More than six years after taking a break from music, Singaporean singer Hady Mirza is making his comeback on reality singing series Gegar Vaganza. The 39-year-old came into prominence when he won Singapore Idol in 2006, then Asian Idol a year later. After two albums, he went on hiatus starting in 2012.

“I decided to stop because I didn’t know where my career was going,” he says. “There were other personal reasons too. I thought that if I wasn’t comfortable doing it, I might as well not do it – because when you do something, you have to put your heart and soul into it.”