Miss World Singapore 2013

It’s such an honour to be involved with Miss World. I remember watching the pageant on TV when I was much younger… and yes, dreaming about being onstage. But of course, I knew that I would never have the guts to go for beauty contests. Plus, I’m certainly not as quick-thinking as these girls when it comes to Q&A (imagine few hundred pairs of eyes looking at you while you think and speak)…

It is just every girl’s childhood dream, I suppose. 🙂

So to see all these 15 contestants onstage tonight… I feel that they have truly come a long way.. Not only did they have the guts to challenge themselves by walking this journey, they put themselves out there… (to face onslaught of negativity from anonymous people). That is never easy. I’m afraid many people don’t realise the enormity of that before they comment negatively.

I’d known most of the contestants since early May, so it was a pleasant surprise when I was invited to be a judge for the finals. It was a journey for myself too. I started off by composing the theme song “Beautiful Purpose” (lyrics here):

I was so happy to perform it at the finals. I proudly dedicated it to all women (in the world!). ^_^

The slogan “Beauty With A Purpose” is the epitome of the ideals behind the pageant — a woman who is beautiful both inside and out creates more beauty and love in the world through active support of worthy causes.

While writing the song, I realised that the slogan has to be a part of the song, hence I named it “Beautiful Purpose” before writing it. I wanted to convey the idea that ladies throughout the world share some universal traits — we love to share our lives through conversations; we tend to worry for the people we love because we play very important roles in the society – as a daughter, perhaps a sister and/or a wife or a mother, but definitely a healer to our friends. When it comes to beauty pageants, most people’s first thoughts tend to revolve around physical appearances, but I hope to highlight the common traits and roles of women in the world through this song, and empower them to know that anyone can be beautiful and be at ease with themselves when they lead their lives with beautiful purposes.

ANYWAY! One of the most exciting things for me was…. I got to meet Mr. Subhas Anandan!

Contrary to my imagination, he’s actually very soft-spoken 🙂 You may wish to check out his book “The Best I Could“. He’s writing a sequel now, and I can’t wait!

The other one of the “most exciting things” was to got to know Miguel Antonio. He’s crazily talented. I was singing a lot when I was 12 years old, but he has already worked with David Foster, and is writing his original songs. How about that?!

For the finals, we did a duet “Just Give Me A Reason“. ,Though the idea came to us just 1 week before the performance day, we were both thrilled to perform together ^_^

I also have to thank 6five barcode for the sponsorship of this gorgeous orange jumpsuit! It’s my first time wearing something so daring, but somehow it brought out the confidence in me. Here’s Miss World 2012 SG Karisa Sukamto after she has passed on the Crown!

And the winner of Miss World Singapore 2013, is Ms Maria-Anna Weiling Zenieris!

I’m sure she’ll have a sleepless night 🙂

Now for the girls who didn’t win (well we can only have 1 winner!), I’d say that this is just a beginning. I think that if this journey has anything to teach, it would be – as long as you’ve the courage to take something on, there’s always something to gain. They may not manifest in the ways you wanted (like the title), but if you open your mind enough, think hard enough,  search hard enough, the truth is, you have already transformed.  The reality is, your journey has never stopped. In fact, it is continuing strongly after a bright spark.

And when in doubt, you can always opt for happiness. 🙂