Hi Teresa and faithful supporters of Teresa~~

I have received a number of personal emails regarding my performance reports on Teresa (and I thank them again here for their encouragement) and I suppose that means I have a greater responsiblity to do a good job on my reporting. This report will be long, as usual because I have included some pointers for the other CSS participants as well, as a form of encouragement for CSS as a collective whole.

General Reporting:

Teresa was dressed in a light blue with white stripes short-sleeved top and a pair of blue jeans. She looked particularly at ease today, probably because she has already quite some experience with all the PSS publicity concerts.  Or maybe it's just her sunny personality shining as well.

Teresa sang a grand total of five songs today. The three official ones were Pin Chang Xin by Zhang Hui Mei A-mei in "Wo Yao Kuai Le?" album, Pa Ni Zai Ci by Lin Yi Lian Sandy in "Lin Yi Lian's" album and Tian Tian Ye Ye by F.I.R in "Fei Xing Bu Luo" album. The other two impromptu ones were oldies, (I could not remember the first one) and the second was "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin", both songs were originally sung by Teresa Teng Li Jun (one of the greatest female singers in history).

She did not manage to disappoint and sang all five songs with her beautifully clear and crisp voice. Even oldie songs were wonderfully done (almost identifical to the original singer), impressing even some of the more senior audience who were nodding with smiles of appreciation (I was standing with some of them just now). I believe Teresa has just gained some new level of respect and admiration by the senior members of the audience (which will only benefit Teresa in terms of celebrity recognition and support).

Teresa also managed the mcee questions in quite a humorous way, especially on how she joked on preventing her mother from crooning the oldies at home. Surprisingly, Teresa has all along refused any official coaching from her ex-singer mother because she feels weird about family coaching. This is impressive because it means that she chooses not to be overly-dependent on family coaching, preferring to strike it out on her own (and doing particularly well at it).

Overall, applause for Teresa has improved considerably because people are slowly coming to the realization that Teresa indeed has a superb voice, talent, and potential to be the kind of Campus Superstar that can really shine on stage. Her excellent performances ever since she appeared on CSS have finally gained wider recognition amongst the song-listening population in Singapore.

Specific Pointers For Teresa:

My grading for your performance today is as follows:

Song Selection : 9.0 out of 10
Stage Attire : 9.0 out of 10
Song Presentation : 9.5 out of 10
Audience Interaction : 9.0 out of 10
Mcee Interaction : 9.5 out of 10


Teresa, you actually fared slightly lower for the song selection and stage attire segment but you fared higher in the mcee interaction. Let me explain in detail, so bear with me.

1) Song selection

The first song by Zhang Hui Mei is alright with me but the second song by Sandy Lam is still a little away from public recognition. Personally, I am very impressed because you chosed to sing Sandy's songs. She is still one of the best female singers in the industry right now but you could have chosen something more familiar to the audience in Toa Payoh. I believe if you had chosen songs like "Ye Tai Hei" or "Shang Heng", these will be much more well-received. Don't forget that some of the younger generation audience have never even heard of Sandy so if you are aiming for more public recognition, you should choose songs more carefully. If you are just choosing songs out of your singing interest, ignore my pointer here.

2) Stage attire

Assuming that you get to choose your stage attire, I feel that your attire today is comfortable but lack-lustre. After thinking on the way back home, I think it is because the colour combination is a little soft and overly-casual for the scale of the publicity event. Perhaps more accessories would have helped you glow a little more in terms of stage attire. Overall, it's just a small dip as ultimately, people pay more attention as to how you deliver and entertain them onstage.

3) Song presentation

Almost perfect renditions (crystal clear voice and quality singing techniques) for all your songs except for some minior glitches in the the Zhang Hui Mei's Pin Chang Xin. For the two lines of lyrics below, you sort of lost a little control over the microphone volume for both repetitions and sang a tiny little off-key for the second repetition.

Wo Xun Zao De Pin Jing

Shi Wo Jiang Lai Kan Dian Yin

Hey, I know those were microscopic errors in your singing, but I believe that unlike what you said onstage about Pin Chang Xin when you sing during live concerts, you come across to me as a singer who has Shang Jin Xin when it comes to learning and correcting - so my comments on your singing continue at such stringent standards.

4) Audience Interaction

The choice of songs that you sang obviously prevented the kind of lively interaction with the audience and I can fully understand that. You still remained interactive and approachable to the audience, taking good care to remember to face all the directions for the audience to see your performance. Keep up the good work!

5) Mcee Interaction

Mcee interaction skills have improved and see what I had meant earlier? As your willingness to interact and joke with the mcess improves, mcees are now more more willing to lend publicity to you and help you along the way during such interactions onstage. That can only do you good in the long run. Keep up your PR skills with the mcees and they will be a source of invaluable help to you onstage.

Specific pointers for other CSS participants:

I am feeling particularly generous today because all the CSS participants who sang today did well and did all those who supported the CSS competition proud. With a varied selection of singers, I believe that with cameraderie, the CSS cohort can even outdo some of the professional singers in the market if they work hard (which is why I will specifically point out some help for those who sang today). For supporters of the following CSS participants, please understand that I am NOT flaming them, for they can always choose whether to listen or ignore me altogether.

Zhiyang: Please be careful not to close your eyes too much because you automatically give up eye contact with the audience whenever you do that. You can hit the high notes but you don't seem to be able to develop your own unique style of high-note singing and cannot seem to reach for the lower notes well (especially in the duet with Teresa). Take note of these and work on them, if you choose to.

Geraldine: First, my thanks to Deantrified fanclub who seems to be cheering for Teresa as well. I suppose we can work to help the CSS cohort as a whole. Geraldine, thankfully your guitarist knows the chords or those flying notes can be disastrous if the event was a more serious concert for a more serious audience. Use a book and paper clips on the music stands to keep the notes from flying. I also noticed that the crew were actually touching the strings of your guitars before your performance. Next time, try not to let them do it because the finger oil from the crew onto the guitar strings will change the sound quality at the last minute, clogging up your performance quality.

Khim: Congratulations on finding a music school to hone your singing skills and you have definitely shown improvement. However, be very careful about the microphone volume when you sing because the first song you sang today was quite deafening and consequently lost some audience appeal. Pay attention to the audience expressions to check if your volume is too loud since you probably cannot hear yourself onstage.

Yuyang: Your voice reminds me of a combination of both Jay Chou and an senior singer Wang Jie. Make good use of your bassy voice and you can sing songs that most will probably cannot reach. However, try not to "Siao Chang" because the stage is a performing ground for the public (who spends hours standing just to watch you sing). My teachers used to tell me that you must respect the stage and if the songs do not require you to smile, don't smile.  Just concentrate on delivering the song and the audience will love you as well.

Yiyuan: Song presentation is excellent.  You are really hyper, which suits your selection of songs today. Do remember that if you are going to execute dance moves, make sure they are sharp and energetic. Take a leaf from SOUL's dance moves and incorporate them well into your songs. You will see the difference.

Alright, time to wrap up this report. Hope all of you have enjoyed reading and learning from my comments.  The mcees have repeatedly mentioned the TV drama "Ying Hou Chong De Mong" starring a number of CSS participants so do watch out for the offficial publicity for that drama.

Sean Ho

"Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul."