We all want to be remembered for the good things we’ve done, but when you’re a celebrity, your low points can get immortalised too.
Joakim Gomez may be a successful radio DJ now, but his past as a “failed singer from Singapore Idol” will always be associated with him, the 36-year-old wrote in an Instagram post on Saturday (Jan 25).
But he’s “completely at peace with that”.
“I’ve done the work, made my peace, and I’m always open to sharing my journey with anyone who genuinely wants to know about it,” he added.
When he was 17, Joakim joined Singapore Idol in 2006 and made it to the top five despite harsh criticism from judges and the audience.
Joakim made his recent Instagram post after clips of him discussing his Idol past on The Daily Ketchup’s podcast and CNA Insider’s The Assembly recently “gained significant traction”.
“I’m grateful for the mostly kind and thoughtful responses in the comment sections,” he wrote. “That said, I feel it’s time to bring the ‘Singapore Idol’ narrative to a close in public interviews, particularly those recorded or repurposed for social media.”
He added that he would never run away from the past, but that he was “mindful of not oversaturating the public with the same story”.
While he was open to talking about his experiences in “more private or intimate settings”, Joakim wishes for future interviews to focus on “something fresh” related to his current career.
On The Assembly episode released on Jan 25, Joakim was interviewed by neurodiverse people, and the first thing he was asked about was whether he was still remembered for being a “failed singer from Singapore Idol”.
He was taken aback, but said with a smile: “Wow, we are going there, guys. We are just whacking with the first question.”
Joakim shared that Singapore Idol happened before “the age of social media”, but that a clip of him from the show had gone viral on TikTok back in 2022.
The video shows judge Ken Lim saying that they’ve been telling Joakim to improve “week after week” but that he thought it was “beyond hope”.
Joakim saw the video and thought: “Oh no, what is this doing here?”
He added that it wasn’t something he wanted to run away from, but something that should be left in the past.
Nevertheless, the moniker was something Joakim was okay with as he felt it was true.
However, he added: “Now that I’ve improved my image, improved myself, and I had to pivot and do a change on what I want to show people, I hope that they see that as well.”
On The Daily Ketchup YouTube video uploaded in July, Joakim also discussed the hate he received on forums and in person.
“Walking down Orchard Road, a random guy threw a bottle at me,” he said. “That was back then, and I always wonder, ‘Would I have survived Singapore Idol if TikTok or Instagram were a thing back then’, maybe not.”
[[nid:713700]]
He added that the TikTok video of him on Singapore Idol surfaced just a day before he was about to take a two-month sabbatical.
Joakim wished he could have told the story from his point of view instead of seeing it in a viral video, but he was relieved to see the comments under the post.
“Thankfully, maybe 65 per cent of the comments went, ‘Okay, this guy grew up, he found his niche and now he’s a very good host’,” he said. “I was like, thank God.”
[[nid:714037]]
drimac@asiaone.com
Read the full article here
