Life and love after Project SuperStar

SINGAPORE - At the height of the reality TV singing craze in the early 2000s, local viewers were glued to their television sets watching the popular reality singing contest American Idol.

Singapore's answer to its own reality singing contest for Mandopop singers came in the form of Project SuperStar in 2005. The show had a second season in the following year.

After eight years, the third season is finally here.

A fresh batch of 12 finalists were picked at a showdown held last Saturday.

One of them will emerge as the champion on Oct 26 and win a contract with MediaCorp and a yet-to-be-confirmed amount of cash.

MediaCorp TV's vice-president of branding and promotions Paul Chan says: "Due to the limited talent pool in Singapore, we recognise that holding Project SuperStar frequently will compromise the standard of the competition."

It remains to be seen how far this season's hopefuls will fare in the cut-throat world of entertainment.

The first two seasons of SuperStar launched the singing careers of finalists such as Derrick Hoh, Kelvin Tan Wei Lian and Kelly Poon.

The most successful has to be former contestant Vincy Chan. Though she made it only to the top 24 in the first season, she went on to pursue a successful Cantopop singing career in Hong Kong. She has released 13 albums in Mandarin and Cantonese.

But many other finalists do not become singing stars for various reasons.

Life! tracks down a few of the show's alumni, from a pair who have found love and got hitched to a back-up singer for A-list popstar Wang Leehom.

Touring with stars

Who: Leon Lim, 28, Project SuperStar Season One (2005), top 12 finalist

Now: Freelance back-up singer and freelance property agent

Lim says he will forever remember the moment he sang in front of 80,000 fans at the Shanghai Stadium in 2011 - never mind if they were not his fans. It was the first time he was singing back-up for the touring A-list Mandopop star Wang Leehom (above right, with Lim).

"It was very exciting. I won't forget the date of my first show - Nov 5, 2011. The pressure was all on Wang, we were just supporting him. It was unbelievable. He had the crowd cheering and singing along with him."

Lim went on to be the backing vocalist for all 57 shows on Wang's tour, which included stops in cities such as London and Hong Kong.

Since last July, he has also been booked for an ongoing touring gig with home-grown singer JJ Lin.

Before these tours, he was almost resigned to the fate of getting a regular nine-to-five job and had relegating singing to a hobby. Now with the opportunity to sing for a living, he went from full-time property agent to freelancer as well as singing at bilingual live music venue Switch by Timbre in Bras Basah.

While he has "to work to earn money", singing remains his passion. "In fact, the money I earned from my days as a property agent is helping to fund my EP now," says Lim, who has set aside $20,000 to record his own EP.

In November, he will be fulfilling another of his heart's desires: He will be tying the knot with his long-time girlfriend, a 24-year-old marketing executive.

He says: "She has been with me since my SuperStar days. Fortunately for me, she's a very down-to-earth person. I'm very thankful for her support."

Writing lyrics on the side

Who: Zhang Lesheng, 33, Project SuperStar Season Two (2006), top eight finalist

Now: Bank manager by day, song lyricist by night

Zhang may not have carved out a career singing songs, but the former Project SuperStar contestant has got recording artists singing his words.

He is credited for writing the lyrics to more than 300 songs for MediaCorp dramas and about 80 songs for singers such as Taiwan's Rainie Yang and Singapore's Joi Chua.

Word got around about his flair for the Chinese language after he started singing at Mu Chuan (The Ark) music cafe in 2000, six years before he entered Project SuperStar, and MediaCorp poached him for lyric-writing duties in 2003.

Zhang, who came to Singapore at the age of 18 from Zhejiang, China, to do a master's in engineering at Nanyang Technological University, candidly admits he had hoped to be in the limelight at first.

"If you take part in the Project SuperStar contest, more or less you do harbour dreams of becoming a singer.

"If not, why would you take part in the contest? It was a platform to gain exposure," he says.

"I did have a small chance at becoming a recording artist. A recording company was interested in signing me on after Project SuperStar.

"I waited around for months, but nothing came out of it. So I decided it was time for me to get a regular job."

Now a Singaporean and married to a 32-year-old private banker, he is content to treat lyric-writing as a sideline, earning about $1,000 to $2,000 for a song that is distributed in the local market. The couple have a three- week-old daughter.

The royalties he receives depends on factors such as the reach of the distribution and the number of times the song's music video is played.

Confident after contest

Who: Ruth Chua, 26, Project SuperStar Season One (2005), top 10 finalist

Now: Marketing manager with an Italian restaurant and freelance singer and emcee

Nerves got the better of Chua during the fateful round where she was eliminated during the Project SuperStar contest, she recalls.

"I was so nervous that I choked on my saliva and the words didn't come out. I sounded like I forgot the lyrics. I was only 17 years old then," says Chua, who was then studying at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

She went on to graduate with a diploma in fashion merchandising and marketing in 2009 and subsequently did a bachelor's degree in business management.

The setback convinced the shy teen she was not cut out for live singing. But with the encouragement of fellow contestants and friends, she continued with her passion.

Now she sings and even hosts weddings as well as community and mall events. She does all these while juggling a full-time job - she has worked in human resource and marketing - since the contest ended in 2005.

Taking part in the "life-changing" contest has boosted her confidence, she says.

"I used to be very reserved and I didn't talk much.

"Performing on TV helped to give me confidence or at least pretend to be confident when I'm not. This has helped me in many aspects of my life."

Once rivals, now spouses

Who: Candyce Toh, 34, Project SuperStar Season One (2005), top eight finalist

Now: Host of MediaCorp fashion programme Style: Check-in and a regular guest on the Singapore version of Taiwanese beauty infotainment show Lady First

Who: Hong Junyang, 33, Project SuperStar Season One (2005), top four finalist

Now: Songwriter and talent scout based in Taipei

While the competition was heating up on Project SuperStar, there were rumours of sparks flying between contestants Toh and Hong.

The gossip was further fuelled when Hong gave Toh a hug after she was eliminated.

Last week, in an interview with Life! over the telephone, Toh insists it was a friendly hug and the couple only got together a year after the contest.

In 2009, they got married after his proposal.

Now that the romantic dust has settled, the couple are focused on building their careers - Toh in Singapore and Hong in Taiwan.

Keen to further his music career, Hong, who has released only one album, 2006's Unicorn, moved to Taipei in 2012 to be a freelance producer and songwriter.

"Taiwan is the core of the Chinese music industry. It has always been my plan to relocate as my work involves working with professionals in the Taiwan music industry."

He has written songs for Taiwanese acts such as boyband Spexial and singer Valen Hsu. He has also been tasked by home-grown record label Ocean Butterflies to discover and groom new talent in Taiwan.

He says: "When I was young, I did have dreams to become a recording artist. I still harbour dreams to do so if the right opportunity comes."

While Toh has given Hong her support, she says: "My family and friends are here and my career is picking up... For now, I want to stay in Singapore and do what I like."

To maintain their relationship, Toh flies to Taipei once every three months to spend time with Hong, in addition to daily WhatsApp chats.

Do the couple have plans to start a family? Toh says: "We'll let nature take its course."

nggwen@sph.com.sg

Project SuperStar premieres on Channel U on Aug 18 at 8pm.

This article was first published on July 10, 2014.
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