Subtle titles
KAJANG: Jonathan Lim Yee Suan, a 24-year-old Sabahan, had gone to great lengths to pursue his musical dream and his effort was validated when he emerged third in a campus singing competition.
Lim sharing that he was ecstatic for placing third in the competition but at the same time, dissatisfied.
Hungry for more, he constantly joined other competitions and even formed a band with the name, ‘The Caravans’, because they performed everywhere.
After all the recurring competitions and performances for three years, Lim eventually grew tired of it and decided to not take this path.
“It has come to a halt,” expressed Lim.
Now, Lim, the former winner of USTAR Singing Competition 2015, is preoccupied with being an auteur, an emcee as well as an understudy under the BMW Shorties Programme, on top of his hustling degree life.
According to Malaysia’s social news network, SAYS, there are seven Malaysians who become famous thanks to audition shows such as Malaysian Idol and One in A Million.
There are many youngsters out there like Lim, taking part in singing competitions simply due to their passion in music or in hopes of becoming a singer after winning.
But, do the titles they attain from those competitions really mean anything? Perhaps.
On campus singing competition
According to Cheah Shueh Chiey, 23, spokesperson of USTAR 2018’s organizing committee, the reason behind this annual competition is to “let the students have a platform to showcase their talents.”
Cheah explaining her role in organizing the competition, which was to communicate closely with the contestants to prepare the instruments needed for their songs.
In line with its objective, it had helped the newly announced finalists, Armand Ross Ocampo Soriano, 22, who is “passionate towards everything about music”; and Heng Lai Sean, 21, who “likes to sing and perform”, unleash their singing prowess.
Soriano expressing his skeptical views about the competition, until he finally went for the audition after being encouraged by his friend.
Heng sharing about the ways she used to relax herself before performing on stage, and one of them was talking to people.
Changes experienced
While Soriano and Heng had just completed the Semi-Finals milestone, they had yet to see much changes in themselves.
“I’m still not sure of how life will change, but I hope to learn a lot from this and be proud to tell my kids about this experience,” expressed Soriano.
“Not much changes, maybe I’ll learn to be less nervous when singing,” Heng said.
Similarly, Lim claimed that the changes he encountered after participating in the competition was very minute as back then, it was just a small-scale one and emerging third did not promise him a bright future in that field.
But now that he looks back at it, he holds a different opinion.
“Although USTAR didn’t affect me much, it had a ripple effect,” expressed Lim.
This is because the competition amplified his desires to be a singer, causing him to switch from an engineering course to the course that he is taking now - Degree in Broadcasting.
From then on, it had given him an opportunity to further explore different possibilities other than singing as he did not want to be one-dimensional.
His bandmate, Tan Shau Yuan, 24, also detected changes in him after he had won the competition.
Tan expressing his delight in seeing Lim chasing after his artistic dream rather than dwelling on engineering.
“He becomes more confident and gains leadership skills in managing the band,” said Tan.
Future plans
Although Soriano would continue performing during events and weddings, he would like to take a break from competitions.
“It’s enough,” said Soriano.
Unlike Soriano, Heng hoped to gain enough confidence to join other competitions provided if time allows, as she would be a Final Year student next year.
On the other hand, Lim had his ultimate goal set – to establish a production company because he “just wants to be someone whom people can recognize.”
Thoughts about the finals
Soriano summed up his thoughts for the finals by saying “win or lose, I love the fact that I’m already here."
"Losing to me is still a win-win situation. I’ve lost nothing even if I didn’t win,” he added.
Soriano passionately singing ‘I’ll Be” by Edwin McCain, a song that he had been singing since he was young.
By: Ong Ee Hung
“I don’t look forward to winning, being able to perform on stage is good enough,” said Heng who shared the same opinion as Soriano.
Heng performing ‘Feel the light’ by Jennifer Lopez as she immersed herself in the spotlights.
By: Ong Ee Hung
As Lim is unable to relive his moments in the finals due to the competition’s policy of prohibiting former winners from joining, he made it up to himself by giving words of advice to the current finalists.
Lim wholeheartedly performing ‘Feeling Good’ by Michael Buble to reflect his emotion during the finale.
Credit: Jonathan Lim Yee Suan
“Be humble, always be ready to learn and don’t eat KFC before you sing. I burped on stage during my semi-finals,” said Lim.
While Lim has stopped chasing after his musical dream, his other aspirations in life have just begun.
The end of Lim’s musical dream marks the beginning of Soriano and Heng’s.