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It's worth mentioning that....
1. It was really a damn great bargain. Imagine paying just $25 for a supposedly $68seat, and you get to catch 30++ singers UP CLOSE at the red carpet, and thereafter, catch all of them in a 4-hour event. Plus listening to countless songs. Plus the excitement and the live atmosphere together with 8000 others. Plus other exclusive performance like "Bian Lian" of china, MalayDrumming of malaysia, 5 stones of Singapore, Kungfu of china etc. ALso, the satisfying feel of WATCHING the entire event LIVE physically, while 11 BILLION other ethnic chinese are hearing it all over the region.
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2. Ever heard of the 3 top China Supergirls? THey are the red hot winners of China version of "project superstar". INdeed red hot, cos the entire china watched the process and it swept the country with an unprecedented craze, with record votes cast. The winner was even featured on Times Magazine, and her name's a top search on websites. But even so, Singaporeans don't know about them yet. And yet, at the ceremony, there were SO MANY SUPPORTERS OF THEM!!! Yes, that whole whole huge crowd of fans actually came from china lor. See that craze, even after the 2nd season of Supergals had concluded last month?
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3. The widely predicted winner of "Singapore's Talented singer" (新加坡地区杰出歌手奖) was Chen Wei Lian. Cos for the voting segment (60%), his votes actually thrashed other singers hands-down. But when the results came, it was Stefanie Sun. And this incurred the wrath of Weilian's supporters, who had since jointly protested against the results.
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4. It seemed that ALL THOSE who came from overseas eventually got an award. This had always been the case for Singapore Hit Award, and so it became quite predictable, regarding the winners. Which shouldn't be the case for a really solid awards ceremony. But it turned out that such a big event in chinese music, when its held in singapore this time round, became yet another "分猪肉" event. And it is obviously obvious.
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5. But still, this Singapore leg of the rotating event was still nicely organised. Special cultural performances were put in between, showcasing the specialties of each area of the region. ANd, the production cost was the highest so far. And coincidentally, this year's total votes cast was also a record high.