Suki, Faizal & The Black Eyed Peas

Event Coverage 75 Comments

A few weeks ago I was in Bangkok, Thailand on the invitation of The 8 Unit and Pepsi Malaysia.

It was a media trip and I was tasked to cover the Black Eyed Peas in concert. For someone like me who’s not even considered an entertainment reporter, obviously I was very excited. How often do I get the chance to watch such a huge international pop group perform live AND be allowed to take all the photos I want, right?
For Suki and Faizal, they got it even better.

Suki and Faizal took out the first and second places on 8TV’s One In A Million, and since then life hadn’t been the same.
The two of them were only just getting used to their new-found fame, and already Pepsi has snapped them up to become their official brand ambassadors in Malaysia. That is good news for them, because The Black Eyed Peas are also Pepsi’s ambassadors.
During this trip, not only would Suki and Faizal be meeting their idols up close and personal, they would be doing the one and only interview the Black Eyed Peas have agreed to for their Thailand tour.

We knew this trip was gonna be a memorable one. But even before we left the gates of KLIA, we were already met with some dramas.
You see, Faizal said he was so excited he didn’t sleep the night before. That’s understandable. But apparently the guy was so over the top about the trip, he had completely forgotten about the “no liquids on international flights” security rule.

Inside his hand-carry luggage, the bugger packed: a water bottle, perfume, toothpaste, SHAMPOO, three different types of hair creams and (I’m not kidding) A FREAKING HAIR DRYER. With so many prohibited items on board, obviously he kena stopped by security lah!
I can understand the perfume and the water bottle. But what the heck was he thinking bringing a HAIR DRYER on board?

Needless to say, most of his stuff was confiscated. Fortunately though, Faizal’s hair dryer managed to escape unharmed.
THE HAIR LIVES.

So anyway, after that silly incident at the airport, the group of us finally arrived at Bangkok Suvanarbhumi Airport together with the 8TV contest winners and corporate sponsors .

We were whisked away to the JW Marriot Hotel where the Black Eyed Peas was scheduled make their media appearance. Suki and Faizal went to the holding room to prepare for their exclusive interview.
Meanwhile, I was joined by other journalists in the press conference room.

You could feel the electricity in the air as the anticipation mounted on the arrival of The Black Eyed Peas. I could feel I was literally shaking in my seat, and it ain’t ‘cos of the Tom Yam Goong I ate earlier.
It is ‘cos this is the first time I’d be meeting a band of such amazing calibre.

Before long, the beautiful Thai emcee walked up on stage and spurted out a series of kaps and kongs and a string of other Thai words I couldn’t comprehend.

Whatever man. With a body so hot liddat, she can kong whatever she wants and I’d be happy to kap it anyway.
But sexy emcee aside, the highlight of the press conference was of course…

THE BLACK EYED PEAS.

TABOO!

APL.DE.AP!

WILL.I.AM!

FERGIE FERG, what’s up babyyyyy???

How many number one hits have they accomplished.
How many times have we danced to their music.
How many times we listened to their songs, from Let’s Get It Started, to Where Is The Love, to MY HUMPS. OMG.

It was such surreal feeling to see them appear in front of me, in the flesh just like that.
When you talk about music artistes that have achieved international stardom, you think about Britney Spears, you think about Justin Timberlake, you think about the Black Eyed Peas. If I have never been starstruck before, I am now well and truly starstruck.

Fergie may appear to be the most successful out of the group, but will.i.am is definitely the brains behind the Peas.
The guy is just the epitome of coolness. If anyone knows cool, it’s him.
will.i.am would hardly crack a smile, and when he does, it’s a smirk. The entire time he’s on stage, he was completely calm, collected and confident.

Still, the guy can be goofy without even trying.
Fergie, on the other hand, was everything I expected her to be, and more.
I’ve listened to her interviews before, and one thing that always struck me was how honest and down-to-earth she is despite her success. Normally, mega-stars would be deliberately try to avoid answering difficult questions.

But not Fergie.
Ask her about anything. From her crystal meth addiction in the past, to this one time she peed in her pants on stage, Fergie would tackle all those questions with nothing to hide.
How not to admire her like that?!

One thing I didn’t quite understand though was the local Thai media.
Opportunities like these don’t come easy, and normally you’d see tons of photographers stacked out on the front of the stage. But for some reason, the Thai photographers and reporters were all seen quietly sitting at the back of the room.
It was as if The Black Eyed Peas was their high school teacher who would ask difficult questions if they do not paying attention. The military junta sure has an effect on its people’s obedience.

So while the rest of the media cowered at the back, I strutted up to the front and took an empty seat on the first row labelled “VIP”. Not like there was any security to chase me away. 😉

I ended up with some of the best photos from the press conference.

The Black Eyed Peas presenting an autographed memorabilia to a charity auction winner.
The money they raised go towards helping disadvantaged children and tsunami-affected villages.

I caught up with the charity auction winners after the press conference, and they said they’ve paid 30,000 baht (RM3,000) each for a jacket from Fergie and Taboo!
That is just… incredible.

The best part of the evening gotta be when I returned to look for Suki and Faizal after their exclusive interview.

Yes, Fergie is actually THAT tiny

As it turned out, the Peas were still hanging around the room after they concluded the interview. I was lucky enough to catch them before they leave.

Knowing that this was probably my one and only chance to make an impression on Fergie, I seized the opportunity to hold her hand and say to her.
Kenny: Hey Fergie! I love your music!
Fergie: Thank you!
Kenny: …
Kenny: Umm… yay?
Ok fine, so it didn’t work out quite as well as I hoped for.
But that’s alright.

At least I got an autograph from all four of the Black Eyed Peas! 🙂


Eddie, the guy who challenged me to do my first marathon sent me a gift all the way from the US. With it is a note says “Either continue running marathons. Or wear this for life!”
When I saw what he actually gave me, I laughed my heart out. Thanks Eddie!

75 Replies to “Suki, Faizal & The Black Eyed Peas”

  20. after the teaser photo had been published, finally the cover appears almost 1 month and a half later
    No complaints though, anybody would want to be in Kenny’s place right now…
    JUST tell me WHO wouldn’t?!?

    Reply

  27. Thai fans are known to be REALLY crazy (and SUPER rich)!!
    There’s this Korean boyband who had auctioned their signed calendars, and those who bid the highest gets the autographed calendars and a chance to meet them in person when they held their Thailand fan-meeting.
    The highest bid was more than 60,000baht (RM6000+).
    Or was it 130,000baht? Can’t really remember, i just know there were lotsa zeros behind.

    Reply

  28. That Fergie is so sexy,
    I’ll bet she, through her music videos and her concerts here, must have help to increase the arousal level of an increased number of our legal and illegal immigrants (Indons, Banglas, Nepalese, etc.) and local men (Malays, Chinese, Indians) in our country. Some of whom happens to live, work or lepak near the vicinities where our sisters, 9 year old daughters, nieces, wives, girlfriends and other female relatives & acquaintances also happens to live, work or lepak.
    They also say that, “if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.”
    I would have liked to thank her for being part of the solution to the problem of not having enough aroused immigrant and local men around our womenfolk.
    Bambang Trihardmodjo,
    Acquisitions Committee,
    NAILMEN,
    National Association of Immigrant and Local Men of Malaysia

    Reply

  31. ARGHH…
    can’t imagine the feeling..
    desperately hope that I were u!!!
    love them very much!!
    show us more photos that u get..
    describe more pls…
    haaaa

    Reply

  35. Ha ha …
    I love your music and yay? WTF? ROFL
    Good for you man … hope to see more of yr awesome reviews 😛

    Reply

  37. u owe me big,man. said will take will.i.am’s autograph for me!!!!! i hate youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..
    no, will.i.am ,apl and taboo are the original members of BEP. and fergie is NOT the most successful of the lot. u didn’t pay attention to their music earlier doesn’t mean they weren’t big b4. they were BIGGGG ok.
    btw, pepsi malaysia is very the low-cost ah. don’t say siti lah. mawi also cannot afford ka. get suki and whathisface pulak.
    kinda makes pepsi emulating airasia.. “now everyone also can be pepsi icon” considering ppl like MJ, britney, alicia keys and all the mega mega superstars were pepsi spokespersons…
    AHEM

    Reply

  38. err.. to be honest. I nvr heard of black eye peas bfore :P.. anyway i’m listening to their song now 🙂 . yeap i like it.. cool
    thanks kenny!!
    p/s I love suki suki suki suki

    Reply

  51. fergie still look so pretty and young without heavy make-up, hairdo and dress-up… ehem2, i didnt mention abt comparing, did i…?
    kenny, you grabbed the right hand… *applause*
    but the conversation; you sounded like you’re not their biggest fan oni…? aiyohhh….

    Reply

  55. I actually think Justin Timberlake and Britney are on a whole different level to the B.E.P.s – but I’m happy that you got to meet them and that you had a good time.

    Reply

  59. Running marathons will give you man boobs. Imagine the muscle depletion and catabolism. tsk tsk. Running long distance are making pussies of men.

    Reply

  62. omg i’m such a huge HUGE fan of faizal tahir! like, talk about being ‘one in a million’, right?
    fergie looks hot, and the pics look fab. you know, as per usual.

    Reply

  64. Lol, the Thai host looks like a stereotypical Thai…. man/lady 😎
    Lucky bugger 😎 Sounds like you had a good time!

    Reply

  72. btw, pepsi malaysia is very the low-cost ah. don’t say siti lah. mawi also cannot afford ka. get suki and whathisface pulak.
    “stoopid asshole comment”

    Reply

  74. Darn luckyla you, Kenny! But then again, you worked for it and become a well known blogger.. whenla I can be like you – a lucky, successful blogger? hehe .. but then again, I don’t have your guts, so not sure if i’ll have the chance to be starstruck like you did!

    Reply

  75. Your FACING FERGIE and all you can say is YAY????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

    Reply

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