One in a Million (Malaysian TV series)
| One in a Million | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by |  Sunil Kumar Michael Christian Simon |
| Presented by | Awal Ashaari Marion Caunter |
| Starring | Syafinaz Selamat Paul Moss |
| No. of episodes | 18 (Season 1) 2 (Season 2) (as of November 23, 2007) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Sunil Kumar |
| Running time | Varies |
| Original release | |
| Network | 8TV |
| Release | May 26, 2006 – Present, renewed for a second season |
For the current season, visit One in a Million (Season 2).
One in a Million is Malaysia's first ever reality singing competition to offer a RM 1 million prize to the winner. It began airing its first season on Malaysia's terrestrial TV station, 8TV, on May 26, 2006.
One in a Million seeks to discover the best young singer in the country, through several nationwide auditions. The objective of offering a huge prize money is to provide the winner with the very best production, marketing strategy and everything else that goes into creating a music superstar.[1]In the latter stages of this competition, the progress of the contestants are determined by public voting by phone or text messaging. This is also the first reality singing competition that allows viewers to vote in as well as to vote out the contestants.
The show features two judges who critique the contestants' performances in order to facilitate the voting: former singer and music lecturer Syafinaz Selamat; and Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) nominated music producer/write/arranger as well as brand manager for 8TV, Paul Moss. The hosts are Awal Ashaari and Marion Caunter.
Rules
One in a Million is open to all Malaysian residents aged 16 to 32 during its run for the first season. The second season, however, sees a change of the lower limit of age to 18 to 32. The first season also saw the singing competition open to recording artists as well. It is still open to any recording artists for the second season.
To be eligible, contestants must not be permanent and/or contract employee of the television station 8TV as well as its sister stations under Media Prima. Contestants must also not be representatives, employees, servants and/or agents of advertising and/or promotion service providers of 8TV, and their immediate family members; and/or undischarged bankrupts. Should the contestant or any of his/her immediate family members is employed by the prize providers; and/or any person, or entity otherwise involved or participating in the Program and its production including but not by way of limitation any of the panel of judges.[2]
Auditions
The producers of the show hold "open" public auditions at locations across the country, which anyone who is eligible can attend. A selection of the auditions in front of the judges – usually the best, the worst and the most bizarre – are broadcast over the first few weeks of the show. Each contestant enters the audition room, often after waiting for hours, and delivers either an a cappella or accompanied by their own guitar or keyboard instrument. If at least one of the two judges say "yes", then the contestant goes through to the next stage, otherwise the contestant is sent home. Contestants may also be placed under the "maybe" category in the case where the judges are unsure whether or not to put them through. They are asked to perform again for the judges either after short intervals or at the end of the day of audition.
The cities where auditions were held are as below.
| Season | Year | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | 2006 | Kota Kinabalu, Sabah | Le Meridien Hotel |
| Kuala Lumpur | Berjaya Time Square | ||
| Two | 2007 | Kota Kinabalu, Sabah | Le Meridien Hotel |
| Sungai Petani, Kedah | Cinta Sayang Resort | ||
| Johor Bahru, Johore | Persada Johor | ||
| Kuala Lumpur | Berjaya Time Square |
Central Elimination and Knock-out
Contestants who passed the auditions are split into groups in the Central Elimination. Contestants are asked to perform in front of the judges again and are narrowed down to only forty contestants.
Then the Top 40 contestants are put through the 'Blind Test' and 'Style/Presentation' Test. In the 'Blind Test', the contestants had to perform behind a screen. In the 'Style/Presentation' round, two guest judges also judged the style & presentation of each contestant. From here onwards, only 20 contestants are allowed to move on to the knock-out stage.
The 20 contestants who moved forward are ranked according to their performances. The contestants ranked Top 10 must then pick an opposing contestant from the Bottom 10 to compete against. Out of these 10 pairs, only one contestant from each pair may move on as decided by the judges. The 10 contestants who are knocked out are given second chances in The Second Chance Show, which is the first show with live studio audience. This episode, however, is pre-recorded a few weeks before air date and is not televised 'live'. But from this point of the competition, viewers may began voting for their favourite contestant. Two contestants from The Second Chance Show will be put through the finals whereby one of them is picked by the judges and the other is voted by home viewers.
Finals
The finals last ten weeks whereby each of the Final 12 contestants perform one song each week. The format changes with contestants singing two songs each week when there are only four contestants remaining. After each contestant has performed, the judges comment on their performance, usually focusing on vocal ability and stage presence. Once all the contestants have appeared, the voting lines open at the end of the show and the viewers vote on which contestant they want to keep. The judges, from this point on, serve almost entirely in an advisory capacity, with no direct influence on the results.
The results are only announced a week later on the following episode before the performances, as opposed to shows like Malaysian Idol in which the results are announced on a special results show aired one or two days later. The first elimination involving eliminating two contestants and future eliminations dismissed only one contestant each week. However, there was an exception in Season One, that is, the producers planned a surprising twist where no eliminations were made during the Final 3. Instead of having only two contestants during the grand finals, three contestants had competed to win the public vote which determines the overall winner.
The winner receives a RM 1 million record deal with the record label Monkey Bone and will be managed by a management unit called The 8 Unit.
Cast
Judges
Syafinaz Selamat
A familiar face in the local classical and contemporary music scenes, Syafinaz Selamat is a music degree graduate from MARA University of Technology. She has been under the tutelage of Siti Chairani Proehoeman (voice) and Muzaffar Abdullah (pianoforte), veterans in the Malaysian music education and classical performance scene.
Syafinaz is a lyrical soprano, whose performance repertoire includes arias for operas from composers such as Mozart, Puccini, Bellini, Delibes and Verdi. She was chosen to play the role of the soprano solo in the Carl Offs “Carmina Burana” with 100 choir members and the National Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia, conducted by reputed Australian conductor Roland Peelman.
She’s also a prominent singer and host of several musical entertainment shows. Her career achievements as a singer include a Gold Medal in the R&B/Pop/Rock/Contemporary category during the World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles in 1999. Additionally, she’s been twice nominated in the AIM for Best Female Vocal in an Album.
She’s currently a lecturer at the MARA University of Technology, The National Arts Academy and advisor and vocal master of The National Choir of Malaysia, and is working on her new album.
Syafinaz has also extensive experience as a judge, having been a judge for: “Akademi Fantasia 3”, “Akademi Fantasia 4”. “Who Will Win”, “Mentor” and the voice trainer/music advisor for “Audition II”.
Paul Moss
Paul Moss is famous for not mincing his words to wannabe singers. Though already long renowned as a music producer, Paul Moss really shot to fame during his stint for the past two years as a judge for reality show, Malaysian Idol. He was memorable as the guy who shot down the dreamers from the Real McCoys.
But Paul Moss’ history in music goes back way longer. The New Zealander broke into the scene as a member of the then immensely popular band, ‘Aishah and The Fan Club’. As Musical Director and songwriter of ‘The Fan Club’, the band attained several Gold albums and won the Artist of the Year at the 1991 NZ Music Awards.
After crossing over to Malaysia, he became A&R Director of Positive Tone from its inception in 1994 until 2003. Paul Moss was the man behind the phenomenal successes of many local English acts since he was responsible for the artist signing, artistic direction, recording, production and content development of OAG, Too Phat, Innuendo, Poetic Ammo, Ferhad and many others.
His creative talent as a producer/writer/arranger also earned Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) nominations and Gold and Platinum sales for artists such as OAG, Innuendo and Juliet the Orange. Now a Brand Manager with 8TV, Paul Moss has all the experience, talent and pedigree to back up his job as judge for ‘One in a Million’.
Hosts
Awal Ashaari
Awal has been hosting several TV programmes and has appeared in several drama series and movies. In fact, Awal is no stranger to reality TV shows, having made it to the Top 30 in the first season of Malaysian Idol.
Marion Caunter
Marion Caunter who holds a degree in broadcast and electronic communications from Marquette University in Milwaukee, the United States, is no stranger to the entertainment scene. Apart from being a TV presenter, she was also 8TV’s urban content executive in charge of pre- and post-production of the stations in-house shows, Latte at 8 and Flava. Caunter also hosted The 8TV Quickie which airs daily at 11.30pm on 8TV but left the Quickie since November 14, 2006 for a career as a VJ at Channel [V]. She also had a brief stint on hitz.fm as a DJ.
Despite having left as a presenter on 8TV, Caunter returns with Awal Ashaari as hosts of the second season of One in a Million.[3]
The Show
Season One
The first season began with auditions in April 2006. Auditions were held in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur. Season One debut with much hype, especially with advertisements that put much emphasis on the RM 1,000,000 prize money. The show was also successful partly because it was seen as a replacement for the series Malaysian Idol - a franchise of the UK Pop Idol which became a phenomenon across the globe - which was put on an indefinite hiatus. This was due to Malaysian Idol's decline in ratings during its second season and the controversy sparked after Daniel Lee was announced as the winner of the second season of Idol. Lee's singing talent have been much of a dispute.
Winner of the first season, Suki Low Sook Yee, signed with Monkey Bone, a record company that was set up especially to manage the career of the winner. Monkey Bone had also signed second place finalist, Faizal Tahir. Suki Low Sook Yee along with Faizal Tahir had received much airplays on the radio as well as a few television specials. Suki's first single Berdiri and Faizal's Maha Karya Cinta became instant hit immediately following the release after the finale of the first season.
Faizal Tahir was also offered a hosting job as the host of Gangstarz, another reality singing competition that featured bands instead of solo singers that aired on 8TV's sister channel TV3.
Fifth placed finalist, Farah Asyikin binti Zulkifli who was also a contestant on the second season of Malaysian Idol (placed third), released a self-titled album featuring her hit single Dari Sini Ke Bintang-bintang.
The following are eliminations made in the first season of One in a Million.
| Date | Bottom Six | |||||
| July 28 | Anny | Mimi | Alia | Azfar | Farah | Suki |
| Date | Bottom Five | |||||
| August 4 | Ameen | Alia (2) | Lokman | Zai | Dayang | |
| Date | Bottom Four | |||||
| August 11 | Alia (3) | Zai (2) | Azfar (2) | Farah (2) | ||
| August 18 | Zai (3) | Lokman (2) | Azfar (3) | Farah (3) | ||
| August 25 | Lokman (3) | Azfar (4) | Farah (4) | Faizal | ||
| Date | Bottom Three | |||||
| September 1 | Azfar (5) | Farah (5) | Alif | |||
| September 8 | Farah (6) | Alif (2) | Dayang (2) | |||
| Date | Bottom Two | |||||
| September 15 | Dayang (3) | Alif (3) | ||||
| September 22, Grand Finale |
Alif (4) | Faizal (2) | ||||
| In the bottom. Eliminated. | In the bottom. | In the bottom. Gained immunity |
Season Two
The second season is scheduled to take place at the end of 2007 and not mid-2007 at speculated earlier. The auditions for the second season have been scheduled to begin in August.[4].
Two more audition locations are added (Sungai Petani and Johor Bahru) compared to the only two last year. The following are the audition dates and locations.
- Le Meridien Hotel, Kota Kinabalu on August 19, 2007
- Cinta Sayang Resort, Sungai Petani on August 25, 2007
- Persada Johor, Johor Bahru on September 2, 2007
- Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur on September 8 and September 9, 2007
Performances on One in a Million
One in a Million Diary
A spin-off titled One in a Million Diary debut after the Top 8 show during the first season. It aired on Wednesdays at 9.30p.m. and features off-stage video clips as well as exclusive weekly interviews with the contestants.
References
- ^ The prize money on One in a Milliion What is One in a Million?
- ^ One in a Million - Season 2 Application Form
- ^ Season 2 Press Conference
- ^ 8tv.com.my One in a Million Season Two auditions[1]
See also
- Malaysian Idol
- Paul Moss
- Syafinaz Selamat
- 8TV