Controversial game show about children teaching adults

Siu Black and Le Giang accept children over 10 years old to train them to sing reformed opera, opera...

Born to Shine aired from the beginning of May. According to the rules, the contestants are famous people such as Siu Black, Le Giang, wushu athlete Thuy Hien, weightlifter Pham Van Mach... Each person performs a music genre that is not their forte and is trained by a young talent in the corresponding field.

* Child coach teaches Le Giang to sing

In the first episode, actress Le Giang was instructed by child singer Phuong Khanh on how to sing chamber music. The comedian, born in 1972, had to spend many days with Phuong Khanh to tutor and guide her on vocals... She also corrected Le Giang on how to pronounce North - South. However, when on stage, the actress was constantly nervous, out of tune, and forgot the lyrics when singing the song Hanoi - Faith and Hope. Artists in the commentary panel such as actress Viet Huong, musician Duc Huy... avoided giving professional comments, only focusing on encouraging the efforts of their colleagues.

In another episode, singer-actress Phi Thanh Van was asked to sing the folk song Beo dat may troi and was instructed by Cong Quoc - a contestant of the 2016 show The familiar faces of children. The 14-year-old boy directly taught Phi Thanh Van about her expertise, helping her correct her awkward pronunciation. Her subsequent performance received many negative comments about her immature singing and forced emotions. Too nervous, the actress also forgot to interact with her co-star.

* Phi Thanh Van trembled while singing "Drifting Duckweed and Drifting Clouds"

Similarly, singer Siu Black gave up her forte of singing pop/rock to perform a traditional song under the coaching of Gia Nguyen, a 12-year-old boy. Not only singing, contestants such as MC Nguyen Khang and athlete Pham Van Mach were also taught traditional musical instruments and modern dance by the children.

After three episodes aired, the show was criticized by some viewers for letting children train adults.On the game show's YouTube channel, many people commented that it was unreasonable for experienced artists like Siu Black and Le Giang to let children teach them.

"Why not invite veteran opera singers, reformed opera singers... to train the contestants, but instead let young boys and girls who lack teaching and performing skills only train adults?", audience member Trung Cao wondered.

Baby Cong Quoc teaches Phi Thanh Van to sing folk songs.

Many people also commented that: due to the children's lack of experience in communicating, most of the performances in the game show were of low quality. Videos of Phi Thanh Van, Thuy Hien... received a large number of "dislikes" along with many critical comments about their "disastrous" singing style.

Audiences are also concerned that the role of the coach affects the children's psychology. For example, childrenCong Quoc was praised by judge Viet Huong for his performance staging, when he deliberately chose a low tone to cover up Phi Thanh Van's vocal flaws."Even though this is just an entertaining competition, praising the children as coaches and honoring them as child talents too much will affect their way of thinking," commented audience member Tran Hoang.

The fact that artists accept to compete in a field that is their weakness, leading to many unconvincing performances, is also discussed.Singer Siu Black said she was hesitant to let a boy coach her, but then decided to participate even though vọng cổ singing is not her forte. "If a young coach taught me to sing my forte, of course I wouldn't accept it, because the kids can't be as good as me. But seeing the way Gia Nguyen teaches singing and talks to adults, I think he deserves to be a coach," Siu Black commented.

* Siu Black sings traditional songs

She said that having children train adults in a specific subject is not uncommon in game shows around the world. "Why can foreign countries do it, but we think artists shouldn't do this or that? Artists grow up from childhood too," the 49-year-old singer said.

Artist Quoc Thao - the program's director - said he had traveled to many places and seen many art schools invite children with achievements to talk with students.There, many children expressed ideas that seemed silly and normal but worth adults thinking about.

"I don't think adults are perfect. It's normal for adults to learn from children, especially talented children. I also have to ask my grandchildren when I need to use high-tech phones. We often teach children to be humble, which is good, but we lack the ability to teach children to be confident and courageous," Quoc Thao said.

A representative of the Born to Shine crew said that the show's format comes from abroad. Regarding the artists' acceptance of giving up their strengths to sing their weaknesses, the crew believes that this is the way the contestants give up their egos and accept being trained and competed by children.To avoid the childrenstar disease, illusion of talent, the team has a pedagogical advisory board to support psychologically, helping the students always maintain a carefree attitude.

* Wushu athlete Thuy Hien sings "The Ao Ba Ba"

According to VNE