David Archuleta in Singapore aka My First Encounter with Celebrity Part 1

Haha! Omg! I’m so glad Cba gave me the little nudge to get my butt down to go see David Archuleta when he made an appearance tonight. In case you’re wondering, she commented this: “It’s free? And you’re wondering if you should go? It’s free. Free!” Hehe! It was a cd promotional event (maybe you could call it a showcase?) down at that new place in Bugis, Iluma. Big place. Never been there before. Blur me wasn’t even aware that they were building something there. My defence is that I barely go down to Bugis and when I do, it’s not to that area of Bugis. Haha! Anyway, I’m glad I went! It was FUN!!! Really cool to see David Archuleta – a figure that before now has existed only on youtube and TV – live and as close I could possibly get. Which was not very close. I got as close as maybe 2 or 3 metres? But I’m jumping ahead of myself and getting confused. Let’s go chronologically.

Me was looking foward to it all of yesterday and I think I sounded pathetic enough that the parents decided to come with me. It’s easy to sound pathetic when your mother asks, “Who’s going with you?” and the answer being, “Myself.” Buahaha! So anyway, I’m not exactly a die hard Archie fan. I liked him on American Idol and that’s basically it. Didn’t stop me from continuing my bus journey instead of alighting at my usual stop so that I could watch his interview on Channel News Asia, simulcast on TV Mobile this morning. (Times like this I’m glad of TV Mobile) When I got home from school just now in the afternoon, I went onto youtube and had a listen to his music. I probably would’ve looked like a total schmuck if I went down there amids all the fans and didn’t know anything. Anyway, the music was alright. Different from his AI fare but still alright. The thing was supposed to start at 7pm so me and mum went down at 5.3o to meet dad and have dinner. There was already a sizeable crowd there. Not huge yet. Just sizeable. Iluma was pretty nice. Kind of a wanna be Cineleisure I think. There was already a queue for autographs. I bought a cd and mum was like, you wanna go queue for autograph? And I’m like, no way! I’m not that huge a fan and I don’t want to be queueing all night. Anyway I’m hungry! We went to look for dinner and got on this escalator that went up and up and UP. Ended up on the 5th floor I think. Had dinner at Thai Express. It was ok. My honey sauce chicken wasn’t all that great. Heard a lot of screaming going on downstairs in the atrium. The parents were all like, “Quick! Go see!!” But I’m like, “It’s not even 6.30 yet! He’s supposed to appear at 7. He’s got a Meet and Greet at 6.30. Relax! Anyway, that’s a woman’s voice we’re hearing. Not David!”

Then I finished my dinner and went downstairs, leaving the parents to enjoy their Thai desserts – some kind of Thai chendol and tapioca with coconut sauce – not very nice imo but they seemed to enjoy it. I just realised, I paid for dinner. I treated my parents dinner for the first time without it being a special occasion. Wow! Haha! Anyway, back to my story. I finished up and went downstairs. It was tricky getting downstairs cos they closed off certain areas and escalators. Eventually I ended up in the 2nd floor lift to go down. Lucky me, I ended up in a crowd that was standing close to an entrance! Stood there and eventually, A WHITE VAN DROVE UP! Omg! David Archuleta is inside! But there were a lot of false alarms. Everyone’d start screaming the minute the doors opened but it’d be just Sony’s rep or David’s people or security. We had to move back like a lot. :p I was about 3 people in from the barrier. Then David finally came in, literally surrounded by his security entourage. Through the throng of people, I caught a glimpse of him! First thought: Nice smile. Second thought: He looks kinda short. HAHAHAHA!!! He was smiling really broadly, like he was really glad to be there and really happy to see us, and waving as he rushed/was rushed in. I think he went into one of the unopened shops to do his M&G. This was about 6.45-ish so things were running late.

Having caught a firsthand glimpse already, me went back into the crowd to find a nice spot. Not very much choice but I’m glad I thought ahead and wore my killer wedges. Helps that I’m naturally taller than the rest of the crowd (shoes notwithstanding), majority of which were 14+ year old school girls. Lot of false starts again but finally! David came up on the stage and sang! Omg! He sounds good in person. Better I think. Maybe it’s the sound system. I couldn’t quite hear when he was talking but his voice sounded good! Not airy like usual. He was a ball of energy, jumping around the stage, looking genuinely hyped up. He sang about 4 songs I think. Not quite sure the titles. I know there was “A little too not over you” (I could sing a few words of that one), “Crush”. Another was the cover “A Thousand Miles” ON KEYBOARD! Seriously! He played a portable keyboard whilst he sang. Screaming fans all round. Hard not to get caught up in the feeling. Was a bit hard to see cos of the billion cameras sticking up and even once, an annoying placard held up by someone in the front few rows, completely blocking David btw. Lucky that person put it down real quick. Fans were singing along and I had a great time. A lot of teenage schoolgirls there. A surprising number of Malays too. Didn’t expect that.

Yeah, so he sang like 4 songs then it was over. I suppose he started with the autograph session, which I didn’t stay for. There had to be a gazillion people. The entire Iluma complex was crowded full of people from ground floor to 5th floor. It was just… an Experience. Like I said, I’m really glad I went. Like the title says, this is my first time close encounter with a real celebrity. Not just any random SG 明星 or SG idol. This is American Idol. This guy’s an International Star. Anyway, I found him to be really sweet looking in person. He smiled a LOT and his smile was really really REALLY nice. Easy to see how so many people fell in love with him and all. Ok, I’m still feeling a little speechless. And my arms are aching so it’s a bit hard to type. My arms are aching cos I was one of those fighting for a good view for my camera and I ended up holding my camera at arms length above my head for about 15 minutes straight. Hurts! I’m upload videos tomorrow. Need to sift through and see which were the false starts. Hope they turned out nice. *fingers crossed* Unfortunately, I think it’ll be pretty obvious when I was getting into the music and not paying attention to the camera. The image drifts. Can see when my arms started to hurt too, the picture starts to tremble. But, being there was great even if the camera thing didn’t work out too well. I’m of the opinion that one should look at the event live rather than through the camera lens, unless really can’t be helped. So that’s why I sometimes didn’t pay attention to the camera. My eyes are better resolution than the camera anyway, especially with the zoom in. My camera’s not a video recorder. Hope it did worked ok though. I’d like to let Daryl’s mum watch it. She likes David Archuleta too but unfortunately she was busy and couldn’t come down with me just now.

Anyway, I’m gonna go and listen to the cd I bought. Am playing it as I type this post. Very nice background music, I’m afraid to say. I’m kind of interested to hear what kind of music he’ll put out in a few years, after he’s got a bit more experience in the industry and is a bit more free from the label. His dad’s still his manager. Hope he’s treating the kid properly. Still remember the incidents on AI when his dad was freaking controlling. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see what the next few years bring to him. David’s going up to KL for a concert tomorrow, or, if I guessed right, later tonight. Poor kid can’t catch a break. He’s still new to the business however. Not yet jaded, still incredibly jazzed up by the fans. It’s a good thing. Anyway, from tonight, I can’t help wishing Clay Aiken would just give in and come to SG already. If David Archuleta, some upstart runner up from AI, could fill a building with fans just to catch a glimpse of him and hear him sing four songs, surely Clay can do the same. Oh well, doesn’t hurt to hope.

See ya! Videos’ll be up soon, hopefully. In Part 2. ;D

~ by mezzogal on April 7, 2009.