I was invited to be on the live set of Asia’s Got Talent grand finals yesterday and it was a fun experience to watch the 9 grand finalists showcase their talent and to witness what it’s like behind the scenes.
[Credit: AXN Asia]
The Grand Finalists
[Credit: AXN Asia]
ERIC CHIEN [Taiwan] His poetic sleight of hand sets him apart from other Asia’s Got Talent performers. Eric, whose magic journey began in high school, recently emerged as the winner of the Close-up Magic category of Fédération Internationale des Sociétés Magiques, also referred to as the World Championships of Magic, in 2018. Since then, he has made his transition to becoming a performer.
JUNIOR GOOD VIBES [Philippines] This hip hop and street dance crew, which comprises of 16 members aged between 17 to 25 years old, bagged the talent show’s second Judges’ Pick with their emotional, high energy and thrilling acrobatic performance during the Semi-Finals.
MANIAC FAMILY [Taiwan] The Taiwanese dance crew consists of a teacher and her students who have been practicing ‘like maniacs’ in the past few years for Asia’s Got Talent. Despite specialising in the genre of hip-hop, the troupe aims to showcase their Chinese culture through their clean and sharp dance moves. This is Anggun’s Golden Buzzer act.
NAMA [Malaysia] A talented hijab-clad girl group who blew the audience away with their rendition of Lady Gaga’s hit “Bad Romance” during their audition round. Their feminine yet strong performance impressed Anggun and Jay Park so much that they were likened to the legendary vocal group The Supremes. The group first met while studying in university in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is determined to prove that strong women can have ambitions.
POWER DUO [Philippines] A contemporary acrobatic dance duo. A romantic couple, Jervin Minor and Ajha Portales’ real-life chemistry contributes greatly to the magic that they create on stage. The pair is also known to demonstrate a great level of trust in all their performances. Despite performing challenging acrobatic moves, they always seem so beautiful, elegant and graceful on stage.
SHADOW ACE [Philippines] Philip Galit has impressively nimble fingers that can transform into all sorts of shapes. By simply relying on light and mini props, he is able to create shadows that tell stories. During his audition, Philip shared that growing up, his family did not have enough money for electricity supply in their home. This eventually led to him discover the art of shadow play using his hands, flashlight and candlelight.
SITI SANIYAH [Indonesia] A singer who impressed the judges so much that she received the first Judges’ Pick of the season. With her powerful vocals and groovy moves, it is no surprise Siti has managed to steal the spotlight and captivate the audience as well as judges’ hearts with her bombastic stage presence.
YAASHWIN SARAWANAN [Malaysia] He may only be fifteen years old, but he is determined to prove that mathematics is a fun and interesting subject through his performances. Since his debut during the audition round, Yaashwin has successfully floored the judges with his ability to complete the most complex calculations faster than a calculator. The young lad was also crowned the International Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition champion in 2017.
YANG SHIH HAO [Taiwan] Cyr Wheel dancer. The 26-year-old was first inspired by a cyr wheel street performance when he travelled to France four years ago. Today, his performances are not only unique; they are alluring, beautiful, effortless and almost seems to defy gravity.
The top acts that impressed me – in no particular order – were Eric Chien, Junior Good Vibes, and Power Duo, and Yang Shih Hao.
All nine acts will be up for public voting and only one act will be crowned the winner of Asia’s Got Talent and awarded the grand prize of US$100,000.
Voting opens from Thursday, 4 April until Wednesday, 10 April, 11:59pm, and fans can vote via Google Search and Facebook Messenger. For more information on voting, visit www.AXN-Asia.com/AGTVote.
Asia’s Got Talent Season 3 will culminate next Thursday, 11 April at 8:30pm (7:30pm JKT/BKK) on AXN with the Results Show. To follow the journey of this season’s acts, subscribe to the official AXN Asia YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/AXNAsia.
Meeting Semi Finalist TK Jiang, Digital Magician
Before this event, I was also invited to a preview of last week’s semi finals episode and got to meet the Singaporean digital magician TK Jiang, who blew the judges away with his skilful performance that combined technology with traditional magic and earned him Singapore’s first ever Golden Buzzer from celebrity judge Jay Park.
TK is a nice guy who went to the trouble of talking to every single one of the guests before he performed some magic tricks for us. We were impressed by his live performance as well as his semi finals act.
Unfortunately he didn’t secure enough votes to move on to the finals (despite my votes for him), but getting that far has surely put him on the map.P
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