Indonesian Idol

Indonesian Idol is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia Asia, which began airing on RCTI on March 2004. Part of the Idol franchise, it was as a spin-off from the UK show Pop Idol. The concept of the series is to find new solo recording artists.

The program aims to discover the best singer in the country where the winner is determined by the viewers. Through telephone and SMS text voting, viewers have chosen as winners Joy Tobing, Mike Mohede, Ihsan Tarore, Rini Wulandari , Aris Runtuwene, and Igo Pentury (listed in chronological order). Other alumni from the program include Delon Thamrin, Helena Andrian, Winda Viska Ria, Judika Sihotang, Dearly Sompie, and Fandy Santoso (listed in chronological order).

The series employs a panel of judges who critique the contestants' performances. The original four judges were AMI Awards-winning Jazz musician Indra Lesmana, AMI Awards-winning pop singer Titi DJ, Radio announcer and presenter Meuthia Kasim and video director Dimas Djayadiningrat. In 2006, television presenter Indy Barends joined the panel as a fourth judge replaced Meuthia Kasim.Since 2007 the judging panel consists of Indra Lesmana and Titi DJ while MTV video jockey/comedian Jamie Aditya and singer-songwriter Anang Hermansyah replaced Indy Barends. In 2004 to 2005, Irgi Ahmad Fahrezy was the co-host and replaced by MTV video jockey Daniel Mananta ,for four seasons the show has been hosted by presenter Amelia Natasha and in 2008 replaced by pop singer Dewi Sandra and currently the show has been hosted by Daniel Mananta .

Indonesian Idol won the 2005 and 2006 Panasonic Awards for the Best Music Variety Show. It also defeated its rival, Akademi Fantasi Indosiar, known locally as AFI, but in 2004 AFI won the Best Reality Show award in Panasonic Awards 2004. Singapore Tourism Board also rewarded Indonesian Idol Season 1 by inviting the Top 11 contestants of to the American Idol World Tour there. Joy, the winner of season 1, was the opening singer of the concert.

The show was hosted by Amelia Natasha aka Ata and Irgi Ahmad Fahrezi aka Irgi. Later, Irgi was replaced by Daniel Mananta due to his popularity in MTV.

But after the fifth season, the event was discontinued because of declining ratings, and resumed his sixth season in 2010. But in 2010, ratings were not convincing enough to proceed. Until the end of RCTI and Fremantle Media as executor stop this program and replace it with a new program, X Factor Indonesia.

Winners

Overview

Auditions

There were 2 rounds of auditions which usually took place in large convention halls where thousands of people waited in line. The first round judges were the Sony BMG people. Those who pass the first round of preliminary auditions continued to audition in front of the Indonesian Idol main judges. Contestants were required to sing a cappella with poor singers often facing intense and humbling criticism from the judges. Typically the judges express disgust or dismay or suppressed laughter. Those who impress the majority of the judges, move on to the elimination round which take place in Jakarta. Usually only 150 to 170 contestants get through to the elimination round in Jakarta.

Contestants had to be Indonesian citizens . For the first season, contestants were required to be between the ages 18 to 24 years old. In order to increase variety, in the second and third season the age requirement was lowered from 18 to 16 and the upper age limit was raised from 24 to 28. As a result there were many teenagers that made it to the final 12 such as Monita and Vira from the second season and also Tesa, Brinet, Christy, Ihsan, Gea and Dirly from the third season. For the fifth season, the eligible age-range for contestants were 17 to 29.

Elimination Round

There were 3 elimination rounds. In the first elimination round, 170 contestants from around Indonesia were separated in 17 groups of 10 contestants. In the 2nd elimination round, male and female contestants were paired and sang duets. In the last elimination round the remaining contestants sang their choice of song alone in front of the judges. The judges then inform them whether they have made it onto the stage show or not.

Workshop Round

Season 1

In the first season, 30 contestants were separated in groups of 10 and every week three contestants from each group were chosen to the Top 10 or The Spectacular Show. Audiences vote their favorites by SMS and Premium Calls. After 9 contestants were chosen, there was a wild card round. Only one contestant from the Wild Card round could join the 9 contestants at the Spectacular Show. Karen Theresia Pooroe won the most audience votes, advancing to the Top 10. Although the spectacular show was supposed to have a set of 10 contestants,^[2] the judges announced at the last minute that they would be advancing a second wild card/eleventh contestant, Lucky Octavian, as well.

Season 2

In the second season, there was no Wild Card round. 24 contestants were separated into groups of 8. Every week, 4 contestants were picked to move on to the Top 12.

Season 3

For the third season, the workshop stage consisted of three rounds each for male and female contestants. There were 28 contestants that made it to the workshop stage on the third season. In the first week, eight contestants (four males and four females) were sent home. Six contestants (three males and three females) were sent home in the second week, and the final workshop eliminated four more contestants (two males and two females). Before the spectacular round, pre-gala and wild card show was held. Four of the eliminated contestants were chosen by the judges and two of them, one male and one female, were given a place in the Spectacular Show based on voting result.

Season 6

The sixth season saw several changes to the format of the show. There were 14 finalists instead of 12. On the Workshop round, 24 semifinalists were divided into 2 groups. Each consists of 6 male and 6 females. Four contestants of each group got voted off in the first and second week, two in third, fourth and fifth week respectively until resulting the top 10 contestants who filled 10 of 14 spots on the Spectacular Shows. The judges selected 8 of the previously eliminated 14 semifinalists to compete in the Wild Card round. Two contestants were picked based on votes by the viewers while the other two were selected by the judges. A total of four contestants (two males and two females) advanced to the final group of 14.

Spectacular Show

The Spectacular Show, which lasted eleven weeks, each finalist performed a song live (two in the top 4 and top 3 and three in the finale) in prime time with a weekly theme at Balai Sarbini Concert Hall in Jakarta in front of live audiences. Unlike American Idol, Indonesian Idol's Result Show is conducted about 1 hour after the Spectacular Show. For the Grand Final, the Result Show was conducted 7 days after the Grand Final. In the Result Show, some finalists who get the fewest votes are put in the bottom three or bottom two. Each week, finalist with the fewest votes is sent home. This process was repeated each week until the one remaining contestant is declared the winner.

Indonesian Idol's famous sentence for the result is Indonesia Memilih! (Indonesia has chosen!) along with a 1 minute pause and at last, the result. Every season, the two remaining finalists in the Grand Final sing a new single for the Winner's Record. The song is going to be recorded at the winner's album.

Judges

• Indra Lesmana – Musician, Composer, Sound Engineer, Producer (Season 1–5)
• Titi DJ – Singer (Season 1–5)
• Meuthia Kasim – Presenter (Season 1&2)
• Dimas Djayadiningrat – Director (Season 1–3)
• Indy Barens – Presenter (Season 3)
• Jamie Aditya – Presenter Discovery Channel, MTV Asia VJ (Season 4)
• Anang Hermansyah – Music Producer (Season 4-6)
• Erwin Gutawa – Musician, Composer, Producer (Season 6)
• Agnes Monica – Singer (Season 6)

Hosts

• Daniel Mananta (Season 3-6)
• Amelia Natasha (Season 1–4)
• Irgi Ahmad Fahrezi (Season 1 & 2)
• Dewi Sandra (Season 5)

Guest Judges

• Season 1: Krisdayanti
• Season 2: Yovie Widianto,^[3] Ahmad Dhani^[4]
• Season 4: Tika Panggabean^[5]
• Season 5: Rio Febrian, Melly Goeslaw, Nugie, Yovie Widianto¹
• Season 6: Rossa,^[6] Melly Goeslaw, Ahmad Dhani^[7]

¹In season 5, guest judge Yovie sat in the audience's seat.

Season Synopsis

Season 1

The first season was conducted in 2004 where the auditions were held at five cities: Medan, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Jakarta. 32,000 people who auditioned for Season 1. The show became a big phenomenon after the grandfinale was watched by about 4 millions people in September 2004. There were several people who sang off-keys on the audition who competed on 'Coba Lagi Awards' (Try Again Awards). The winner of this award became a guest star on The Top 11 Spectacular Show's Result Show.

The number of the finalists on the first Spectacular Show was originally planned to be 10. However, the judges then made a surprising move by picking Lucky Octavian to also get the wild-card ticket (the first wild card ticket was taken by Karen Pooroe) making the number of contestants became 11. Guy Sebastian who was in Indonesia for his album promo tour, came as a guest star at the Top 7 Spectacular Show.^[8]

Indonesian Idol released its first compilation album, Indonesian Idol: Indonesian All Time Hits. The album made a huge success and had a Double Platinum status.^[9] In the album, the Top 11 sang their first hit, Ekspresi.

Two finalists who battled at the Grand Finale were Joy Destiny Tobing and Delon Thamrin. There were 7,000 people who watched the show live at Istora Senayan, Jakarta.^[10] The soon to be Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also watched the grandfinal. Eventually, the winner of the first season was Joy Destiny Tobing from Jakarta.^[11]

She signed a contract deal with BMG Indonesia, the partner of Indonesian Idol's 19 Management. Not so long after her victory, Joy released her first album, Terima Kasih (Thank You) including her new single, most notable as her coronation song, Karena Cinta.^[12]

After the show, the top 10 finalists (minus Helena Andrian who withdrew her participation due to contract problem) had a tour around Indonesia. They visited Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, and Medan. Indonesian Idol Finalists were given the opportunity as the opening singers on American Idol tour in Singapore not long after the show.

A few weeks after the tour, Joy's contract with the show's producer, FremantleMedia, was terminated after some problems regarding terms of her contract.^[13][14][15] As a result, runner-up Delon Thamrin was more heavily promoted by Fremantle afterwards.

After leaving Indonesian Idol, Joy made her first international album called Rise.^[16] Rumors said that Joy had been planning to resign from Indonesian Idol since the audition for her fame. Delon also took hist first role as a movie star by starring at the movie Vina Bilang Cinta with Indonesia's famous actress Rachel Maryam.^[17]

Before Joy, Helena also resigned from Indonesian Idol^[18][19] and released her first solo album on 2005 titled Keajaiban Cinta.^[20] Nania ,the second runner-up, and Karen also chose to resign shortly after Helena.^[21]

Delon's first album was released on October 2004 with the single Bahagiaku. His album also made a huge success.^[22] He was also featured in Indonesian Famous Singer, Andre Hehanusa,'s album with his single Aku Masih Cinta (I still Love You). Delon's second album was released on December 2005. Delon was also nominated as the Best New Singer in Anugrah Planet Muzik 2005. He also won a 2005 SCTV Award as The Best New Artist.

Michael Jakarimilena starred a movie about a Papua boy where he starred as one of the villagers in the movie.^[23] The movie was released in Indonesia in 2006. Winda Viska Ria takes a role at a local sitcom called OB Office Boy. Nania was featured in Indra Lesmana's album and sang Sedalam Cintamu (As Deep as Your Love) with Indra Lesmana. Adika Priatama has been working for RCTI as an anchor.

Elimination chart

¹ The first week of The Spectacular Show was a Double Elimination Week and four contestants were announced unsafe.
² Due to having an appendicitis, Nania was absent on the Top 7 show,^[24] leaving the show with only 6 contestants. She was allowed to remain on the show proceeding to the top 6 week, but just for one week. Otherwise she would automatically be voted off.
³ It was revealed that the number of votes cast during the grand final week were approximately 4 million. Less than 6 percent margin separated Joy and Delon.^[25]

Season 2

The second season started on 25 March 2005. Auditions were held from 15 February – 17 March at five cities: Makassar, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Jakarta. The audition in Medan was canceled due to the tsunami on 2004 that destroyed most part of Aceh and North Sumatra. Then, as a replacement, the adution was also held in Makassar. There were 38,000 people who auditioned for the second season.

There were some changes on the second season, named there was no Wildcard round, and the number of the finalists on the spectacular show became 12. There were 9 male contestants who made it to the top 12 and only 3 female contestants. It is the only Indonesian Idol season to have a gender imbalance among the finalists.

Indonesian Idol Season 2 Compilation Album was released 3 weeks after the Spectacular Show began. The title of the album was Seri Cinta or Love Songs. The album single hits was Cintaku, sang by the Season 2's Top 12.

Two finalists that who in the Finale were Mike and Judika. The Grand Final was held at the Pleanary Hall of Jakarta Convention Center. In the Result Show, some stars became guest stars, one of them was Christian Bautista a famous male singer from the Philippines. Ruth Sahanaya, Indonesia's Pop Diva made a surprise appearance for Mike and Judika when they sang her song, Tak Kuduga. Season 1 finalists came to the Result Show and sang together with season 2's finalists.^[26]

The number of votes cast during the grand final week were only 1 million. Mike took the crown by a slim two percent margin.^[27] It was said that Judika led the vote before the Result Show, but finally Mike passed him and won.^[28]

Not long after the finale, he released his self-titled album with his new single, Semua Untuk Cinta (All For Love). Many great Indonesian Composers made some songs for Mike's first album, including, Cinta Tak Bertuan composed by Glenn Fredly. Runner up Judika has also released his solo album. His album was released on August 2006. The Top 12 contestants had a tour to Surabaya. The tour was originally planned to also go to Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Makassar. However, Fremantle canceled it without any published reason.

Elimination chart

Season 3

The third season of Indonesian Idol was launched on 21 April 2006. The auditions were held at some Indonesia's major cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Medan. This season, Indonesian Idols also conducted small auditions at some other cities such as Manado and Ambon. The contestants who passed the initial round in both Manado and Ambon were eventually brought into an elimination round in Surabaya. After an additional elimination round, the final group of contestants were finally brought to Jakarta to determine the final twelve contestants who made it onto the Spectacular Show.

As with previous Indonesian Idol seasons, the spectacular show was held in Balai Sarbini (Sarbini Building) located in South Jakarta. The Third Season's finalists were considered better than the previous seasons by the judges. However, there were some surprising eliminations going on at the Spectacular Show. Depe, who was regarded as a strong contender, became the first contestant to be eliminated.^[29] Indra Lesmana said that Depe was way too early to be eliminated. Sisi, who was a huge favorite amongst judges, got eliminated on the fifth Spectacular Show. The Final Three consisted of Gea, Dirly, and Ihsan. Gea's fans votes were not enough to safe her from elimination from the Top 3. This left Dirly and Ihsan to battle at the Grand Finale for the Indonesian Idol Season 3 title.^[30] The Grand Finale was held at the Istora Senayan (Senayan Athletic Complex) in Central Jakarta. The live audience who attended the Grand Finale was approximately 7,000 persons. Kemenangan Hati, the winner's single for the 3rd Season, was written by Indonesia's top composer, Yovie Widyanto, who also served as guest judge at the Indonesian Idols season two auditions. The grand final week had a total of approximately 2.7 million votes. Ihsan won with a margin of 10 percent more votes than Dirly^[31]

The third season also released a compilation album called, Tribute to Tonny Koeswoyo. Tonny, one of the founding members of Koes Plus, a legendary Indonesian Rock Band, died in 1987. Before his death, he and his brothers produced more than a few catch tunes that people still remember until today. The Top 12 Finalists sang Nusantara (Nusantara is the other name for Indonesia) as well as Koes Plus' other famous hit songs such as Diana and Kembali ke Jakarta (Return to Jakarta).

Since the show ended, Dirly and Gea have been seen debuted their acting career in a TV drama called Idola (Idol) which was aired on RCTI every Mondays on 8 pm.^[32] Ihsan also debuted his acting career in an Islamic religious series called Maha Kasih which is also aired by RCTI.

Elimination chart

Season 4

The fourth season premiered on 30 March 2007. Auditions began in early January. Ata and Daniel are back as fourth season's hosts. Indra Lesmana and Titi DJ returned as judges while Indy Barends and Dimas Djayadiningrat were replaced by Anang Hermansyah and Jamie Aditya.^[33] The fourth season's compilation album titled "Masterpiece" was released on the 7th week of Spectacular Show. The single hits was Bendera (originally sung by Cokelat), performed by the Top 12 finalists.

Rini Wulandari was named the winner of Indonesian Idol season 4 on 28 July 2007. She is the fourth finalist from Medan, North Sumatra who made it to the finale.^[34] This season was the first time since the first season where a female had won. The formation of 1 male and 3 females on the Top 4 is also exactly the same formation as in season 1. Rini's debut album was released in November 2007, which included her winner's single. Runner-up Wilson released his first single in March 2010. Fifth-place finisher Fandy Santoso, is now the lead singer of the band Kerispatih, replacing the band’s former vocalist Sammy who was kicked out of the band due to drug use.

Elimination chart

¹ It was announced the bottom two rather than the usual bottom three. Dimas finally got voted off after 5 times consecutively was placed in the bottom three or bottom two.
² It was revealed that Rini got the highest number of votes. It also meant that Gaby got the second highest number of votes.
³ Rini got 51.2% of all votes which were cast in while Wilson only got 48.8%

Season 5

The commercial of season 5 was firstly aired during the Asian Idol's commercial break. Online registration was open on the Indonesian Idol's official website. Audition started on 3 February, starting in Medan. Daniel returns as the show's host, along with two new hosts, Dewi Sandra and Marissa Nasution.^[35] Ata is no longer the host because she moved to Australia with her husband. There were 15 cities which were visited for auditions. Eight cities which were opened for auditions are Medan, Manado, Ambon, Bali, Surabaya, Bandung, Palembang, Jakarta. Seven other cities, Yogyakarta, Malang, Madiun, Salatiga, Cilacap, Tegal, and Cirebon were visited by an Audition Bus that would tour around. A Dream Box was placed in The Wave Mall in Bali for auditions.^[36] The judges for the fifth season are Indra Lesmana, Titi DJ, and Anang Hermansyah. The fifth season of Indonesian Idol started to be aired on 4 April 2008.

The fifth season (2008) is just finished airing on RCTI. This season the age limit was changed from 16–29 to 17–29.

The fifth season of Idol in Indonesia saw contestants able to perform with an instrument at any stage of the competition whereas other adaptations of Idol that have introduced live instrumentation only allow the concept at certain times during the show.

Top 12 Indonesian Idol 2008 contestants were:

• Januarisman/Aris (Jakarta)
• Gisella Anastasia/Gisel (Surabaya)
• Patudu Syammayim HM/Patudu (Semarang)
• Kunto Aji Wibisono/Aji (Yogyakarta)
• Dyna Fransisca/Dyna (Palembang)
• Obet JR Habibu/Beto (Ambon)
• Jandri Fenly Makaruwung/Andy (Manado)
• Elizabeth Putri Estrya/Ibeth (Bandung)
• Dede Richo/Richo (Medan)
• Thefanie Florina/Tifany (Malang)
• Della Setia Kusumawati/Della (Jakarta)
• Safira Rachma Rizkika/Safira (Madiun)

Eliminated Contestants on The Workshop Round:

• Nur Ikwantoko/Lala (Malang)
• Indra Cipta Gunadi/Indra (Yogyakarta)
• TH Endah Paniwulan/Wulan (Yogyakarta)
• Yuka Kharisma/Yuka (Medan)
• Chandra Janaiver Singkoh/Jever (Surabaya)
• Guido Firdaus Hutagalung/Gido (Medan)
• Hatna Danarda/Arda (Madiun)
• Mario Octavianus/Mario (Palembang)
• Irene Karompis/Irene (Jakarta)
• Twenty Sriwulan/Twenty (Bandung)
• Agatha Nurdiana/Atha (Jakarta)
• Reny Dara Agustin/Dara (Jakarta)

Elimination chart

Season 6

On 12 March 2009, RCTI's CEO announced that Indonesian Idol would not be running a 6th season.^[37] But in late October 2009, RCTI surprised its audience by showing a short commercial of the Indonesian Idol logo. Rumors started spreading that Indonesian Idol will be officially back in 2010 after a hiatus for one season. No press confirmation has been delivered to the media over the actual comeback itself. The judges for the sixth season are Agnes Monica, Erwin Gutawa, and Anang Hermansyah.

After many rumors, RCTI finally confirmed the return of Indonesian for Season 6, by making audition commercials that featured Daniel Mananta (who will be back for hosting), which confirmed that Indonesian Idol will be back in 2010. The auditions for Season 6 is going to be held from December 2009. Auditions were held in 17 cities.^[38] There was a form to fill in on the Indonesian Idol website to try for auditions for 2010. Auditioners had to be between the ages of 16 to 27 by 16 November 2009. The sixth season of Indonesian Idol premiered on 5 March 2010, on RCTI

The sixth season saw several changes to the format of the show. There were 14 finalists instead of 12. Another change in the format, which was revealed on the fourth week of the Spectacular Show, is the one-time veto power for the judges to save a contestant who was eliminated by the viewers' votes.

Elimination chart

¹ On 2nd Spectacular Show, 2 contestants must voted off

² Starting from Top 10, the judgess is might to use Veto Rights which the judges could rescue the voted off contestants. Veto Rights can only be used one time only

³ 5th Spectacular Show postponed a day because the opening of 2010 World Cup on 11 June 2010

⁴ On 10th Spectacular Show, 2 contestants must voted off

⁵ Judges use their Veto Rights to save Ray from elimination

Season 7

Upcoming season

Indonesian Idol Extra

A supplementary program that features news and updates about the Indonesian Idol contestants, highlights from the show, as well as exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage of Indonesian Idol. The show first aired in 2004.

• Season 1 Demam Indonesian Idol (Indonesian Idols Fever)
  • Hosts: Addry Danuatmadja
• Season 2 Indonesian Idol Extra
  • Hosts: Herjunot Ali, Suci Wulandari
• Season 3 Idol Banget
  • Hosts: Nirina Zubir, Indra Bekti
• Season 4 Idol Banget
  • Hosts: Nirina Zubir, Indra Bekti, Olga Syahputra
• Season 5 Idol Hi-Five
  • Hosts: Arie Dagienk, Magdalena
• Season 6 Dahsyat-nya Indonesian Idol
  • Hosts: Raffi Ahmad, Olga Syahputra, Luna Maya
• Season 7
  • Hosts: TBA

Controversy

• Joy (The winner of the first season) ceased all ties with Fremantle Media and the Indonesian Idol franchise within weeks of her win due to contractual disagreements between Joy and the show's management Indomugi Pratama. This included a six-year contract with Sony BMG and several appearance commitments including singing at local malls. Joy found this offensive to the Idol title. All traces of her Idol journey were removed from the official site.

• During the Workshop Round of Season 4 and Season 5, many contestants said "Saya sudah berusaha.." ("At least I have tried...") or "Apabila saya diberi kesempatan untuk minggu depan, saya akan ..." ("If people give me the chance to stay here for another week, I will...") when they received negative feedbacks from the panels. This stirred up some rumors among fans that it might have been scripted.

References

External links

• (Indonesian) Official website