Winner of One Million Star Jam Hsiao did not disappoint in his recent Mr Rock World concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Contributed by By Nicolette Ng
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| CN PHOTO: Michael Chan | |
Jam Hsiao Jing Teng, winner of popular Taiwan singing contest One Million Star, shot to fame after just three brief appearances on the CTV show. To hear him sing live, Hsiao’s fans began showing up at the pubs and restaurants where he worked. He was so hot, Warner Music signed him up on a four-year contract, and that was when his fast-track to stardom began.
What made Hsiao’s March 13 concert a resounding success wasn’t the elaborate costumes, the confetti, or even the magnificent stage design and fireworks—it was the packed-to-capacity adoring crowd of 7,500 who were drunk on Hsiao’s impressive vocals and incredible talent.
Hsiao first appeared on a raised platform, lit by a red spotlight, decked out in a long black costume with pearls, as he crooned the first song of his debut concert. Effortlessly belting out well-known English songs such as “Desperado” and “You Give Love A Bad Name”, other songs in Chinese, Cantonese, Hokkien, even Japanese, Hsiao’s vocals carried an explosive force. Yet, his voice was also capable of touching hearts deeply.
Hsiao’s rendition of Korean cult hit “Nobody” drove the crowd wild. In addition, his cool dance moves got everyone on their feet rocking along to the music, waving their purple light sticks. At one point, he came out on rollerblades, crooning his number “Blues”.
Smoothly switching from fast numbers to ballads, Hsiao kept his audience dazzled with his theatrical costumes. His knack with musical instruments also blew the crowd away, as he performed a solo on a drum set.
Contrary to his powerful performance and breath-taking charisma while singing, Hsiao is also known for being monosyllabic, soft-spoken, and shy in person. He made fun of this personality quirk by playing a two-minute recording that describes his journey to stardom. Instead of appearing on stage, a life-size cardboard cut-out of him was placed in front of the audience as the recording played. This tickled and charmed his audience to no end.
Hsiao’s encore ended the night with just him and the piano (which he played beautifully), singing songs from his self-titled album.
A concert that rocked hard and ended sweetly left me wide-eyed and absolutely impressed.
