Gabby, KC show very real emotions in first film team-up, says director

Jovit Baldivino sang his way to stardom and won the hearts of Filipino televiewers as the first grand winner of ABS-CBN’s nationwide talent-reality show “Pilipinas Got Talent,” the culmination of which was held Sunday night at the jam-packed Araneta Coliseum.

The 16-year-old teenager who sold siomai in Batangas went home P2 million richer after topping overnight text and online votes with a whopping 48.81 percent, according to www.abs-cbn.com.

Dance groups Baguio Metamorphosis and Velasco Brothers were hailed runners-up and each received a P100,000 cash prize.

During the special two-hour final performance night held Saturday, PGT judge Kris Aquino said Jovit will be ABS-CBN’s next singing superstar after he gave a hair-raising rendition of Queen’s “Too Much Love Will Kill You.” His very strong fan base, who calls themselves Jovinatics, came full force at the Big Dome and literally went wild upon hearing Jovit’s first note or on the mere mention of his name.

Jovit was able to beat other grand finalists, namely ventriloquist Ruther Urquia, magician Allan “Alakim” De Paz, Fil-Norwegian crooner Markki Stroem, guitarist Keith Delleva, the Ezra Band, balladeer Sherwin Baguion, chorale group Luntayao Family, violinist Maria Jeline Oliva, and Broadway singer Ingrid Payaket. Each non-winning finalist will take home a P50,000 consolation prize.

As early as audition period, Jovit already created a mark as a certified YouTube sensation after his audition video singing The Journey’s “Faithfully” amassed more than three million hits in the said video-sharing site. He was also dubbed as the next Arnel Pineda with the striking resemblance of his voice to that of the YouTube discovery turned international artist.

Judges Kris Aquino, Ai Ai Delas Alas, and Freddie M. Garcia aka FMG did the honor of announcing the first-ever PGT grand winner. Executives from franchise owners Fremantle Media were also present to witness the successful conclusion of the first season of the Got Talent franchise in the country.

The victory of Jovit was expected by many, most especially by the Jovinatics. That he got 48.81% of the text votes cast is, indeed, indicative of his strong following.

There’s no question that Jovit has a powerful singing voice, but he needs a makeover to enhance his overall appearance as he enters show business. He should also take voice lessons so he could find out what other type of songs he’s capable of doing. He can’t be forever doing songs of Journey. Arnel Pineda is already doing that as vocalist of Journey.

With Jovit taking home the P2 million cash prize, his life would truly change. For sure, he’d be signed up by ABS-CBN and be billed up as the next big singing star.

As for the other finalists of “Pilipinas Got Talent,” we still can’t say what ABS-CBN plans to do with them.

Since Markki Stroem is being handled by Erickson Javier, who manages Sam Milby, for sure the Fil-Norwegian’s singing career would also be pushed. He has the looks and the talent although he probably could have amassed more text votes had he not sang “Like A Prayer” of Madonna during the performance night. Sad to say, he ended up as the tail-ender in text votes. Still, here’s hoping that Markki’s desire to make singing a career would be fruitful.

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Diretor Maryo J. delos Reyes said he has no idea as to what extent was the research done by the creative team of his latest movie project “I’ll Be There” so as to find some connection between the real-life relationship of its lead stars Gabby and KC Concepcion and the father-and-daughter story of the film.

The movie’s story tells of a father and his daughter who were separated for quite a long time and then met anew to reconnect, but the daughter still harbors ill feelings towards her dad. Of course, this is not the case for KC and Gabby in real-life. Nevertheless, direk Maryo said he isn’t aware if Gabby and KC had shared their true-to-life experiences with the writers of the movie so as to make the scenes more dramatic, and yes, closer to home.

As Direk Maryo put it, “I don’t want to delve into their private lives but I believe that there might be scenes in the movie which are both vicarious and real. One thing is certain the emotions shown by Gabby and KC in the film are very real. But the situation, it could have been modified or edited so as to fit the needs of the story.”

Judging from the trailer, “I’ll Be There” seems to be an interesting project to watch. And since this is the first teamup of Gabby and KC in a movie, everything seems to point to a blockbuster success for “I’ll Be There.” The movie, which also stars Jericho Rosales, opens today in more than 100 theaters nationwide.

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The newest Twitter topic of Ampalaya Anonymous, a group of celebrity friends, is Jennylyn Mercado. Is it true that she’s living in with Dennis Trillo? Is she neglecting her commitments, and worst, her son? Is she a bad influence on Dennis or is it the other way around?