He has competed in the contest every year because of his immense passion for singing.

“I compete because I love being on stage. The feeling when you see so many people watching you and the adrenaline rush that runs through your blood when you first walk out is unexplainable,” he professes.

This love of singing is also shared by finalist Lanthy Le. One of the youngest finalists in Vietnamese Idol, Lanthy is a first-time competitor.

“I just want to sing with my heart and hope that everyone can enjoy what I have to offer,” says Le.

Although Le has made the finals in her very first singing competition, she remains humble.

“I am very happy and that cannot be denied. I think that even if you don’t get into the finals doesn’t mean that you can’t sing, it just means that maybe you haven’t tried your best yet. So, I hope that the results didn’t upset anyone who didn’t get in because I thought that the 20 people that I have competed with in the previous round were all really good,” says Le.

Not only is Le modest about the finals, but she is also unassuming about her singing talents too.

“If we want to talk about my idol, then that would be my mom. She’s a very smart woman and she can sing too! So there you go, I got my talent from her,” states Le.

Three Girls from Sacramento State
Out of the 420 applicants in this year’s contest, three Sacramento State VSA students made it to the finals. Christine Nguyen, Leena Nguyen and Cindy DT Tran will all be vying to take the Vietnamese Idol back home to Sac town.

Finalist Christine Nguyen recalls, “We’re all in VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) at Sacramento State, and one of our friends read about it somewhere, so a bunch of us signed up for fun.”

For Christine Nguyen, singing is her release from her daily studies as a pre-dental student.

“Singing is so relaxing for me. I can sing in the car or in the shower. I’ll sing anywhere,” says Christine.

Christine grew up singing Vietnamese karaoke with her mother, which is how she also developed her Vietnamese reading and speaking skills. Correspondingly, Christine enjoys singing in Vietnamese because “it allows me to keep in touch with my culture.”

Christine has a very happy go-lucky attitude towards Vietnamese Idol, which is probably based on her career goal of becoming a dentist.

“I am here to just have fun, do what I love, and make friends,” says Christine.

Although Christine has a career pursuit of dentistry, she admires her fellow Vietnamese-American singers.

“I look up to all of the artists in the Vietnamese community and anyone who’s putting themselves out there. Everyone is an idol to me,” says Christine.

Unlike Christine, finalist Leena Nguyen is considering a future career in entertainment. However, Leena is aware of the challenges that lie ahead.

”I want to become a singer, but it’s very competitive. There are a lot of Vietnamese people who want to pursue singing. It’s really, really hard,” explains Leena.

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