Friday night fever, fun and fervor!

The highly anticipated talent competition ‘The One’ was held on Friday night in the college lecture theatre 4 at 7pm. ‘The One’ is an annual event organized by the student council. It is in its 5th year and is one of the celebrated traditions of our college. After the preliminary rounds, 4 singers in the solo category and 4 groups in the group category were chosen to enter the finals. Tickets were sold at $2 and were well-received. An air of excitement permeated in the air as a long queue waited outside the lecture theatre to be admitted.

On the big night, contestants belted out songs and supporters cheered with gusto. An impromptu performance by last year’s winner of ‘The One’, Yin Xue, wowed the audience. Her powerful vocals and spunky charm were impressive and was a delightful surprise for everyone. Her performance also symbolized the passing on of the torch to this year’s contestants. An energetic dance performance by our very own college students was also a much welcomed addition to the night’s event.

The finalists of the solo category (Clockwise from top left): Cynthia, Brandon, Anita and Chi Wei.

The winners of the solo category and the group category were announced after the audience had cast their votes. Winner of the solo category was Anita Set from Class 0937. Dressed in style, she won over many supporters with her unique voice and charming X-factor. Onstage, she seemed completely unfazed by a sore throat she was having. However, Anita divulged to NYConneXions in an interview later that her performance that night had been affected by her sore throat. Nevertheless, she still emerged as the winner and went home with a brand new iPod Shuffle.

Anita singing ‘Love Song’ on stage.

The winners of the group category were Li Ying and Gena, a female duo that had met during their Service-learning trip to Yunnan last year. They consolidated their friendship whilst being in the same project work group last year and decided to join this year’s ‘The One’ competition as a team. They filled the lecture room with their melodious voices that night with the songs ‘Everyday’ and ‘Way Back into Love’. NYConneXions mingled with the audience during the 10 minutes voting and many commented on the great chemistry between them. A member of the audience commented that “They were lively and had unbelievable stage presence. Their voices were clear and sweet. I think they are going to win.” After a PK Match with the winner of the solo category, Gena and Li Ying eventually emerged as the grand winners of the competition. When asked as to how they felt about the competition, they replied that ‘The One’ was not a competition for them, as all the contestants bonded very well and had become a big family.

Gena and Li Ying holding hands as they sing.

‘The One’ was generally an enjoyable event this year, but some members of the audience gave suggestions as to how it could have been made better. Said a member of the audience who did not wish to be named, “The emcees are not very eloquent. Everything seems generally dull and the music isn’t very loud. But the AVA is doing a great job! All in all, the event needs to be more explosive!” The emcees' ability to engage the audience effectively may have been hindered by the fact that two microphones had to be shared among the three emcees, which leads this reporter to question the need for three of them in the first place.

Being one of the finalists, Chi Wei believes that the most precious thing she brought away with her in the competition was the friendship that she now shares with the rest of the finalists. The deeply forged friendship between the contestants was evident when the contestants were seen cheering the other contestants on after their own performances. Waving their instruments and hands to the music, they were in fact one of the warmest crowds that night. This heart-warming show of friendship made ‘The One’ much less of a competition, but a coming together of like-minded people to showcase their talent and bring away with them the invaluable experience, lovely memories and of course, precious friendship.

This article is by Eunice Lim Ying Ci.