Malaysians will be tuning into AXN intently on 4th and 11th April to see if female local group, NAMA and Yaashwin Sarawanan, the Human Calculator, have got what it takes to win Asia’s Got Talent. Both talents have made their way to the finals of season three of the show, after wowing judges, David Foster, Anggun and Jay Park as well as fans.
NAMA scored the Judges’ Pick – a unanimous decision made by the show’s judges, which sent them to the finals. Yaashwin on the other hand impressed fans to garner enough votes to book his way to the finals of the competition. With two finalists, this marks the country’s best showing at the competition.
“We didn’t expect to make it to the finals but we did aim for it,” said NAMA group member Nur Fazrina Mohd Ani. The group also comprising Noor Syamimi Makhetar, Norfazira Malik, 24; and Nur Farahida Dolhadi formed in 2017 after meeting in University. Originally singing as a Nasyid group, the quartet decided to diversify their performances in order to gain a bigger audience.
“Although we’re now singing English and Bahasa songs, we have to say that Nasyid thought us harmony, and that has helped immensely with our performance,” said Nur Fazrina. According to Nor-Fazira, the group decided to enter Asia’s Got Talent as they saw it as a platform to be recognised and to also showcase their musical talents to penetrate the market.
“Since we took part, we’ve had an increase of booking inquiries. There was also a significant rise in our followers on Facebook,” revealed Noor Syamimi. But the group did admit that training and performing for Asia’s Got Talent has helped give them better chemistry.
“We had to switch up our performances, not just from a singing point but also to include choreography,” explained Nur Farahida. “We know what each of us brings in terms of melody, so we had to figure the best way to arrange the vocals and melody in our performance.”
Although scoring the Judges Pick, NAMA did hit a hiccup along the way. “David Foster initially said no to us during the audition stage, but he gave us constructive feedback and we took that to heart and set out to make improvements,” said Nur Fazrina. According to the group, if the stars align and they did win the competition, they aim to use the momentum to further their musical career and to make an album.
“For now, we’re just happy that we made it this far because we want to make the country proud,” added Nur Fazrina.
Watch the final performance show on April 4 and the final results show on April 11 on AXN (Astro Ch 701). Voters can cast their votes for the nine Asia’s Got Talent finalists at AXN-Asia.com/AGTVote.
