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Fantastic fairy-tale run for Shila Amzah in Shanghai

MADE IN CHINA By CHOW HOW BAN

IT WAS a fantastic fairy-tale run for Malaysian singer Shila Amzah in Shanghai.

The 22-year-old daughter of famous 80s era musician ND Lala already drew a huge following of fans after just three weeks taking part in the Asian Wave reality TV singing competition.

Shila won over the hearts of the music lovers in China with her powerful and jolting rendition of five songs that clinched her the coveted top prize last Thursday.

In the qualifying round for the grand finals aired on Dragon TV in China, she sang her first song, Set Fire to the Rain, which was originally sung by Adele.

The performance started it all for Shila in China even though judge and Indian musician Anaida could still find some English accent problems in Shila’s rendition.

But, the comments from the esteemed panel of judges motivated her to do even better in the later stages.

Shila’s second number was a Mandarin song, Forever Love by Taiwanese superstar Wang Lee Hom. If the first song was an introduction to her vocal ability, then the audiences and judges were simply bowled over by her Man­darin song.

In the finals, Shila performed Ja­­clyn Victor’s cover of Gemilang and Bruno Mars’ Grenade to perfection.

And the latter number totally changed Anaida’s impression of the Malaysian singer’s command of English songs.

“I am so proud of you because you were perfect with your accent tonight. You were born to sing,” Anaida told Shila.

Other judges also showered Shila with praises for her saintly performances, with one of the funniest remarks no doubt coming from Beijing-based Malaysian musician Eric Moo.

“Shila, do you want to be a superstar in future?” asked Moo. When Shila replied yes, Moo said: “No way! Because you are already a superstar now.”

Then, he psyched her up by saying “Malaysia Boleh” and she motivated herself by saying “jia you” (which means come on in Chinese). This drew laughter and applause from the audiences.

Shila’s main reason of joining this competition, which featured top six singers and groups from China taking on 21 other contestants from South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, India and Singapore in the qualifying rounds for the finals, was that she wanted to make a name for herself and become a singer as successful as her father.

Pitting against female soprano Ten of Thailand and then the talented Guo Yifan of China who sang a flawless number of If I Ain’t Got You was not easy, but Shila managed to go through with her better showmanship.

It was the final Mandarin song Zheng Fu (Conquer) originally sung by Na Ying that mattered. Like the title of the song, Shila’s performance totally conquered the two other home favourites Chang Shilei and Huo Zun in the final PK round.

No one would actually believe that Shila just took a week or two to master the song.

“My dad’s friend who is a singer as well in Malaysia suggested I sing this song. He said Shila must learn this song as it is a very powerful song and might suit Shila for the show.

“I took the challenge although I had never sung this song before and I did not even know how Na Ying looks like,” Shila told Dragon TV after her win.

The fans just love Shila, saying that Shila overcame language barriers and put on a wonderful show in China.

“Not only our goddess Shila has an undisputed vocal ability but she also has a beautiful look and friendly personality that won over the hearts of the audiences,” said a fan by the moniker of “meng xiang xiao wu” on a forum.

“She wears a headscarf and covers herself up, but this has not affected our impression and love for her at all.”

Another fan named “ichbinlisa” said Shila simply used her music to touch the audiences.

“This morning the profile of Shila was not in Baidu encyclopedia (Chinese equivalent to Wikipedia), but this afternoon we could see it. She is really hot now,” another Netizen said a day after Shila’s win.

The way the Chinese fans had reacted and showered Shila with praises on the Internet after the show makes us believe that she has a big chance of launching her music career in China.

She has already set her eyes on the Chinese market, but right now she wants to spend two months learning Chinese from a language expert first.

“Before coming here, my father told me that a competition is not all about winning but also for the sake of having a new experience. I would also like to take this opportunity to learn about China.

“China has one-fifth of the world population. If you do not know China then you do not know the world. Now I have done it,” she was quoted by Chinese press as saying.