". Singapore Idol judge Ken Lim reiterated that "looks and voice" had won the title for Hady.
Meanwhile, Hady shrugged off speculations that he won because he was a "non-threat", but considered himself an underdog and that he did "pretty well" in terms of sincerity and connecting with the audience.
Filipino TV and movie critic Nestor U. Torre mentioned that he was not surprised about Hady's win, even lauding him for his "impressively cool yet dynamic" performances. He also appreciated Victor and Phuong Vy's performances. While Torre was also equally impressed by Marcelo and Mohede's voices, he also said that their girth worked to their disadvantage. On Sawant, Torre noted that his "balladeer" projection was "less dynamic" with his country's large voting population failing him. Despite the surprises and disappointments in the competition, Torre regarded Asian Idol a success as it produced relatively new talents in the Asian and international music scene.