Britain’s got Talent: Michael Jackson meets Bhangra

By Adam Stanhope in Music, Travel, Video Clips on May 28, 2008 at 5:45 pm

They came, they saw, they were pretty cool, all things considered.

An Asian act called “Signature” made a splash on the UK’s performing talent cousin of American-idol show Britain’s Got Talent. Signature really brought their initial performance to bear. OK, it was a bit cliche and we’ve seen the same sort of thing done a dozen times over the past 20 years. Adding the UK urban-Asian element of Bhangra to what could have been standard Michael Jackson fare is what put them over the top.

Simon Cowell asked the right question at the end of their very well received first performance: can you pull it off again the next time? I think you’ll agree that they did – once again wielding the Bhangra as their weapon of choice.

Here’s the first performance:

And here they are on a subsequent show:

What do you think? Can they bring it a third time? What should they do next?

[YouTube videos 1 & 2 via the Sepia Mutiny Blog]

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Stever
May 28th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Few things on Youtube are worth watching twice. The first video is still good on the second viewing.
Morgan
May 28th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I’m totally crushing on Suliman.
kid_icarus
May 28th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
that is hilarious. although, since you now know it is a duo act the surprise just isn’t there anymore. no idea how the third time will work…
lux
May 28th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
mmm liked the first one. Second could have been better, they need to cut that last second “crash n splitz” finale and think of something else, because they can’t keep doing that. Also could have used more Bhangra and a lot less M.J. on the second one.
Algonkin
May 28th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Ok…I’m not a big fan of Wacko Jacko, but I do like his moves. I honestly never saw anyone do the same moves as him like this dude did.

All I can say is ….wow!

Good post Adam!
Moodindigo
May 29th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Love the way that Piers Morgan proves he has no rhythm whatsover in the first clip by clapping way out of time. I hate it when people clap in time to the music at shows. It’s the lamest form of audience participation ever.
matt
May 29th, 2008 at 3:50 am
i loved them when i saw the first act for the first time. but sadly enough, i found the second performance old, just because they used the same formula twice. didn’t work for me. where’s the “surprise”?! interesting to see what they’ll pull out of their asses for the finals though!
ConstNT
May 29th, 2008 at 7:15 am
When the BGT firt launched they’ve shown two actually really nice contestants – Paul Potts and Connie Talbot.
During the show they have filmed them and almost entirely concentrated on their performance…
But with those guys I see that they’ve mixed up their show with more than half of the time of the public reactions…
This brings me couple of conclusions…
There is something not really correct either with them or with the show itself.
Or both.
MJ
May 29th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Got to love at the end of the second act how Simon says ‘You’ve got originality’! No they bloody well don’t, they’re copying Michael Jackson’s act!
Pol x
May 29th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Good god could Piers “weeping wound in the world” Morgan be less rythmic?

He’s a cartoon of a white posh boy.
Pol x
May 29th, 2008 at 7:40 am
You’ve never seen blokes go for broke on a dance loor ’til you’ve been to a Sikh wedding.

Ony Bangra-Man can save us now!
rizwan
May 29th, 2008 at 8:30 am
first one was brilliant, second time not so much. i’m surprised to see the judges go along with it.
Ashley
May 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am
The second one was not impressive or original at all! All they did was Thriller. Big whoop. First was awesome, they did not follow through with the second. Disappointing. No, they can’t do it a third time, but they may do enough to keep rabid audience fans happy.
MZL
May 29th, 2008 at 10:17 am
love love love them!
Jessa
May 29th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Argh, I couldn’t SEE how they were dancing, they showed more of the audience and the guys in the wings!

I want to see the dancing!!
Rosi
May 29th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I think they’ve just done pretty much the exact same thing twice.
Michael Jackson music, a guy starts moonwalking and generally MJing it up, then another guy in a turban comes on from somewhere unexpected, starts dancing in a bhangra style, they dance fight for a bit then they both do a sort of MJ bhangra fusion before ending with a jump into splits.
IT’S THE SAME THING.
Also I have no idea why Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan are on there. They have no idea… they put through a guy on a keyboard playing the Star Wars theme (from sheet music) COMPLETELY out of key! It was possibly the worst thing on TV ever.
m0le
May 29th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Oh come on guys, the act is different and genuinely enjoyable and frenetic. They are rehashing slightly from the brilliant surprise of the first but given the right staging and choreography they could actually make it.

The semis on BGT are supposed to just reinforce the judges’ belief in the acts so doing it bigger for the moment is enough. You don’t want to waste all your ideas on competition heats do you?

I think the third has to be no MJ though.

Hmmm, first post on Neatorama and I didn’t think it would be BGT….!
biltmore
May 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Jessa – “Argh, I couldn’t SEE how they were dancing, they showed more of the audience and the guys in the wings!”

Exactly what I was thinking. I can’t stand crowd reaction shots at all, and they showed more of that crap that the actual show itself. How lame.
Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
May 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I have the same complaint about the American version of the show: too many crowd shots. Unless it’s “The Audience’s Got Talent”, then show the frickin’ stage!
Ajan
May 29th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
1st was freaking awesome. But would’ve expected more than that in the second one. But lets look out for the third one, then we can comment on the second

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