SI Wild Card Show: Audio review

I listened, rather than watched the SI Wild Card episode. Audio was courtesy of TV Mobile's 89.3 FM audio chanel, on my Creative Zen Micro's FM receiver. I have to say the sound quality and fidelity were far superior to what I head off my TV (although, to be fair, I usually record SI and the bad sound might have more to do with my oft-recorded VHS tapes).

SI is a MUCH better show without the visuals. The garish circus-like quality of the show is completely undetectable when I cannot see the glo-pen signs, Gurmit's smirk and Dan's mugging are both thankfully unseen and best of all, I could just listen to the contestants and not be distracted by their (usually bad) styling and awkward stage presence.

Thoughts on last night's hopefuls:

Geraldine: L.O.V.E.
Ooh, I love this song. Ugh, she butchered it. This was seriously bad singing. Flatter than a runway.

Siew Woon: Fever
Not a bad voice, but she has no idea how to use it properly. This sounded okay, but lacked the smoky quality that makes the song work. On the basis of this, I think this is a competent singer with promise and much room for improvement.

Primero: I Live my Life for You
Geraldine actually has competition for worst performance of the night. Vocally, this was a complete mess and the song is hardly the most testing number in the pop repertoire.

Mathilda: Run to You
She blows every other female singer in this competition completely out of the water. Her technique is by far the most assured and I really like the tonal quality of her head voice. It takes guts to take on Whitney Houston, and she pulled it off with panache, without ever sounding like a sub-par copy.

Norman: These are the Days
He has a pleasant, if undistinct voice. To his credit, this was a very steady vocal performance, without any clear vocal flaws, apart from a tendency towards mush-mouthiness. I did not care for the song, which tends towards tedium when performed by singers with less charisma than Jamie Cullum.

Gayle: Beautiful Disaster
The girl sure likes to choose difficult songs! I thought she sounded a million times better than during the piano show. She has a sweet tonal quality and with more training, could be a very decent singer. She has to watch the tendency to indulge in melisma and a slight whininess on several notes.

Jay: Solitaire
Well, coming from this Clay Aiken fan, this was a very good vocal performance. This song scores high on difficulty and Jay is one of the very few contestants this year with a prayer of pulling it off. I like the fact that he is technically a secure singer and I very much like the bell-like clarity of his upper register.

All in, the strongest competitive show by a mile since we got into the voting rounds.