Sunday September 25, 2005
Daniel the Malaysian Idol
BY RUBIN KHOO
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He was the novice and she was the veteran. But Daniel Lee served up a delightful repertoire to woo the crowd, the judges and, more importantly, the SMS vote to emerge as the Malaysian Idol over Norhanita Hamzah. |
Daniel, as he is popularly known among fans, beat 9,000 other aspirants and survived four gruelling months to become the second Malaysian Idol.
Despite appearing to be the underdog after Friday’s performance, the music undergraduate at Universiti Sains Malaysia triumphed over singer Norhanita Hamzah, 25, capturing a substantial 68% (1.2 million) of the 1.67 million votes cast.
“I am so thankful. I’ll do my best not to let you down,” said a visibly shocked Daniel when the results were announced.
The results ruffled quite a few feathers as Norhanita or Nita, as she is known on the reality talent show, appeared to have the edge after Friday’s finale.
Daniel’s win however did not come as that great a surprise.
For the entire season, he had proven to be a firm favourite with a loyal fan base that kept him afloat each week.
He was the only one to have successfully evaded the bottom three and was nowhere near elimination during the weekly Spectaculars, rendering him a strong candidate for the title of Malaysian Idol.
While he may have been overshadowed by Nita’s many years of performing during the finale, Daniel has shown vast progress throughout the competition, making him a worthy candidate, at least in the eyes of the judges.
“1.2 million voters can’t be wrong,” said Roslan Aziz.
“Daniel is a talented singer and you can’t compare him with Jac (last year’s winner). Daniel is a pop singer and that’s very healthy in a competition like this.”
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SHOWCASE OF TALENT: Nita and Daniel belting out a song together during the ‘Malaysian Idol 2 Grand Final Results’ show in Genting Highlands last night. |
“We are trying to build careers and what we have seen is that Daniel’s fans are very passionate.”
This year’s competition saw the number of votes for the entire season increasing by 20% from last year.
On Friday night, Daniel rose to the challenge with confident renditions of Heaven Knows by Rick Price, Angin Malam by Broery Marantika and Mimpi by Pot Amir, specially written for the grand finale.
Over the weeks, Daniel had attracted a wide fan base with his modest demeanour.
He initially took just a two-week break from university, expecting not to get very far.
After making to the top 11, Daniel then set his sights on the top four.
His focus, he said, has always been on doing his best and learning as much as he can.
Nita, who became the frontrunner after delivering a power-packed performance on Friday, graciously conceded defeat to the younger and more inexperienced Daniel.
“We each have our advantages, ¨ said Nita. “And the result is based on talent.”
Daniel’s win landed him a recording contract with Sony BMG.
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