Chinese Students’ Association (CSA) held a singing competition this Saturday. Called the Voice of Rochester, it gave students the opportunity to showcase their talents in what is, according to the event coordinator David Sun, an annual tradition for CSA.
The show opened with the eight competitors singing a song they had been since the semifinals.
“These years, the participants are so skilled,” junior Yun Shin Huang said. She won the Voice of Rochester championship in her first year.
The audience delivered enthusiastic applause after each song was performed.
Sophomore Panzhen Wu sang the rap song “Cha Bu Duo Gu Niang” (original singer G.E.M. Tang) — in English, titled “Miss Similar.” Wu said the lyrics are quite hard to sing, but she sang skillfully and coordinated her movements to match the beat of the song.
After the first round, four participants were eliminated, and four moved on. The participants that advanced to the next round were first-year Qiuchen Shen, senior Shiyang Zhang, Wu, and first-year Jacky Chen.
For this round, Chen sang a high-pitched song that he says he usually doesn’t sing. The crowd’s reaction was supportive. This shows that is an event where students can share their talent while surrounded by support. First-year Qiuchen Shen sang Ellie Goulding’s “Don’t Need Nobody” with enough energy to send the audience into thunderous applause.
At the end, Sun read out the list of winners: In first place was Shen, in second was Zhen, and third was Wu. Each won a gift card to Revolution Karaoke — a restaurant and karaoke bar — with the first place winner getting the highest amount.
The winners were determined by a combination of the audience’s vote, and the three judges’ vote. The crowd voted by scanning the QR code from one of the CSA member’s phones.
Although this is an annual competition, some things were different this year.
“The amount of participants this year is greater,” sophomore Iris Miao, a member of the CSA said. “The participants this year also have stronger skills in singing.”
“It is actually good to see these singers actually taking this so seriously,” sophomore Haoda Lyu said. “They are really giving us what they have. It is pretty impressive.”
