Gwyn Dorado of Sing Again 4 on challenging moments, career plan, and coming back to PH

January 24 ------ Filipino singer Gwyn Dorado has left a lasting impression on the Korean public after her participation as a contestant on the singing competition TV show “Sing Again 4.”

During the competition, which aired on Korean channel JTBC from October to January, Dorado, 21, wowed the judges and earned praise on social media for her powerful voice in addition to her singing in Korean. “Sing Again” is a music audition TV show that gives singers a second chance to sing again on stage. “Sing Again 4” started with 81 contestants last October.

In the final episode of “Sing Again 4” on Jan. 6, Dorado and Korean contestants Lee Oh-wook, Kim Jae-min, and Slowly were the finalists. Dorado’s dazzling performance of the song “Light Up” earned her a score of 799 (a point shy of a perfect score of 800), which became the highest score in the show’s history. Of the 799 score, seven celebrity judges gave her perfect scores of 100: Lim Jae-beom, Baek Ji-young, Kim Eana, Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation, Lee Hae-ri, Code Kunst and Super Junior’s Kyuhyun. Yoon Jong-shin gave her 99. She got a total score of 1,580 points from the judges for her cover and new songs in the finals to rank first among the four.

The final winner was determined by a combination of the judges' scores for the cover song and new song (30 percent), song streaming score (20 percent), early online voting scores (10 percent), and real-time text and online voting scores (40 percent).

Many were rooting for her to win but when the scores were added, it showed her placing second to winner Lee Oh-wook by a margin of only 41.67 points. Lee Oh-wook edged her out in early and live text and online voting, which accounted for 50 percent, and streaming, while Dorado was first in the judges' scores. While she did not win, Dorado was very happy to reach the finals, the first Filipino singer to do so. Videos of her performances on “Sing Again 4” have racked up millions of views on YouTube.

From her first appearance to the finale of the show, Dorado sang "As Time Goes By" by Choi Ho-seob, "On a Night Like Tonight" by Park Jung-woon, "One Late Night in 1994" by Jang Hye-jin, "Rebirth" by Yoon Jong-shin, "On My Way," "Only Then" by Roy Kim, "I Want You" by Kim Do-hun, "Etude of Memory" by Exhibition and "Light Up" by GroovyRoom.

The top 7 contestants, including Dorado, recently appeared on the Korean TV show “Knowing Bros” on JTBC.

In an exclusive interview with Manila Bulletin, Dorado discussed her experience on “Sing Again 4” and her plans for a singing and songwriting career in Korea, including releasing her own album. Dorao is signed under the Korean agency AO Entertainment. She said she is very grateful to the agency for taking care of her. She also revealed the Korean artists she wants to collaborate with, favorite actor and K-drama. Dorado studied at the University of Santo Tomas Education High School and is currently under UP Open University.

Source: mb.com.ph