Sunday 3 May 2009

The Friendship of Janine Khalil & Sue Son - The Dark Side of Reality TV and Newspaper Publishing


Janine Khalil & Sue Son [click image for video]

The recent Britain's Got Talent screening showed the story of friends Janine Khalil (pianist) and Sue Son (violinist) auditioning their group Addicted for the program. The video above shows this performance and the unravelling of a friendship.

Simon Cowell says to the two young ladies after the shortened performance "I don't see where you are going to go with this". I suspect he was most likely thinking - I don't know where I am going to go with this group, but hey that cute Korean girl could be the next Vanessa Mae.


Vanessa Mae Publicity Shot:

The subsequent reporting in the newspapers has been unpleasant, but their job is making money not healing friendships. We don't know the full nature of the girls' friendship and professional collaboration, and it is unlikely that we ever will. Sue Son probably will have success as a new version of Vanessa Mae, and I will be pleased for her if she does. I also wish Janine Khalil gains due professional recognition and commercial success for her undoubted talent.

Unfortunately some bloggers have no understanding of the ways of news reporting and media manipulation and so have been unnecessarily harsh in their comments. When this is pointed out they use their own form of moderator censorship - shame on you Cosmetic Candy.

Related Posts:
Sue Son - Amazing Performance of Vanessa Mae's Storm by Vivaldi on Britain's Got Talent 2009

13 comments:

Lennon Aldort said...

Can anyone help me contact Janine? I'm a pianist and composer myself and I really liked her piece. She's very talented.

My email address is macgeek2004@gmail.com.

Thanks.

... said...

I hope Janine reads your message.

joybells63 said...

Janine has enormous talent ! That composition was electric ! Riveting... I really want to hear the rest. Talented AND so beautiful as well. She will go far with her abilities. No doubt about that.

Anonymous said...

Janine is the back stabber. she should have been happy for the opportunity given to Sue. Sue is AWESOME and even if she doesn't win BGT we are going to hear from her in the future. I actually liked Janine's composition, but I HATE her attitude and treatment of Sue.

... said...

razzigirl - we don't know the full details about what happened between Sue and Janine. Hate is also too strong a word - particularly when you are basing your opinion on the imperfect world of media reporting. I believe Janine fully expected Sue to come back off stage to discuss the offer with her, so when Sue didn't it would be natural for Janine to have felt betrayed.

Keith Elcomb said...

Sue Son was simply outstanding as a solo artiste. There is nothing more to say.

Anonymous said...

They are both talented young musicians and I wish them both success. Sue had a difficult choice under high pressure and understandably took the opportunity to audition. The big picture is that it gave us a chance to see Sue perform which was brillant and now Janine's musical talents have gotten more exposure because of the controversy. Janine should be thanking Sue since she is now getting offers and look past her pride. I believe Sue had faith that the friendship would withstand her decision and I pray they can mend it because it's a shame to let this tear apart friends. Forgive each other girls, don't let a great friendship go.

Gardener-Sinya said...

Dear ESOTERICOCLAST,

Your comments are very friendly and thoughtful to Sue Son and Janine Khalil and her family. I don't know them, but I thank you for them. It really was a hard decision to solo by Sue Son her own, and it was embarrassing, humiliating and difficult period for Janine Khalil to hear three judges said not good comments to her on the hot show of the whole world recently. I agree the judges’ insight of Sue Son’s talent, but I disagree of what they criticized about their performance and Janine Khalil, because that were very cruel and unfair. I guess that Janine was upset not only because of Sue getting chance to solo, but also the judges’ and many bloggers’ comments which really cruel to hurt her and her family. Just like you said “we don’t know the full details….” and the tabloid newspaper “…their job is making money not healing friendships.” Totally correct!!
I really agree with your idea to respect, appreciate and enjoy Sue and Janine’s music talent, and pray for them will be good friends as usual. For all of us, there is one thing we can do, that is remember this lesson and learn from it.
Thank you for your kindly essay.

... said...

Sinya-planter - Thankyou for your kind comments, they are very much appreciated. Like you, I believe that both Sue and Janine are fundamentally nice people who were placed in a very difficult position under the glare of the media spotlight. They are both clearly talented musicians. I also wish them both well in the future, and hope they will rekindle their friendship again.

Anonymous said...

After hearing Addicted's small audition, I felt the judges needed to give up their jobs. The piece was fantastic. Both of them gelled really well in the piece. I myself am a musician, and to hear someone who's in the business comment that the piece was dreary was pretty much shocking (I agree with Sinya-planter on this). Anyone in Janine's shoes would have felt the same way she felt when Sue did what she did. I wish Janine all the best in her career, and I'm sure she'll be a great composer. I do feel really sorry for her for being well, betrayed, and pardon me, but I think it was fair that Sue didn't get through the finals.
But then I do hope that they will remain the best of friends that they always were.

Esotericoclast said...

Anonymous (15 Oct 2010) - Thanks for your comment. I agree that the original piece by Addicted was good. I suspect the whole audition was stage managed by the production team to try and get Sue Son to audition by herself.

Why would they do that?

Well I think they were considering the possibility of marketing Sue Son as the new Vanessa Mae. The asian music market is big money, and Sue Son could have been perfect for that - $$$ £££.

Dmitri said...

I wanted to hear the rest of Janine Khalil's piece, but the judges didnt let me, definitely not happy about that.

Unknown said...

I'm feeling bad for the piano girl and the judges' reactions are just making me angry. The two instruments complement each other but the violin would be more suitable to do the sound and technique while the piano would be more suitable to play effective chords and base parts of a piece. So in a piano and violin duet, the violin would technically catch more attention or outshine the piano and I think that's the reason why they choose to have the violinist back but not the pianist. However, when you are watching a duet, you are not supposed to consider the 2 musicians as separate parts but a collaborative group.