Hot and hilarious!

Before I proceed with my comments of the kids’ performance this week, I am curious to know why whenever you tell someone that you are a keen follower of Akademi Fantasia, you get this funny and surprised look, like it is a sin to enjoy watching Akademi Fantasia. But you never get that kind of look when you say that you follow American Idol, Malaysian Idol or One in A Million. Hmmmm…….. I wonder why……

Heck, I enjoy watching Akademi Fantasia, and if not for anything else, it is as part of taking things easy on a Saturday night to release stress. Err…release stress? I get anxious whenever Aril performs! LOL! *wink*

Anyway, back to my usual `task’ LOL! *wink*, here’s my take for this week……

I was having a bad case of gastric when Akim was performing, and his performance, sorry to say, made the gastric worse.

As I laid down listening to him sing, I tried to figure out why Aurora did not sound good, as to me, Aurora is a lovely song. Then I realized it when Edrie pointed out that Akim had changed the tune of the songs too much that it became a distraction.

I do belief that he has improved over the last few weeks, but, for some reason, for this concert, he fumbled through his performance right from the start. I pity him. I almost thought that he was going to get booted out because of that performance as Qhoud did quite well when it was his time to perform.

What can I say of Aril’s performance last night?

Praise him too much and it will get fanatic fans of Hafiz bitching and condemning him non-stop. So, I think I will just quote what Kubbkidd said in his blog….

“Apapon, aku hats to Aril sebab semalam, he killed competition with his performance.

Some of the other kids were good, but for one of those rare moments, I saw sorang pelajar yang mampu membawa diri sebagai pro atas pentas. Kalao ikutkan, memang last week aku rasa Claudia patut dapat pelajar cemerlang and not Aril.

This week however, for me, it belongs to Aril. Sebab not only dia berjaya nak nampak kehebatan dia atas pentas, his performance set the bar so high that the others were mediocre by comparison”.

What surprised me most today was when I visited Mr Manager’s blog this morning and Mr Manager had given Aril the highest ranking by naming Aril the Best Male Performance for the night, him being a huge fan of Hafiz. That came as a huge surprise after a week of heating things up between fans of Hafiz and Aril. I guess, as a professional where he has strong followings, he does have to be fair and give credits where credits are due.

I liked the way Aril dropped himself onto the floor, like what Dato' Khaty said, was like a scene from Bollywood, and also when he dived after performing his song. He did it with such confidence. Others might not have dared to take such risks as it might affect their vocals.

I just want to add that despite what many might say of Aril, I think it would be fair to say among all the 8 students left last week, he and Yazid were about the only ones with colouful characters that brightens up even the most boring of days with their antics and playful misdemeanors.

What else can be said of both Claudia and Hafiz’s performance last night except that, as always, they were good. I must day that her experience of having her own band really paid off last night. She was comfortable with the live band, and her interaction with the audience was good. Though I must say that I don’t like much Claudia’s frizzy hairdo. It makes her look 5 years older than her actual age.

I also wondered why they made Hafiz push back him hair with a hairband like what he did last night.

My son said that he looked kind of girlish. But, after seeing him perform last night, that hairstyle made him look very much like a very cute rock singer. *grin* Too cute, actually, to be part of a rock band. *grin* But, before fans of Hafiz comes after me with their snide remarks, LOL! *wink* I shall say that there is nothing wrong with being a cute rock singer. Go, Hafiz! *wink*

Oh, I must say that I like that part where Azizan came him with his comedian buddy like a mad fan of Hafiz, complete with the T-shirt! LOL! That was cute and hilarious! LOL! Now fans of Hafiz can’t complain that Astro is not giving Hafiz attention. *wink* Last night, the attention was all on him, and Hafiz deserves it.

I really enjoyed that amusing segment with Azizan, and I think Hafiz probably felt really appreciated to have a mad fan like Azizan, even if it was only play acting, and I hope fans of Hafiz are now pacified.

Astro has brought back the fun and re-injected the surprise element that is synonymous with AF, which AC Mizal has, unfortunately, failed to do on his own. Bring back Aznil! *grin*

When I watched Isma perform last night, I could not help but felt like I was watching Siti Nurhaliza performing at a rock concert. She was simply too much Siti-look-alike and sounds just like her. I can’t blame her actually, since that is God’s gift to her.

Aishah was cute last night, though I like her better before she did something to her teeth. However, I felt that her dress was kind of out of place to sing with a live band. Maybe I was expecting her to be dressed more like a rock singer, in leather jacket and tight pants, or at least, complimenting the original singer.

For some reason, I felt that the original singer was overshadowing both Isma and Aishah. I half wished that she wasn’t even there. She was like taking the limelight away from both girls, and whose concert was it last night?

I have always liked ballads, and rock ballads are something I enjoy listening to also. So, I really enjoyed listening to Yazid’s rendition of “Ku di Halaman Rindu” by Leftahnded.

I managed to catch Qhoud practicing his song during a few of the dairies and I was afraid that if he were to perform the way he did during the practice, he was heading for trouble., So, I was rather surprised when he delivered his song quite well last night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough to make people want to vote for him to stay on in the Akademi. He got booted out at last night’s concert. I wish Qhoud the best of luck!

So, what else can we look forward to this coming week?

There are 3 more concerts before the finals. That means there will be 3 or more eliminations. It’s anyone’s guess who would be going into the finals at this point. If you ask me, I don’t want any more elimination as I think the 7 left are the best of the best already.

I can’t choose between Claudia and Aishah as they are equally good. Isma has a very strong fan base. Her position into the finals is already quite secure.

Hafiz’s place into the finals too is already secured as I think the Sawarakians are geared up to vote more for him than for Claudia and Aishah. Mr Manager had strategized for Sawarakians to give two votes for Hafiz and one each for Claudia and Aishah. My guess is that Aishah will be the casualty in this case.

If ever Hafiz, for whatever reason, gets eliminated before the finals, Astro will be in big trouble. They will lose millions in votes from fans of Hafiz as I doubt it if they will vote for anyone else should Hafiz fail to make it to the finals, except maybe to make sure that Claudia wins just to ensure a sawarakian wins no matter what. But, Hafiz is anytime better than Claudia, though both are good.

Now left are Akim, Yazid and Aril. Akim has some strong fans who I take it will vote for him tirelessly no matter how bad he performs. Yazid has started to gain some momentum in the votes that he is getting over the week, and each time he performs well, his votes goes up surpassing even Hafiz’s at one concert.

It’s Aril whose position into the finals that remains unpredictable and unsecured. Last week he became the victim of much malicious attack by fans of Hafiz who was dissatisfied with the way the faculty and Astro Production team are treating Hafiz and not giving him enough air time and coverage. I hope with the attention given to Hafiz at this week’s concert would have appeased all those fanatic and die hard fans of Hafiz, and they would stop condemning Aril.

I am looking forward to see what songs they will be performing this coming week, and what other surprises are being lined up for the concert. Maybe by having Aznil back as the host? LOL! *wink* Fat hopes as Astro is tied up with a long contract with AC Mizal. *sigh*

**note - photos taken from Klubbkidd.