BEING mentors for the first time to new talent, singers Misha Omar and Siti Sarah Raisuddin are aware that their popularity may fade when fans switch their attention to new stars.
Misha, 36, and Siti Sarah, 33, are showing fellow “otais” how to stay relevant by scouting for proteges in the 10th season of TV3’s music-themed reality show Mentor, themed Mentor Otai.
“Each artiste will have his or her season. None of us will be at the top forever,” said Misha, who rocketed to fame after winning Bintang RTM 2001.
“Being proactive keeps us visible to fans and coaching fresh talent enables us to move to the next level,” said Siti Sarah, a finalist of Bintang RTM 2001 and One In A Million (Season 3).
The duo agreed that guiding rookies in showbiz was a good way to strengthen their brands as it “reinvented” them as mentors.
Misha said: “Passing on our experiences as singers to newbies keeps our fans in the loop. They will know what we are doing and continue to identify with us, while also appreciating flavours of the month.”
Siti Sarah said finding proteges did not mean finding “clones” to succeed them.
“Originality is the key to an artiste’s success. Every person with talent is different, and the job of us veterans is to polish them and improve their skills.”
Misha said: “While my genre of choice is pop ballads, I welcome proteges who excel in other genres, such as rock.
“As a mentor, I am responsible for sharing the secrets of my success with my proteges, and to supervise how they carry themselves.”
The duothanked local television stations for coming up with music-themed reality shows over the last 15 years as such shows were an avenue for singers to discover young musicians.
“Gegar Vaganza has been great at reintroducing veteran singers to young music fans.
“For us, it is a means to connect with newer fans,” said Siti Sarah, who won second place in Gegar Vaganza (Season 3) two years ago.
Mentor Otai’s other mentors are rock singer Tam of Spider and Zarul Husin of Umbrella.
The four mentors will choose two proteges from three hopefuls at the show’s first concert at Sri Pentas 2, Plaza Alam Sentral, in Shah Alam on Sunday.
On Jan 27 and 28, and Feb 3 and 4, the mentors saw the auditions of more than 1,500 hopefuls at Royale Chulan Damansara in Mutiara Damansara. Also conducting the auditions were composers Azmeer and Ajai.
The proteges perform for eight weeks before judges Edry Abdul Halim and Mark Adam in Mentor Otai concerts to be aired live on TV3 at Sri Pentas 2 at 9pm on Sundays.
Marks are determined by the judges (50 per cent), a public jury comprising musicians and lecturers (20 per cent) and viewers’ votes (30 per cent).
The top three winners get RM100,000, RM50,000 and RM20,000.