On 20 September 2012, Shila Amzah from Malaysia became the champion of Asian Wave, a "pop talent show" in Shanghai.
Her delivery of a Mandarin song by Chinese pop star Na Ying-a brought the studio audience and the judges to their feet, and rendered the show's host Lin Hai speechless while Chinese composer Gao Xiaosong praised her by saying, "You gave me goose bumps. You broke my heart." She also sang Wang Leehom's Forever Love in one of the prelimilary rounds of Asian Wave.
Shila sang three number one hits - Set Fire ToThe Rain by Adele, Grenade by Bruno Mars, and Gemilang by Malaysian Idol winner Jaclyn Victor-to scoop the most number of online votes from home viewers. With the success, Shila defeated five other finalists who are each from China, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and India.
Choking back tears of joy Shila said "To all my fans, thank you for making me feel so blessed. I will be here more often and I want to learn more Mandarin because it's a beautiful language." She is making arrangements to improve her Chinese, a language that she learned from pre-school until Year Three.
