SA2016 Top 10 Female: The firsts, lasts, and unexpected

In addition to winning her second consecutive Top 10 accolade, Carrie was also conferred the Social Media Award, which previously went to Jeanette Aw in 2014 and 2015.

“I’m not very sure how I won,” she said of the latter accolade, saying that she had expected Jeanette to win for the third time in a row. “I’ve always put whatever I wanted to on social media, I never follow trends, so I’m very grateful that people like what I post and so I will continue doing what I do.”

When her mother, who had champagne ready for popping back home to celebrate (or console, if the situation called for that), found out that Carrie had nabbed two awards, she had one simple instruction for the 22-year-old: “Don’t break your trophies on the way home!”

When Qi Yuwu was accepting his All-Time Favourite Artiste award, he did not specifically thank Joanne on stage, and he later explained to us that he considered her part of the “family” he did mention.

Joanne appeared to have had her “revenge” a little later during the Top 10 segment, where she left out her husband in her acceptance speech as well. When we asked her about it backstage, she said, “No lah, isn’t it weird to say such mushy things on stage? As long as he understands how I feel, that’s enough.”

So will she miss scoring a Top 10 trophy year after year, now that she has finally graduated? “No, my fans have worked hard to vote for me for so many years, now they can finally rest,” she said.

Yi Fong was the last name to be called for the Top 10 and had to keep her speech short and sweet as a result of the broadcast running a little bit overtime. “I’ll say more (when I give my graduation speech) next year!” she proclaimed.

The bubbly host turned a little more emotional when we spoke to her backstage. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs these past ten years,” she said, with tears welling up in her eyes. “Many people have gone from loving me to hating me and loving me again, so I really want to thank those who have supported me all this time.”

When guest presenter Hu Gua said that the next winner shared a surname with him, Jayley was “stunned for five seconds” as she thought he could be talking about her (which, as it turns out, he was). The next thing she knew, she was walking up on stage to receive her very first Star Awards trophy from Park Hae Jin, whom she shyly hugged.

That said, she told us that she’s happier about winning than getting so up close and personal with the Korean superstar. “Hopefully, next year if I win again, I will more prepared with a better speech no matter which oppa comes!” she declared. “This year I didn’t expect it at all – I thought I would just come here to chill and look pretty and walk the red carpet with hunks.”

Becks confessed that she “was not very confident” about getting into the Top 10 this year thanks to her “retiring” saga, which turned out to be a publicity stunt for an insurance company and was deemed misleading by many angry netizens. To make matters worse, even her seniors, managers, friends and relatives kept telling her how worried they were for her.

So, when she was the first artiste to be crowned this year’s Top 10 winner, the first thing that came into her mind was “Whew!” “I wouldn’t say that this is not important to me because it’s very important, so to be on stage again after everything that has happened, I’m very grateful,” she said.

After her contract with Mediacorp expired in 2010, Jesseca signed on with HIM International Music and she was no longer eligible for the Top 10 race. Last year, she returned to the TV station with a new contract, thus making her qualified to compete again (and boy did she return with a bang by sweeping up her fifth gong).

When we asked if the camera suddenly panning to rumoured beau Jeremy Chan was a sign that they intend to go public with their relationship soon, all Jesseca would offer is a smile and “Thank you for everyone’s concern, I think we need a bit of space”.

The host understandably became emotional while talking about her late mother, who passed away over the Lunar New Year earlier this year, during her backstage interview with Toggle.

“In the past, she would pray for me every morning before the Star Awards, and this year, it didn’t happen,” she said. “She would also help me to find a place to display my trophy, but I know that when I go home tonight, I will have to do it myself.”

Felicia managed to fly back to Singapore from Malaysia, where she’s currently filming, thanks to her crew, who were understanding enough to tweak the production schedule so that she can make it not just for Part 1, but also Part 2 next week. Last night was Felicia’s sixth time winning a Top 10 trophy, and her second after becoming eligible for the award again in 2015 after a four-year absence.

When the Rocket Award winner reminded her boyfriend that the Star Awards were approaching, all she got was a nonchalant acknowledgement. However, she soon found out from friends that he was secretly voting for her without her knowledge, which she thought was quite sweet.

Now that she has two trophies under her belt this year, Julie openly expressed her desire to bag a third one for Best Supporting Actress at Part 2 next Sunday. “It’s an acting award, which is something that all actors want, so if I win it then I’ll be very happy,” she said.

Kym admitted to being more nervous about winning than ever before, since it was her eighth trophy (in other words, she only has two more victories to go before graduating).

“My fans kept telling me that I must win, so just now I was so nervous!” she said. “I was so relieved when I heard my name that I nearly fainted!”