A lucky girl named Ayu

So OIAM 2 concluded last night. Five Sabahans in top 12, at least one of them should win...zam..zam kalakazam! we have it! Ayu the girl from Kg Ketiau Putatan was finally pronounced as the winner. A big, big congratulations to her.

Although she lacks some interesting features as compared to Shila, I wasn’t that surprise she wins. This is probably due to the fact that most online forummers are so supportive to her (thanks to her second attempt in OIAM). She must have impressed them with her vocal prowess. No doubt she has a nice vocal tone, especially her ability to generate big resonance during high notes. But to me it ends there, her special feature restricted to her resonance alone. As far as singing skill and stage presentation are concerned, this girl still needs lots and lots to learn and developed. Every time during high notes she tends to twist her neck in the process of adjusting her head to raise it up about 45 degrees (sometimes more). Her facial expressions often show her pain of straining and struggling to reach high notes instead of emotionally interpreting the lyrics of the song. She still subscribes to the belief that high and big notes mean powerful voice (which is not necessarily true). The term ‘raw’ as Syafinaz often mentions is very well described Ayu. She deserves to win if the primary aim of OIAM 2 is to search for raw talents to be further groomed. She’s just the right raw material for that kind of factory.

While Paul was reading viewers posting, somebody asked what sort of songs that suit Ayu. To me just give her any ballad synonym with Ziana Zain or Zaiton Sameon. In fact Ayu’s voice and singing style are very much resembling Zaiton Sameon (don’t you think so?). But just make sure the song doesn’t have too many of the vowel ‘U’ at the end of its big note. I noted Ayu always have difficulty delivering big note ending with the vowel ‘U’ (or sometimes ‘I’). She’s unable to perfectly ‘round’ it to make it sounds soft and pleasant like the sound of a flute. Too bad her single last night was entitled Hanya Di Mercu. She struggled to deliver perfectly the note with the word ‘MercU’. Big notes ending with the vowels ‘A’ (samudera, cinta), ‘O’ and ‘E’ suit her very well cause all she needs to do is simply shout them out and generate big resonance (no need skill one).

Image wise? I don't think she's that bad looking but still needs a little bit of improvement. The good thing about Ayu is she humbly aware of her appearance. She even said to the press, if she wins the first thing she’ll do is to fix (straightening) her teeth (sometimes in this industry a Halle Berry smile/teeth will be helpful...:) what more if you're required to open your mouth wide for those big notes). With the one million ringgit, she has so many choices. She can go for the visible bracelet (like the one ‘Ugly Betty’ wears, it’ll cost her RM 4,500 in Sabah), the radiance or less visible bracelet made of ceramic or polymer (RM 6,000 – 7,000), the totally invisible bracelet they call it lingual treatment (fixed behind your teeth) cost RM 15,000 and the latest technology called 'invisalign' (a plastic casing bracelet) that cost from USD 3,000 onwards (anyway this one is not available yet in Malaysia!).*LOL* just how do I know all these craps (you guess) and I’m not a dentist either. I wonder if our first astronaut Dr. Syeikh Muzzafar still practise orthodontics. Perhaps Ayu can get treatment from him (must be expensive). I guess once Ayu had the necessary dental cosmetic treatment she’ll look just fine. No need to fix the other parts of her body. If Oprah Winfrey can look good, why can’t Ayu…right!?

In short, a proper vocal coaching (I think Syafinaz can easily handle this), graceful stage presentation, suitable songs (ala Zaiton Sameon) and dental cosmetic treatment are all she needs. Having done all these I’m sure she will “berdiri sama tinggi, duduk sama rendah” with other female artistes in Malaysia. There you have it, my 5 sen worth of opinion about Ayu. I hope she will continuously shine and won’t have to go through the same fate as other past Sabahan national winners like Dg. Norani, Azharina, JIAJA (am still waiting for their debut album) and Rey (Fiq I think is doing quite ok). Good luck and all the best to Ayu!