Singaporean Singer, Whose Dad Really Wanted Him To Be A Doctor, Makes It To Top 50 In Australian Idol

We’ve all heard of the age-old trope of Asian parents wanting their kids to become doctors and lawyers, so as to bring honour to the family name and all that jazz.

Such was the case for 27-year-old Singaporean wedding singer Kartik Kunasegaran, whose family migrated to Australia when he was young.

Kartik, who now lives in Sydney, had an extremely successful audition on Australian Idol, where made it into the Top 50 round of the reality competition show.

Singaporean jazz singer and vocal coach Alemay Fernandez shared the clip of Kartik’s audition on Facebook, where she cheered him on for the next level of the competition.

“Ridiculously proud to watch a Singaporean talent with the WHOLE package audition for Harry Connick Jr and Meghan Trainor on Australian Idol and absolutely slay it!” she wrote in her caption.

Here's Kartik at his pre-audition interview

In Kartik’s introduction, he spoke about his childhood in Singapore, saying: “Growing up in Singapore, it’s a cool place to grow up, [but] it’s just very academic over there and I didn’t really realise my musical passions until we came to Australia.”

“I wanted him to be a doctor. But then he said “music”. I said “doctor” he said “music”, I said “doctor”, he said “music, music, music”. I lost, and he won,” said Kartik’s dad with a laugh.

Kartik's dad shared that he initially wanted his son to become a doctor, but the young singer was persistent in pursuing his dreams

Kartik returned to Singapore to serve his mandatory National Service when he was 18, where he joined the Singapore Armed Forces’ music and drama company. He went on to perform with the company at shopping malls and hotels, and also sang to a crowd of “27000 at the stadium”.

It was no wonder he was recognised by local singer-songwriter Dick Lee, who commented on Alemay’s post, saying that he found Kartik “so familiar”.

Turns out, Kartik was part of the National Day Parade in 2014.

Alemay shared a picture of Kartik at the 2014 National Day Parade

Kartik went on to impress the panel of four judges with his rendition of Bruno Mars’ ‘Treasure’, and made it through to the next round of the competition with all four yes-es.

As he walked out of the audition room and announced his results to his family, his very proud father exclaimed in joy and embraced him in a tight hug.

“[I] just survived a heart attack last month. I’m just so proud of him, I’m just so happy to be alive to see this,” said Kartik’s dad as he teared up during the post-audition interview.

The comments section of Alemay’s post was also filled with encouragement and cheers from her followers, who looked forward to watching Kartik in the next round of the competition.

All the best Kartik!

Kartik had a very successful audition, and made it into the Top 50 of the competition