The last word on The Voice of the Philippines

The semi-finals of ABS-CBN’s The Voice of the Philippines held last Sunday only proved how wrong we were in expectations, and how much results are ruled by various elements, not in the least a thorough understanding of the Pinoy psyche.

 We recall chancing upon a delayed screening of The Voice of UK of June, 2013 which attracted us since a Filipino, Joseph Apostol, was among the competitors. On June 18, however, Joseph was eliminated when Mike Ward, Joseph’s rival, garnered the highest public votes. Both Joseph and Mike belonged to Team Tom Jones, with Joseph receiving impressive feedback from his coach. Why was the public vote overwhelmingly pro-Ward? We presumed that perhaps his being part Filipino, not as well known as Ward worked against him. In addition, we think that his chosen song, End of the Road, was the worst possible he could have picked. It was indeed the end of the road for him.

 Last Sunday, nevertheless, convinced us that the various results of all The Voice competitions all over the world cannot have similar patterns. They will all be different, just as jurors and coaches will have different styles of coaching, and the public will have their own biases.

Three months ago, The Voice of the Philippines was introduced to the public by ABS-CBN who had acquired the franchise. Then the coaches were brought in — apl.de.ap, Bamboo Mañalac, Lea Salonga, all based abroad, and the homegrown home-based Sarah Geronimo. It was a new concept for the Philippines. This reality talent search that started in Holland exercises no discrimination on age, gender and economic status. The Blind Auditions of choosing candidates is conducted by coaches with their backs to the audience, the choice completely dependent on their hearing.  

When all teams are complete, they move to The Battle Rounds, with more eliminations from the coaches until it’s time for The Live Shows, more eliminations, then the Semi-Finals round of eight participants. We got to meet the semi-finalists in person via a media conference where they answered all questions, talked of plans in case they didn’t make the finals, demonstrated their expertise to us through song, and, took the usual pa-intriga observations in stride. The “meet and greet” both for them and for us served as a primer in what this world of competition would be like.

Janice Javier and Thor Dulay under Team Apl of the world famous band Black Eyed Peas called themselves “Janitor” for short. We have to admit that when they first performed, we placed our bet quickly on Janice. Her big strong voice that went well with her size floored us. Next was Mitoy Yonting and Radha Tinsay under Internationally known Broadway star Lea. Both had strong voices, but we didn’t particularly favor one over the other.

Then came Team Kawayan’s young boys, Paolo Onesa and Myk Perez, with a complete change of pace. Coach Bamboo felt what he called “chill” might work in the midst of the usual biritan. Personally, our worry was that Paolo’s good looks and obvious fan base in the gallery would give him the edge with the live audience vote. Last was Sarah’s young girls Morrisette Amon and Klarisse de Guzman. Morrisette was confident, Klarisse shy. We thought them too young for the competition.

It was time for elimination last Sunday where there were some surprises. The four now left standing are big lady Janice, Mitoy who overtook coach Lea’s choice of Radha, Myk who does sound better sans his guitar, and Klarisse who lost all her shyness and gave the performance of her life. Upon being chosen, all four sang an original song they created.

What have we learned from this three-month exercise? We are certain both coaches and participants learned a whole lot more than a year’s schooling in voice interpretation would teach them. As viewer, what have we learned? When Paolo’s screaming fans did not translate into votes, we have learned to interpret the text votes and the fan base to be just that, nothing that would last, or could be trusted. This coming Sunday is the big day for the five remaining Philippine Voices. Anyone of them deserves to be the Last Man Standing.  Whoever that will be will win P2M, a car from Ford, an Asian tour, recording with Universal, among others.

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