10 local Justin Bieber fans battled it out at Hard Rock Café on Apr 17, for the once-in-a-lifetime chance of meeting their teen idol in the flesh when he comes to Singapore to perform on Apr 19.

The challenge? Performing onstage and professing their love for the Canadian singer was probably not as nerve wracking as being scrutinized by 5 judges and fellow Beliebers. It looked like a tough time ahead for the dectet, aged 13 to 20.

Queueing for the event started from 2.30pm, half an hour before the actual event.

Bieber Fever

More than a hundred ecstatic fangirls could hardly contain their excitement as they spazzed about their idol, despite his absence from the event. Some even speculated that he would be arriving at the end of the event, whispering among themselves, “Maybe he’s coming from the back?”

The in-house DJ naturally started spinning Bieber’s hit like “One Time” and “Baby”, to which the delighted fangirls started singing along.

That was the strongest show of camaraderie among fans.

Battling for a moment with Biebs

987FM DJ Vernon A kicked off the show by introducing its judges, which comprised of fellow DJ Rozz and staff from organiser SingTel, and his co-host Justin.

Justin Ang, that was.

“I thought you all would boo,” Vernon remarked in response to the fans’ rapturous applause. How can your co-host do any wrong when he shares the same name as their beloved idol, Vernon?

The talent competition began with 19-year-old Goh Hui Yi performing a cover of Bieber’s debut single, “One Time”. To top it off, she was accompanied by 2 backup dancers, adding visual interest to an otherwise plain backdrop.

LaSalle student Mayshella Clara, 20, enlisted the help a guitarist for her performance.

“I wanna meet Justin Bieber so f****ing bad,” Mayshella proclaimed, in an attempt at mashing up Bieber’s “Baby”and Travis McCoy’s “Billionaire”. Despite her bold statement, her performance was marred, no thanks to the off-tune guitar.

The same set of strings also cost Mayshella’s good friend, Cynthia Suryat points from the judges as well. Despite trying hard with a medley of “One Time”, “Eenie Meenie” and “Baby”, the performance fell flat.

Standing out

Other contestants had their unique tricks up their sleeves. Deanna Jacqueline See, 16, showed how Justin’s song “Never Say Never” inspired her to get up and try again despite failure, as seen in a video re-enactment of her time spent on the skating rink. The Chinese-Canadian specially wrote a poem for Bieber, which she read aloud.

Her excitement and anticipation was visibly apparent in her poem, which read “I wonder what we’d say, what we’d do, or songs we’d play.”

19-year-old Erni Natasha astounded the audience with elaborately dressed background dancers, who acted out her medley of songs like a narrative. Her voice was undeniably the best of the afternoon, as she effortlessly belted out a medley of Eenie Meenie and Baby, smoothly and surely.

The winners

At the end of the 2-hour function, only 2 could be named the worthy winners of the talent competition.

Indonesian student Marcella Kikyanto, 16, proved that simplicity was all it took to claim the coveted prize.

With her acoustic guitar in tow, she stole the show with her renditions of “Love Me, Baby”, “Eenie Meenie”, before topping it off with the all-time favourite, “One Time”.

It was a case of humour emerging as a winning factor for 13-year-old Lin Jiaying, who showcased her personal collection of Bieber memorabilia, such as a customised poster, which read “Jiaying for Bieber”.

The Raffles Girls’ student, who credited Bieber as the motivation behind her push for the Primary Six Leaving Examination (PSLE) last year, raised a few eyebrows with a short rendition of Rebbeca Black’s infamous hit song, “Friday”.

Still, the Secondary One student, who achieved a score of over 270 for the exams, denied endorsing the beleaguered Black, who, over the past 2 months, has come under fire for the poor lyrical content of the song.

“A lot of people either love or hate Rebecca, so I thought it’d be funny to add in (her song),” she told UrbanWire of her decision.

And in a show of support for her idol, she quipped, “At least he’s (Justin Bieber) not Auto-Tuned as much as Rebecca,” referring to the pitch correction software the music industry uses excessively.