A new chapter for Gwyn Dorado

Filipino singer Gwyn Dorado has left a lasting impression on the Korean public after competing on the singing competition TV show “Sing Again 4.”

- By JONATHAN HICAP

During the contest, which aired on the Korean channel JTBC from October to January, Dorado, 21, wowed the judges and earned praise on social media for her powerful voice and her Korean singing.

“Sing Again” is a music audition TV show that gives singers a second chance to sing again on stage. “Sing Again 4” started with 81 contestants last October.

In the final episode of “Sing Again 4” on Jan. 6, Dorado and Korean contestants Lee Oh-wook, Kim Jae-min, and Slowly were the finalists.

Dorado’s dazzling performance of the song “Light Up” earned her a score of 799 (a point shy of a perfect score of 800), which became the highest score in the show’s history.

Of the 799 score, seven celebrity judges gave her perfect scores of 100: Lim Jae-beom, Baek Ji-young, Kim Eana, Taeyeon of Girls' Generation, Lee Hae-ri, Code Kunst, and Super Junior’s Kyuhyun. Yoon Jong-shin gave her 99.

She earned a total of 1, 580 points from the judges for her cover and new songs in the finals, ranking first among the four.

The final winner was determined by a combination of the judges' scores for the cover song and new song (30 percent), song streaming score (20 percent), early online voting scores (10 percent), and real-time text and online voting scores (40 percent).

Many were rooting for her to win, but when the scores were tallied, she placed second to the winner, Lee Oh-wook, by only 41.67 points. Lee Oh-wook edged her out in early and live text and online voting, which accounted for 50 percent, and streaming, while Dorado was first in the judges' scores.

While she did not win, Dorado was very happy to reach the finals, the first Filipino singer to do so. Videos of her performances on “Sing Again 4” have racked up millions of views on YouTube.