Hello Everyone!
It's that time of the year again; Mrs Singapore 2023! It's the first pageant that I cover every year and it's been so long! The last time I attended a Mrs Pageant was in 2019 so I'm glad to be back and I was really excited to meet the finalists this year. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the cooking competition but I did get to catch the talent round so I'll be covering that this week. So to start the blogpost off, let's meet the finalists!
Contestant No. 1: Priscilla Toh
Contestant No. 2: Diana Lai
Contestant No. 3: Saraswathy Shameeni
Contestant No. 4: Komi Jayakumar
Contestant No. 5: Regina Firman
Contestant No. Dahlia Chakravorty
Contestant No. 7: Kelly Tan
Contestant No. 8: Sailaja Nethi
Contestant No. Rafidah Osman
Contestant No. 10: Michelle Ding
Contestant No. 11: Callysta Chen
Contestant No. C1: Sharon Lai
Contestant No. C2: Maggie Ng
Contestant No. C3: Lucia Wong
Contestant No. C4: Lynn Aw
Contestant No. C5: Yvette Chiang
Contestant No. C6: Annie Chua Goebbels
Contestant No. C7: Sally Koh
For those of you who're new to this pageant, there are two categories: the Mrs category (for ladies between 22 - 45) and these ladies will be fighting for the following titles:
Mrs Singapore Universe 2023
Mrs Singapore Globe 2023
Mrs Singapore Planet 2023
Next, the Classic Mrs category (for ladies above 45), and they will be fighting for the following titles:
Classic Mrs Singapore Universe 2023
Classic Mrs Singapore Globe 2023
Classic Mrs Singapore Planet 2023
Our wonderful judges!
The winners will then represent Singapore in their respective international pageants. The talent segment was held at Northshore Plaza, and the finals this weekend will be held at Orchid Country Club, if you're coming, I'll see you there on the 6th!
Like I said earlier, I was held up with work commitments so I wasn't able to attend the cooking segment, which was unfortunate because I'm always looking forward to what the contestants come up with! But know a lot of us are always excited for the talent segment. You can head over to ERM's youtube channel to watch the highlights for both the Talent and Cooking segments!
Before the showcase, the ladies came back on stage in activewear from Gymwear Movement. I took a little snoop on their website and I think I'm eyeing some of their pieces already~ Now, for the highlight: The talent segment!
Contestant No. 1: Priscilla Toh
Priscilla presented a dance item for us. I liked her costume a lot - I really love these pastel colours, they're really demure and gentle. I think there's always a lot of pressure on the first contestant because firstly, you set the bar and I think it's as easy to be remembered as it is to be forgotten. I think she did pretty well!
Contestant No. 2: Diana Lai
I honestly thought it was going to be a cheerleading routine like in one of the previous Miss Singapore pageants, but I guess it was a good thing it wasn't since that performance had way too many people on stage. I think it was smart that she kept it to just her - even though it was a dance item rather than a cheerleading item. We had started off with gentle, moody vibes and Diana brought the pace up with her item.
Contestant No. 3: Saraswathy Shameeni
Now this, caught my attention. It's not every day that you see someone doing powerlifting - if I remember correctly, she won a medal of some sort, I could be wrong but I remember she's pretty darn good! I don't really understand anything about this sport but I thought it was cool that she brought it to the pageant stage and honestly, who'd be able to lift that much (I think she was doing a 50) and still have a smile on their face? I was really impressed.
Contestant No. 4: Komi Jayakumar
I enjoyed the energy in her performance. I honestly liked her costume, even though I think it did confuse some of the judges. I do agree it was sort of toned down compared to what you'd expect of a bollywood dance item but I thought she looked really pretty and I felt happy watching her perform.
Contestant No. 5: Regina Firman
I was really ready for a belly dance item when I saw her costume. Spoiler - there were no bellydance items this time (shocker, I know!) so you can imagine how surprised I was when I realised it wasn't exactly a pure bellydance item. I always enjoy a performance with a prop, in this case, she had that colourful scarf so that was fun! Regina also decided to take her performance off the stage (I assume) to engage the judges a little more and I thought it was interesting since no one was really expecting it. What's a pageant without a tiny bit of fun, right?
Contestant No. Dahlia Chakravorty
I really liked her performance, it did transcend from a more mellow, moody performance at the start to a more upbeat item, but I really liked it. I loved the costume as well and I thought she looked really great on stage.
Contestant No. 7: Kelly Tan
I thought her costume was really cute! I liked the colours and that cute pink brolly~ If you've not guessed it yet, she performed a dance item for us and she kept that smile on her face throughout the whole performance.
Contestant No. 8: Sailaja Nethi
I've never seen so much effort put into a prop on the talent stage before, and before she came on stage, I'd noticed her prop by the side and I couldn't help but be really excited for her item. I thought it was really cute and sadly I didn't get to catch the second half of her item on camera. But she did do a wardrobe change with the help of her on-stage assistants. It was really fun and creative!
Contestant No. Rafidah Osman
I've not seen a traditional Malay dance like this on the talent stage for a really long time and I'm glad she decided to do it. I thought it was nice she had someone accompany her on stage - I'm guessing this sort of dance is usually done with partners. I really enjoyed it because it was something different!
Contestant No. 10: Michelle Ding
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect just by looking at Michelle's wardrobe, it could have been a dance of sorts, but I was wrong because she sang for us! I wasn't sure what the title of the song was and I think she made her song choice quite last minute too, but she pulled through and I think she should be proud of herself either way.
Contestant No. 11: Callysta Chen
I remembered that Callysta introduced herself as a 'hot mama' (or sexy mama, something along those lines!) so of course she stuck to her 'hot mama' brand with her performance! I'd say she was the most expressive out of the Mrs contestants when it came to the talent showcase, so what a way to end off the Mrs category!
Contestant No. C1: Sharon Lai
I thought Sharon's performance was really fun (not because of the dudes on stage; if that's what you guys are thinking HAHA) I think she had quite a nice energy about her and I did have fun watching her perform, though I think some of us there were sort of 'distracted'. I thought it was really sweet that her husband and her friend (I think) were so supportive to do this item with her!
Contestant No. C2: Maggie Ng
I thought her costume was spot on - she sang Nobody by the Wonder Girls, so if you know, you know. It really was quite a throwback for me, I think this was quite the earworm when kpop became more popular when I was in secondary school.
Contestant No. C3: Lucia Wong
Firstly, I'm not sure if you guys can tell how TALL she is! It blew my mind for a bit because she had her tall heels on and I'm pretty sure she was already really tall without them. Lucia performed a dance item for us and I think she put in great effort especially because it's so hard to dance in heels, and then you add on a cane too!
Contestant No. C4: Lynn Aw
I really appreciated the simplicity of her performance, I really did! She was graceful on stage, kept her smile on her face and I was engaged all the way. She didn't use any props whatsoever, and I think that does take a lot of confidence in your talent, and I think she made the right choice. I think she was one of my favourite performances for sure!
Contestant No. C5: Yvette Chiang
I love a good instrumental performance. We've seen one or two gu zheng performances on the pageant stage but I've personally not seen a pipa performance, so of course, I was very intrigued! She also had a little screen thing beside her showing a projection of japanese animations, honestly, I wasn't too sure which ones were showing but she was playing a song from one of the studio ghibli movies! You'd recognise it when you hear it for sure but unfortunately, I can't pinpoint which one it was exactly.
Contestant No. C6: Annie Chua Goebbels
So honestly I was a little confused by her performance, but after rewatching Madonna's Vogue music video, I finally understood the reference. It was unfortunate that I wasn't able to catch it when I watched her performance. It was quite an iconic piece of music but at that moment I just kept thinking of Marie Antoinette and I don't think that was what Annie was going for. But it was definitely memorable for me!
Contestant No. C7: Sally Koh
Last but not least, we had another dance performance, and again, I appreciate it when a contestant is courageous enough to just dance on stage without any props because it takes so much self-confidence. I think she should be proud of herself!
With that, all the contestants performed their items and the judges took some time to deliberate. I hope you guys have picked your favourite and if you're following ERM on instagram and facebook, I hope you've done your voting for Mrs Popularity! I've my personal favourites but of course, I will be keeping those a secret!
And we have our top 3!
From left to right:
Contestant No. C4: Lynn Aw
Contestant No. Rafidah Osman
Contestant No. C5: Yvette Chiang
With our judges and emcee!
Congratulations to the winners! We'll see you on stage again on the 6th of May during the grand finals. The top 3 will be competing again during the grand finals and one will be crowned Best in Talent. All the very best ladies!
I hope you guys enjoyed this blogpost, do follow me on instagram to have live updates of the grand finals on the 6th! Thank you ERM for having me again, 'til my next blogpost!
xx
Shayne