The popular singing contest Sing! China, which used to be part of global franchise The Voice, had no Singaporean representative onscreen for the first few years.
Last year, there was one, Nathan Hartono, and how he broke the duck. He went all the way to the grand final, eventually coming in second.
This year, the Singapore flag is being flown in the contest by Joanna Dong, Olinda Cho, and Curley Gao.
The total in Team Singapore was four but Stella Seah, the member of mentor Na Ying’s team was eliminated after she lost to Malaysian Janice Tan from Jay Chou’s team.
Let’s find out more about the three ladies who are still in the game and singing for Singapore:
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She is 37 this year and Cho was filled with self-doubt, wondering if she was too old to compete in a singing contest such as Sing! China.
Her insecurity stemmed from not getting picked to join the show last year, after winning the chance to represent Singapore on that platform.
She says: “Because of what happened last year, I felt maybe I was just not good enough. I even asked the producers if it was because I was too old. They said no.”
Called back by the producers for a second shot this year, she convinced herself that age is just a number.
With the support of her parents and younger brother, who flew to Hangzhou to cheer her on at the blind auditions this year, she had three mentors – Jay Chou, Na Ying and Liu Huan – who wanted to recruit her to their teams.
Eventually, she picked Taiwanese star Chou, who said he would give her the freedom to express herself.
Dong pulled out all the stops during the blind auditions, impressing the mentors with her lilting voice, scat singing and mouth trumpet.
She says: “I don’t have a game plan. I’m not a particularly good strategist. My initial goal was just to make it past the blind auditions, that’s why I threw out all my ‘weapons’ in that first round.”
Her straightforward strategy worked. Barely a minute into her jazz rendition of the Lo Ta-yu classic Love Song 1990, judge-mentor Jay Chou wanted her on his team.
As he immersed himself in her performance and nodded along to the music, coaches Eason Chan and Liu Huan wanted to recruit her as well.
Her glowing reception at Sing! China – which she is participating in for the first time after being scouted by its producers – is a far cry from her experience at the inaugural Singapore Idol in 2004.
She was booted out early in the game and criticised by the judges for her “auntie get-up”.
Dunman High student Gao says she will forever remember the day she turned 19 this year.
Chinese singing star Na Ying surprised her with a birthday cake during their first rehearsal for Sing! China in Beijing last month.
She says: “I never imagined she’d take the time to celebrate my birthday, together with the rest of the team. It was so touching. I can say it is the best birthday I’ve had.”
During the blind auditions, she had chosen Na over Hong Kong singer Eason Chan to be her mentor in the popular singing contest.
“My mum could not believe her idol would be my mentor. Growing up, my mother used to play Na’s classics and I would listen to songs such as Conquer,” says Gao, a Chinese national who has been studying in Singapore since the age of nine.
Her rendition of Incomparable Beauty, a melodious ballad by Taiwanese indie band sodagreen, during the auditions also impressed Taiwanese star Jay Chou.
As of last week, Singapore’s Stella Seah is out of the race on Sing! China. The member of mentor Na Ying’s team was eliminated after she lost to Malaysian Janice Tan from Jay Chou’s team.
An experimental choice in song did not pay off for Seah.
She had gamely taken on her coach Na Ying’s suggestion to perform Flow, an electronic dance music-infused Mandopop tune by singers Khalil Fong and Wang Leehom.
“Maybe I should have performed a song which is more popular, more palatable to general audiences,” Seah says.
She is back in Singapore from Hangzhou, where the show is recorded.
“I kind of expected the results so I was rather calm when it was announced. But I have no regrets. I have already gained so much from this competition. I am really thankful to be able to come this far.”
Earlier this month, Seah, who is signed to Singapore label Ocean Butterflies, had passed the blind audition rounds and chose to join Na Ying’s team.
Singaporean Khim Ng, 25, became the fifth contender from Singapore to join a team on Sing! China, but she was promptly dropped soon after.
She was selected by Hong Kong singer Eason Chan, one of the show’s four mentor-cum-judges.
But she posted on social media that she was eliminated because Chan had exceeded his quota of nine singers in his team.
“I felt all right and calm. Making it to the blind auditions is a big bonus for me. Getting the seal of approval from the judges is already a very big deal. I am really humbled and happy by the experience,” she says.
Ng, who had competed in Campus Superstar in 2006, is rooting for the Singapore talents still in the contest.
She said: “I’m very proud of them. It is good to know that there so many of us made it, especially since they are all girls. Everyone has worked very hard. They all deserve to be on this amazing platform. I really hope they would go as far as possible.”
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(Text by Gwendolyn Ng, The Straits Times / Additional reporting by Natalya Molok)