K-popped! Exclusive
The Korean Wave (Hallyu) is on the rise in Malaysia and along with it, a search for Kpop-influenced talents begins. 아싸!
Words by Liz
Photos by Orchid
You know, a day will perhaps come when a homegrown talent performs on the South Korean stage. Dreams…can come true.
The inaugural Korean Wave Contest (KWC) in Malaysia seeks fresh Kpop-influenced talents. The contest, which is open to all in Malaysia, is an opportunity for aspiring talents to realize their dream of becoming a Kpop star.
grabs are fully-paid tour packages to Korea...and the opportunity to be noticed ;-)
KWC is co-organised by Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) and GF World Solutions, an event management company that brought the highly-entertaining non-verbal comedy Break Out to Malaysia.
The KWC auditions were held on April 17 at Korea Plaza, Menara Hap Seng in Kuala Lumpur. Individuals and groups turned up for event. Many hopefuls were from local fan clubs of Kpop stars, but there were also independent acts.
It didn’t matter which organization they represented, all talents either danced to Korean tracks or sang (rather flawlessly) in Korean. Yes, very impressive indeed.
The 5-hour plus auditions saw 40 over acts vying for the coveted 8 spots at the final, which will be held on May 15. However, after some deliberation, the judges decided to choose 11 finalists because there were many talents of quality.
The judges at the audition were Gavin Khoo, Executive Director of GF World Solutions; Jung Jiman, Assistant Director of KTO and Valene Tan, Communications & Events Manager of KTO.
At the end of the auditions, it was announced that KWC will be an annual event, thanks to the encouraging response.
As the Official Online Media, K-popped! was there when the judges narrowed down the talents. Check out the aspirants who made the cut...and who may, just may, have a shot at Hallyuwood.
축하합니다!
KWC's Top 11
Epsilon
Formed on Jan 23, 2010 the girls are from the SHINee World Malaysia fan club. They were the first talents of the day to be given the 통과 (Pass) Korean fan, and subsequently get a spot at the final.
Breakers
The duo danced and sang to CL & Minzy’s (2NE1) Please Don’t Go. Impressive rapping but weak vocals. It’s OK guys, you have one month to improve. 화이팅!
Progression
They are already known in the local Kpop circuit and even performed for KTO during the recent MATTA fair (a travel fair in Malaysia). With experience under their belt, they absolutely entertained with dance routines for SuJu’s Sorry, Sorry and 2PM’s Heartbeat.
J.A.C.
A trio that sang Davichi’s 8282. The were KIVed (keep in view) after the first tryout but made the cut after their second audition.
Memoirs (a.k.a. Carolyn)
She is the ONLY soloist who made the cut. Caroline sang Korean diva Insooni’s Goose Dream, a ballad I absolutely love…and she didn’t ruin it.
10 Minute Crew
The 6-member crew learns fast. After getting feedback from the judges at the first audition, they took the advice and totally spiced up their second tryout. The crew displayed good effort in earning their spot at the final.
judges' hearts...in less than that.'
DA Infinity
The quartet danced to HyunA’s Change, yes, they did the sexy hip thrusts, thrusting (pun intended) them into the final.
Cherry Boom
Sweetie pies that make great eye-candy, especially Wei Ling (pic below, 2nd from right). Doesn’t she look like a mini Chae Yeon? The gals are all under 20 and they danced to a medley of songs, one of them being SNSD’s Gee.
Ruffneck'z
Baby Bi! The young boy who is covering his face with the fan resembles Korean superstar Rain. Cute boys who danced to – among others – Brown Eyed Girls’ Abracadabra! Uh huh, complete with the sexy hip dance. *sway*sway*sway*
Leon
Proudly representing MYHottest2PM, Leon busted some smooth moves to Taeyang’s Where U At. So smooth were his moves that they earned him a spot at the final.
Nikki
Nikki, who is a So You Think You Can Dance (Malaysia) finalist, grabbed the coveted last spot at the KWC final. The androgynous dance instructor put her own flava to Rain’s Rainism.
Congratulations to all the finalists! They have approximately a month to prepare for the final showdown, which will be held at KL Live on May 15. The talent concert is FREE and opened to the public so come one and all to see the talents perform live. You might just get K-popped! ;-P
Khoo of GF World Solutions advised the finalists to put their best foot forward for the final, saying, “You will be treated like stars performing on a concert stage. The production will be of top quality and there will even be a Korean music producer present at the show.
“IF you're good enough, you might even get to perform in South Korea.”
So here we go Malaysia. The search for the Next Big (Kpop) Thing is on! Bring it.
Stick with K-popped! for the latest news on KWC Malaysia 2010 or follow us on:
Twitter: @LizKpopped and @0rch1d (#kwcmsia)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kpopped
Related:
Sneak peek at Malaysian talent for Korean Wave Contest 2010
Malaysia: Korean Wave contest auditions on April 17
Have you got what it takes for the Korean Wave Contest?
24 Comments:
our national athlete also took part in this competition??
cool!!
congratulations to all of them..
i guess i'll see their performance next month..
Who is the national athlete? What sport?
if i'm not mistaken, she is in the 10 Minute Crew..
her name is Siti Safiyah, and she's a ten-pin bowler. I met her before in Etude House Product Launching with Lee MinHo @sg.wang..
in the picture she wears pink top..
Ooooh...kewl!
got any video on this event??
Only the organizers had the rights to record the event. No cams allowed during the audition :-)Maybe it will be released some day ?
cool! they get t perform on a stage and get treated like a star?? I wanna watch that!! hehe... nice coverage~~ congratulations to the finalists!!
Aaaarghh...i've planned to come and watch but all the meetings and stuff just ruined my day...urgghhh!
@Cyfull, it's OK if you missed the auditions. It was a closed audition so no one was allowed into the room except authorized personnel.
Come for the KWC final on May 15 then. Now, that is guaranteed open to the public and the finalists will take the stage to entertain you!
Aww I look weird in the photo..>.< great write up liz!
I still feel sad I didnt get to say hi to you guys.. boo..=(
Congratulations to all the other finalists! Let's do our best for the finals..=)
Progression obviously will get a spot.. they've danced at super junior's concert.. as in.. while we were waiting under the hot sun, they entertain us with some dancing.. have their videos.. :D they're cool... ;)
wah!!! any fancam 2 watch?? ekeke
@Sandra, hey girl thanks for the encouragement and don't feel bad that we didn't manage to talk. I'm sure our paths will cross again. Heh heh...wait for it :-P
Ah Jasmine is there ^^
Hopefully the teams made it :)
if u don't mind, I've repost this page link to facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Learn-Korean-lah-hangug-eo-baewola/110873808943136?ref=ts
Liz Liz,
when's the final what time ???
The final will be on:
Date: May 15 (Sat)
Venue: KL Live, Jalan Sultan Ismail
Time: 2pm - 4pm
Admission: FREE
woohoo! the DA girls and Progression did a great job.. DA also performed in Matta Fair with Progression for those who don't know..
and will be there to support all 11 groups!
woohoo! the DA girls and Progression did a great job.. DA also performed in Matta Fair with Progression for those who don't know..
and will be there to support all 11 groups!
Is good to know that Malaysia has lots of talented people in the entertainment line. Though i know this is coorganised with the KTO, but i thought it would be better if we spend the time on trying to produce entertainers like in Korea but local market. Malaysia needs idol singers like in South Korea. Though my friend always doubted that our Malay language can ever been adopted to the genre of music used in most of the kpop songs, i really hope we can do it one day. There's nothing wrong by liking kpop but isn't it better if we can learn from kpop and create a 'M-pop' in Malaysia!
Sorry if this comment sounds weird!
is there a website where we can watch the performances?
Rly wanna see the Contestants :D
I hope I can watch it online too!!! I'm on the East Coast now, wish I could head over there in KL for the finals but I have work on Sunday...
Hi HL & varms, thanks for your support!
Since this is the very first Korean Wave Contest in Malaysia, I don't think there is live streaming of the show.
8TV is also supporting the event so maybe you'll get to watch KWC on 8TV one day.
HL & varms, follow @LizKpopped or @0rch1d on Twitter as we will be tweeting live from the event tomorrow.
thank you for the information Liz, is there any chance that someone will be filming it and post it on youtube? D:
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