Season 2 of the reality singing competition will be about quality rather than popularity, writes Bibi Nurshuhada Ramli
AFTER Fareez Hazwan Fauzi emerged champion of last year’s Mentor Milenia, around 1,500 hopefuls came to try their luck at this year’s round of auditions.
A dozen have been chosen to advance to the next round but this year, things are about to get tougher in the reality singing competition.
Previously, the contestants’ marks relied on the public’s vote, namely from online and studio audiences.
Only in the final round were judges and a professional jury introduced to appraise the proteges.
In this season, however, a professional jury will determine 50 per cent of the contestants’ marks throughout the competition. The remaining 30 per cent is by online votes and 20 per cent by studio audiences’ votes.
“We had to change the system because in the previous season, we found that a large number of the public didn’t take part in voting,” says executive producer Muhamad Sufian Isa.
“The votes that we did receive were too few to correctly determine who deserved the champion title.”
Based on the production team’s experience in producing the Mentor programme, they learnt that public votes are more for popularity instead of quality.
“That’s why we introduced the jury system to not only look at the proteges’ appeal but to evaluate their merit as well,” Sufian adds.
NEW BATCH
In its second year, this highly-acclaimed singing competition hopes to unearth vocal talents aged between 17 and 21 under the guidance of celebrity mentors.
This year, the lineup of mentors comprises Hazama, Akim Ahmad, Black and Tomok (who replaced last year’s mentor Azlan, lead singer of Azlan & The Typewriter).
Each mentor has three proteges, who will compete for the final two spots in an introductory concert on Sunday (for Akim and Hazama’s proteges) and Feb 19 (for Black and Tomok’s proteges), which will air live on TV3 at 9pm.
The final eight will go on to compete in the weekly live rounds of Mentor Milenia, airing every Sunday at 9pm on TV3 starting Feb 26.
The protege with the least marks will be eliminated every week. The champion will take home RM100,000.
To emphasise the quality of the proteges, the production team searched for talents not only in Selangor but in Sabah as well.
“Based on feedback, we learnt that Sabah has plenty of great singers. For the next season, we may hold an audition in Sarawak as well.”
This year, Hazama, who was Fareez’s mentor, sought out for talents with a unique voice and who are mentally strong, as well as possess skills in acting and playing musical instruments.
His proteges are Muhammad Saiful Naim Muhd Noor (20, from Kedah), Iffah Syahira Ariffen Kamal Ariffen (21, Selangor) and Nor Balqis Ahmad Tajudin (18, Terengganu)
For Black, skills comes first (including singing traditional songs) and looks second. His proteges are Mohamad Afif Ikmayahya (20, Kelantan), Ahmad Nuzul Faiszal Mohamad (17, Kelantan) and Nur Syaheera Abd Aziz (19, Selangor).
Akim wants proteges who are focused and have their own style and personality in singing. His proteges are Noor Jannah Abu Hanipah (18, Selangor), Angelica Paujin (17, Sabah) and Mohd Farhan Mohd Mustapha (20, Pahang).
Tomok looks for proteges who can sing different genres and are eager to try something new. His proteges are Mohamad Rozaimi Rosli (20, Kedah), Nur Qhalysa Syazreena Zainuddin (17, Sabah) and Adam Malek Shamsuddin (21, Selangor).
Sufian says: “The mentors are experienced, so they know what they’re looking for.”
WHAT TO EXPECT
Hazama can’t say if he will maintain the success he had in Season 1 since the marking system has changed.
“For now, I hope to at least reach the finals. That’s my aim. Then only will we think about winning the champion title.”
Black’s former protege Qody was runner-up in last year’s competition. This year, he hopes to be more relaxed so that his proteges aren’t stressed or pressured.
“I want my proteges to genuinely appeal to the public, especially the younger generation.”
Akim gives his the freedom to select their songs for the weekly competitions, but at the same time will filter their choices.
Due to conflicting schedules, the production team members had to find a replacement for Azlan. They felt that Tomok was highly capable, since he was champion of many other reality programmes, including One In A Million, Versus and Pop Krew.
“In every competition, everyone work just as hard. At the end of the day, though, we’re still like a family,” Tomok says.
Black agrees. “We have great camaraderie and you’ll see that on stage. We hope it will make the competition
more interesting.”
“Every mentor has what it takes but in the end, it’s up to the proteges themselves,” Akim adds.
Tomok’s strategy for his proteges is for them to sing from the heart so that their performances will have more impact.
“I will share with them my experience of working on different reality competitions and advise them on how to win audiences over.”
Meanwhile, legendary singer Datuk Hattan has been appointed as the permanent jury for the competition. He will be accompanied by a professional guest jury every week.
Azmeer is the proteges adviser, Sazlan Mat Adnan is choreographer, while Faizal Uzir (Lok-U) is music director. The programme will be hosted by Issey Fazlisham and Marsha Milan Londoh.
MENTOR MILENIA SEASON 2
Airs Sundays at 9pm on TV3. Jurnal Mentor Milenia also airs on Sunday at 6pm on TV3.