Intro

Who is Januarisman? Simply put, he might be the biggest sensation to ever come out from Indonesian Idol. He was first shown to public singing 'Rasa Yang Tertinggal', a song by ST12, in a teaser advertising the fifth season of Indonesian Idol:



With the short snippet, Indonesian Idol producers have managed to capture interest by combining superlative singing and suspense (he was shown for not more than twenty seconds, and no other information was given about him). Who is this guy that made Titi DJ cry, and compelled other judges to click their tongue in adoration? Idol fans began to speculate about his identity. Some even claimed that he was actually ST12 lead singer himself, noting the similar earring and facial features. Is he?

Unfortunately the question was still unanswered by the end of II5's first episode, shown on 4 April. Here the mystery person appeared only briefly at the end, in the teaser for the next audition episode. Indeed, II producers seemed to be saving their ace card until the very last moment. He was finally revealed at the second (and final) audition episode, and he was the very last contestant to be shown. By then, hype and expectation have mounted. This kind of promotion and buildup for a contestant is unprecedented in any Indonesian Idol seasons. Can he meet the expectations, or will he turn out to be ordinary, disappointing eager fans?



Fans finally learned who he is, that he is a twenty year old busker who live a hard life singing on Jakarta trains with his friends, in order to feed his wife and baby son. More importantly, viewers finally got to see his full audition, where he sang a killer version of ST12 song and another song where he sang without his guitar. All the judges worshipped him, though Indra Lesmana observed that he lacked something without his guitar.

Viewers' response has been nothing short of phenomenal. Within two days, his audition video has had more than 8,000 views on Youtube, where the video has also managed to crack into Most Discussed, Most Viewed, Top Favorites, and Top Rated honors. Tens of blog posts have been made about his audition, hundreds of forum posts have appeared discussing him, and interest in the ST12 song suddenly shot through the roof.

What's next for Januarisman?