“A brand new beginning”, it definitely is for newly crowned Singapore Idol, Sezairi Sezali, crooning to this year’s theme song, “Touched By An Angel”. The 22-year-old sang his best and proved deserving of the title, impressing not only the 8000-strong crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium which included enthusiastic fans, but the whole country with his wonderful vocals.

It was a tough fight with his rival, Sylvia Ratonel, who was initially touted to be the first female winner of Singapore Idol after 2 seasons of male victors. Nonetheless, she lived up to be the only female grand finalist throughout the three seasons of the competition.

Without extravagance throughout the semi-finals, Sezairi has shown that a quiet confidence can bring you all the way till the end. While on the other hand, Sylvia stayed adamant to being sincere and honest all through her performances.

The night truly belonged to the 2 finalists as they competed neck and neck for the coveted title. Sylvia seemed to take the lead with her cover of “Mercy” by Duffy that opened the show, while Sezairi’s rendition of “Virtual Insanity” originally sang by his inspiration Jamiroquai, didn’t seem to stand out as much.

But soon the tides were turned as Sezairi brought his performance up a notch with Aerosmith’s “Crazy” that even Ken Lim commented that the second round “belonged” to him.

Finally, the verdict came when both finalists sang this year’s theme song that pretty much wrapped up the experience they gained over the 6 grueling months of the competition.

Sezairi now walks away with the title of being the third Singapore Idol, alongside first Idol Taufik Batisah and second/Asian Idol Hady Mirza. In addition, he also won himself a recording contract with Universal Music.