I’ve catch up with the 9 episodes of Asia’s Next Top Model Season 2 and I can say it’s surpassing its predecessor cycle.
First of all, I would like to commend all the staff and crew of AsNTM for the job well done to the show. It did give the original America’s Next Top Model franchise justice since its well done with class yet there’s this animalistic feel from the show that seems to have from the original. I mean, ANTM is all for the drama and stuff, not just the glamour and all of that.
I’ve been watching ANTM from the very first cycle up to the last 20th, and I’m very much applauding myself for I have somehow reached a show that long that didn’t give any boring bones.
And now, Asia’s Next Top Model is on their second season, and I can say the competition is now ON. After Janice and Tia have been eliminated for the past episodes, and unfortunately Natalie had to go (which was just okay); this time, it’s now down to the remaining six girls who will compete for the crown of Asia’s Next Top Model.
ANALYSIS
After some weeks, it’s been obvious who has topped and who has flopped. The remaining girls are:
- Katarina (Philippines)
- Jodilly (Philippines)
- Josephine (Malaysia)
- Marie (Japan)
- Nicole (Singapore) and,
- Sheena (Malaysia)
KATARINA
Katarina is a beautiful face. Perfect for the ‘girl-next-door’ and beauty/commercial shoots, but is she more than just pretty? Might be, but for now, NO. Although Katarina is a Filipino; I will not be biased in saying that she deserves to win this.
She can still be present in the competition but for only one or two more episodes. Although, she topped last; I strongly believe it’s a hit/miss shot. She’s fortunate that that shot was captured and the theme is close to the heart of what Filipino culture is. Although I’m a bit impressed in her last photo shoot because she correlated her movements to yoga, but then, she has this high fashion model persona that is hard to cultivate, and if so, weeks couldn’t suffice to nurture her talents in modelling.
The positive thing about her is that she can model beauty products, and also lingerie, because her girl-next-door image (and I say this in general) could always be converted into sexy. She has this generic face who will take down FHM or Rogue, but for High Fashion magazines? Probably, but it’ll take a lot of practice from her to nail it.
What she lacks for me is her variety of expressions and lack of exploration. It’s not much when she poses in front of the camera, and although she might feel she’s giving it her best, but it’s not showing on the lenses and on our TV screens.
If she incorporates her yoga more and give variety of expressions, then she’ll be on the top three.
JODILLY
Here’s another Filipino contestant that’s giving us hit, and hit, and hit each week. Jodilly is not an experienced model, but she’s a notch ahead for high fashion.
Beauty does not always come from the pale skin, beautiful eyes and perfect face shape; a quote from Nigel Barker when he was once an ANTM judge before, saying, “Perfect is boring.” And Jodilly’s façade is ready to take on Harper’s Bazaar or Elle and even Vogue, given years of experience.
Jodilly tries hard every photo shoot to give her best. Giving us new body angles, showing us her body shapes, and giving breathtaking results… she’s just going straight ahead for top three.
But my first concern for her is she’s sometimes giving us a duck face, which I do not fancy and is not high fashion. Although she already has got rid of it (hopefully), I hope she’s going to crush it out of her system.
Another concern of mine for her would be she’s sometimes getting too posey which is actually not the case for all fashion shoots. I’ve noticed in the entire season 2 of AsNTM, all the contestants are TOO posey which I will be talking about after each contestant.
But, in fairness to Jodilly, she’s posey, but the face sums it up in the end. All she needs to do is to take note about the H2T… HEAD TO TOE.
JOSEPHINE
She’s another hit and miss. She has this strong face that is quite like what’s Nicole is giving. Josephine is capable of creating amazing results and it’s really fierce. But the only problem is that, her inexperience gets in the way.
Just like other contestants, she’s too posey which can most of the times become inappropriate. She has photos that I love, including the ones they were on ice which looked really, really fierce.
But then, she sometimes needs to think about correct poses and body positions that will compliment her strong façade, and she needs to think about her strong façade that it will not border ‘scary’, which brings me to the next contestant.
NICOLE
Nicole, Nicole, Nicole… let’s be honest, her attitude is a bit over-the-top even from the start of the show and she’s got behavioral problems that need to be solved.
But what can you do about her when she’s giving great results?
Nicole was the least contestant in the show that I expected to give a fierce and close to perfection results. Week after week, she’s showing what modelling is H2T because she already has this beautiful face and she knows how to work her body.
If Katarina is the beauty queen, and Jodilly is close to getting into Vogue; Nicole is already capable of High Fashion. You would not think that this woman can give breathtaking results via just looking at her personally or on TV.
She has this defeated outlook on the show but when she hits the camera; she’s giving awesomeness frame after frame after frame, and that’s really incredible because you can never really judge a book by its cover, and Nicole is a testimony of it.
Although the last photo shoot, she was on the bottom two because of her stubbornness upon instructions from the mentors. And I was sure they were there to help her. And I realized on that very episode that jungle/amazon theme is not her forte.
She’s put up straight to the top three.
SHEENA
She’s the blonde girl who needs to upgrade herself, because if she does not; she’ll surely be out on the very next episode (if Katarina wont screw it again).
In the last episode (episode 9), she summons this cultural vibe that was good enough for her to be on the 3rd person to be called. And yes, she’s definitely perfect for jungle/amazon themed photo shoots.
But what can she give more?
We’ve seen her in glamour, sexy, and fierce shots… but then, she’s not giving it that much. She may have, but it’s not enough on screen, and definitely not registering on her photos.
I believe she’ll be fabulous in punk-rock theme.
But as what she’s showing up to the very last episode; I can say it’s now time for her to go.
MARIE
The glamour episode where all of them stood in front of the Petronas towers give me the feeling that this woman, Marie is capable of taking glamour shots.
She’s also definitely perfect for jungle/amazon shots as what we’ve seen on episode 9 on the show, where she nonchalantly posed on the boat looking like a lazy leopard on a tree, only with a notch of fierceness and glamour.
Marie is the person who gives amazing photos, but also gives mediocre ones. Why? Because of her emotions. She definitely gets confused easily, and when she’s confused, it reflects in her photos.
All she needs is focus and I definitely think that she’ll reach the far end of the show.
TOP 3
We see that the top three contenders are Jodilly, Marie and Nicole, for which I also strongly believe that they are going to be the top 3, and I strongly believe that Katarina and Sheena are definitely ready to go.
Josephine, on the other hand has the capacity to reach up to top 3, because it’s either Jodilly will go cray-cray and will screw things up for her, or Marie will get confused in the following episodes, especially when the stakes are high and it will get tougher, or Nicole will lose it (which I bet NOT).
One concern about these remaining strong contestants is that as they all go slowly to the top; they get even more posey.
Coco Rocha has the only authority to be too posey but not too trying hard.
Jodilly, on the other hand, tries her best to pose, yet still sometimes not getting that great results she’s expecting. Josephine, is confused. Nicole is too much posey, that whenever she doesn’t pose that much, she won’t get a good shot. Marie, is like Josephine, a bit confused.
With a little bit more training, I guess they’ll make it right.
That’s my analysis to this and I’ll be blogging again before the very last episode to predict who will win.
Who’s your top three?
