Who will be the 2014 Philpop grand champion?

Of course, the lucky contestants (out of hundreds) know already that they have made it to Philpop 2014 Top 12, with their entries recorded for posterity on an album produced by Philpop and its partner Universal Records. This year’s theme is Loud and Proud.

But they don’t know who among them will emerge the P1-million grand-winner who will be announced on July 6 at the Meralco Theater.

Philpop Musicfest Foundation executive director Maestro Ryan “Mr. C.” Cayabyab and board members Noel Cabangon and Ogie Alcasid are all praises for this year’s batch and happily sharing the Philpop potential hits with the world.

The Top 12 compositions/composers (revealed during the OPM Summit last March) and the interpreters are (at random):

• Davey Langit with NGSB (No Girlfriend Since Break), interpreted by Luigi D’Avola;

• Venelyn San Pedro, The Only One, by Thor;

• Ronaldo Sorioso, Awit Mo’y Nandito Pa, by Aldrich and James;

• Daryl Ong, Torpe, by Kris Lawrence;

• Soc Villanueva, Babalikan Mo Rin Ako, by Nikki Gil;

• Jude Gitamondoc and Therese Marie Villarante, Song On A Broken String, by Nicole Asencio;

• Jungee Marcelo, Salbabida, by Kyla;

• Mike Villegas, Dear Heart, by Kiana Valenciano;

• Allan Feliciano and Isaac Joseph Garcia, Hangout Lang, by Duncan Ramos and Young JV;

• QYork’s James Palma a.k.a. Flava Matikz and Cedric Bonjoc a.k.a. Knowa Lazarus, Qrush On You, by Elmo Magalona and Jay-R;

• Cecilia Bocobo and Isaac Joseph Garcia, Kung Akin Ang Langit, by Clara Benin and Mcoy Fundales; and

• Ronaldo Sorioso, Langit Umaawit, by Tom Rodriguez.

Of the 12, some are professionals and the rest are amateurs.

A brief Q&A with Mr. C.:

What can you say about Batch 2014 as far as creativity and originality are concerned?

“I love them. Marami silang bagong ini-inject, a lot of new stuff. Of course, some of the songs are throwback, I mean the style, but the young ones have come up with a new sound, naiibang tunog. I really enjoy listening to their songs. I didn’t expect this batch to be able to get interpreters na talagang wow! Name interpreters!”

How many are professionals and how many are amateurs?

“I won’t consider Daryl Ong a professional because so far he has done only three songs in his life. Two of them are from the advertising industry at hindi sila kilala as songwriters. Among the professionals are Jungee, Mike and Soc.”

Don’t the professionals have an edge over the amateurs? 

“Not really. During the screening process, we noticed that the younger judges parang hindi masyadong gusto ‘yung mga lumang styles. In the end, the vote of the majority prevailed. But you know, ‘yung mga professionals I think pinabata nila ang kanilang style; nag-adapt sila.”

Philpop is a competition among composers. Is it possible that even if the song is well-written, its chances may be adversely affected by its interpreter who is not good?

“Yes, I agree. It’s not the song itself but the way it is interpreted. The total effect of a song includes the areglo and the medium which is the singer. The interpreter does a lot for the song and the songwriters are aware of that.”

Who chose the interpreters?

“Either the composers themselves who personally talked to the singers or they chose from the list given to them by Universal Records.”

(Philpop is presented by Smart and SPINNR, co-presented by PLDT Home Telpad, and sponsored by Maynilad, Meralco and Sun Cellular. Philpop is supported by the First Pacific Leadership Academy, Metro Pacific Investments, Philex and MNTC. Special thanks to Sony, Business World, Radio Republic, RX93.1, Yahoo and MYX.)

Rachelle Ann gets good reviews

Barely two weeks after the opening of Miss Saigon at the Prince Edward Theater on London’s West End, Rachelle Ann Go is already at ease onstage in bikini as Gigi.

Here’s one review from broadwayworld.com:

Rachelle Ann Go is superb as Gigi — it is just a shame she gets so little to do, and that’s a problem also encountered by Tamsin Carroll as Ellen, always an underwritten character and difficult to emphatize with, despite the regular tweaks to her solo song (now Maybe, replacing Now That I’ve Seen Her).

Rachelle Ann is one of the nine Filipinos in the cast, including Jon Jon Briones (a Miss Saigon veteran) as The Engineer, Eva Noblezada (born and raised in the US, both parents are Filipino) as Kim, Tanya Manalang (Alternate Kim), Julia Abueva (Ensemble), Ela Lisondra (Swing), Ariel Reonal (Ensemble), Romeo Salazar (Ensemble) and Christian Rey Marbella (Ensemble).

In an interview with 24 Oras, Rachelle Ann said that she hardly has spare time because she performs all week (aside from doing rehearsals) and, on weekends, she cooks and does the other household chores. She’s enjoying her Miss Saigon stint and she should emerge from it a better actress.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected].)