Futures were on the line. A star-making TV show, "My Hero" on
Dragon TV, was whittling down the field in the open air. The judges
were not as cruel as on "American Idol." A Japanese singer gave a
female judge a lotus flower and suggested a date. Nice touch. He
made it.
Tokyo native Komatsu Takuya
(Xiaosong Tuoye in Chinese) sings David Tao's ballad Love Is
Simple during the preliminary round of the popular talent show
"My Hero." Takuya is the first overseas contestant to participate
in the show, and has entered the final 36.
With his spiked hair and patterned shirt, Xiaosong Tuoye looks
like another wannabe Chinese pop star. Don't be fooled -- his real
name is Komatsu Takuya, he's a part-time mobile-phone salesman from
Tokyo and last weekend in Shanghai he took his first tentative
steps down the path to nationwide fame.
Takuya, the first overseas contestant to take part in China's
hugely popular Dragon TV show "My Hero," negotiated the preliminary
round of the talent contest on Saturday afternoon in front of a
small crowd of shoppers and teenage girls outside the Shanghai TV
studios on Nanjing Road.
Accompanying himself on guitar, the handsome, willowy
26-year-old sang the David Tao ballad Love is Simple, and
although he sang it well, the three female judges sitting in front
of the stage seemed more impressed by his appearance.
"You're very good-looking," one of the female judges said.
Takuya, egged on by the other two judges, handed the woman a
long-stemmed lotus flower on the table, there probably for this
purpose. "Maybe you can go out with me sometime," he said, settling
easily into the role of pop-star Casanova.
It did the trick. Confetti exploded from the stage, music
played, the crowd cheered -- Takuya was through.
"I'm very happy," Takuya said later after signing a few forms
with producers, and then a few autographs for a throng of shouting
girls that materialized as soon as he stepped off stage. His first
groupies.
"I've never performed in front of that many people before. It
was very exciting. I've never had a chance like this before," he
added.
Takuya, who flew from Japan just for the contest, was one of
three people to get the confetti treatment that afternoon.
Three others had gone through in the morning to join the winners
from last weekend and the weekend before that. On Sunday, those 36
were whittled down to 18, including Takuya, and during the May Day
holidays will be further reduced to the six who will go on to the
competition's national stage.
Following all of the roughly 200 singers, dancers and rappers
and amateur magicians that had appeared on Saturday, and standing
nervously at the back entrance to the stage, was Zhang Shihai, a
23-year-old graphic designer who had the misfortune of being not
just the last performer of the day but also of the entire Shanghai
preliminaries.
The odds were stacked against him. The judges, quotas full and
bored from a long day of listening to ballads sung by earnest young
men in monochrome blazers, were reeling through the final
contestants as quickly as formalities would allow.
Zhang didn't have a blazer, and his microphone wasn't switched
on as he walked on stage, causing a few moments of confusion. He
also hadn't prepared any music for his dance routine and the judges
sat impassively as he writhed and waved his arms around in silence,
as if he were behind glass.
The judges were kind, though. This was not "American Idol," and
the panel was more Paula Abdul than Simon Cowell.
"They told me my performance wasn't very good," Zhang said after
he got off stage. "I wasn't very happy with it either. I did feel
pretty relaxed up there, though."
He walked off with a friend, out the door through which just a
few minutes earlier Takayu had purposefully strode, chased by a
trail of babbling young autograph hunters, his guitar slung over
his shoulder.
(Shanghai Daily April 18, 2007)
