The Voice Of The Philippines: Top16 Part2

Disclaimer: While writing this article, I've been raping the repeat button on Myk Perez's performance last night. :)

I was blessed enough to got tickets to finally watch The Voice Of The Philippines live. The energy of the crowd was decent although far from the likes of the audiences from Ellen and Oprah but we'll get there! The stage was amazing!

This review will probably one of my best works since I've personally heard them all sing and it gave me a better view of what's happening live and how it differs from watching at home. I must say that the contestants really sound much better live although there is not much of a big deal but I really give respect to those who can really sing live smoothly.:)

Who completed the Final 8? Let's start.

#TeamApl was the first one to perform. Janice Javier will be up against the young and very talented Jessica Reynoso. This one was the hardest battle for me last night since they are really different from each other. Janice having this Rocker Chiq style and Jessica who's more likely to follow the footsteps of Whitney Houston and Beyonce.

Janice Javier was the first to perform and she sang Chain Of Fools. Her version of the song was great, her big voice was really commanding the stage. I enjoyed her performance and it seemed like she did too. This was one of her better performance since I thought her version of I Believe I Can Fly was her best performance to date. 

The biggest surprise of the night: We all thought Coach Apl will really give a close score for this two but I was also surprised when Coach Apl gave Janice 65% and 35% to Jessica. No disrespect to Janice but they are both good, I just did not expect that blowout score from Coach Apl.

Public's decision: 30.88%

Paolo's decision:  50% 

In my opinion, last night was Jessica's best performance in this show. It was heartfelt, and very well controlled performance. I honestly don't know why Coach gave her a low score, I was expecting more like 49-51 score for both of them. Just imagine, at 16 she's already like this? By 18 she's ready to conquer the world! I know she will go places. I just know it.

Coach Apl's decision: 35%

Public's decision: 60.02% (blowout score from the public! This was really interesting!)

Paolo's decision: 50%

 

And that's it for Team Apl! It will be the Soulful singer Thor Dulay up against Powerhouse vocalist Janice Javier for the final slot on Team Apl.

Team Sarah was the next to perform and before this show, Mommy Eva will be up against Klarisse De Guzman. I wanted Mommy Eva to really win this round but I was almost sure that Sarah will really give Klarisse a higher score(no disrespect, Klarisse is a good singer too) and the public will also vote for Klarisse. This is a big challenge for Mommy Eva as her back is up against the wall.

Mommy Eva did a very emotional performance last night, and I thought that somehow affected her performance. She was really feeling the song very well and that's good, I just thought she should have held back a bit and that would be a better performance. 

Coach Sarah's decision: 45%

Public's decision: 31.09%

Paolo's decision: 45%

Klarisse De Guzman was up next to perform. By now, everyone's kind of expecting that she'd be winning this battle because of her talent and her extra deep connection with Coach Sarah and I think she delivered last night. She actually did nothing special on that song but she provided the right amount of emotion the song really asked for. She was spot on and gave a very good rendition of the song I Can't Make You Love Me.

Coach Sarah's decision: 55%

Public's decision: 68.91%

Paolo's decision: 55%

Sarah will have an all female battle to know who will represent Team Sarah on the finale. Morissette Amon who's voice is just limitless and Klarisse who's experience might give her an edge against her opponent.

Team Bamboo is the next to perform and I will really say this, I've been really hard on Team Bamboo the past weeks, but THIS IS DEFINITELY THE BEST SINGERS COACH BAMBOO HAD IN HIS TEAM! Myk Perez and Isa Fabregas were both amazing last night!!

Isa was the first to perform and I was expecting this to be a blowout win for Myk, but she changed my mind after she started to sing! I instantly became a fan of her! Forgot what to call her style but I sense a bossa and jazz genre all combined on her voice. :) I look forward on her covers soon!

Coach Bamboo's decision: 45%

Public's decision: 33.87%

Paolo's decision: 48%

 

MYK PEREZ. BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT. He's ready to do an album! I almost forgot that he was a contestant because everyone on the Newport Theater was singing and jamming with him. Easily the best performance :) I will definitely buy this on iTunes!

His voice might sound-like Coach Bamboo but what differs is he has a more pop feel and the audience seems to also like it!

Coach Bamboo's decision: 55%

Public's decision: 66.13%

Paolo's decision: 52%

This will be very interesting for Team Bamboo. All male final two! Myk Perez will be up against Paolo Onesa. 

Team Lea will have Radha Tinsay and Kimpoy Mainit battle it out for the last slot for the Final 2. In my opinion, everyone else knew that Radha will win this one. I think even Kimpoy knows it to himself. That's why I think it brought out the best in Kimpoy. Why? No pressure. He can do whatever he wants on that song. He can adlib and give it some style and he successfully did it. He gave a good performance!

Coach Lea's decision: 40%

Public's decision: 34.50%

Paolo's decision: 35%

I salute Ms. Radha for giving us a laid back and much more simpler performance last night. She have showed everyone how powerful her voice can be and last night she gave us something new. Might not be the way others wanted it, but I respected her decision to somehow hold back last night. Nevertheless, her performance was still one of the best! Talk about PRO PRO PRO. She's way too ready for this show! I cannot wait to see her concerts!

Coach Lea's decision: 60%

Public's decision: 65.50%

Paolo's decision: 65%

Coach Lea will parade two of the best singers in the whole competition! Radha Tinsay will be up against Mitoy Yonting.

Another great decision from the public!Can't wait for next week! I hope I can watch live again. Haha. :) I will do another blog featuring our Top 8 soon!:) 

Credits: TheVoiceABSCBN for the videos!

Keep the Faith.

Paolo

The Voice Of The Philippines: Live Shows 2

It's that time of the week again! Sunday is The Voice Of The Philippines day! After the success of the first live show, we are all thrilled to see what the contestants prepared for us tonight. I must say that the first live show will be very hard act to follow since "MAJORITY" of the title contenders were on the first one. Did the second half performed better than the first one? Who completed the Top 16? Let's all find out. :)

I would like to thank everyone who have been supporting my blog! My twitter mentions have been crazy so far and a lot of requests have been asked too. I will try my best to really give some of your requests. Thanks everyone :) My blog views just reached 12000 views with my last blog posting a 1,200+ views. Awesome!

Again, I will be doing my review through a ranking category just to spice things up. This are all from my own opinion. For the worst performance of the night..

12th: Angelique Alcantara - Nobela (Team Bamboo)

BORING. Wrong song choice. Everything in that performance was wrong. There was nothing spectacular on her performance at all. Why didn't Coach Bamboo changed the song of Angelique? No offense to the Join The Club but that song was not for contest-type performance. Her voice can be compared to KZ Tandingan but what's missing is her lack of emotion and style. Everyone knows that from this point it would just be Isa and Paolo for the night on Team Bamboo.

11th: Diday Garcellano - Rumor Has It (Team Lea)

BIG. BIG. BIG SONG. If you will cover an ADELE song be sure to really do it well since people will really compare you to the original one.  She was eaten alive by that song. We were wondering if there was a technical malfunction because we can't hear her that well while she was performing. She struggled last night. She knows it that's why she started to cry when Coach Lea was about to make her decision on who to save between her and Kim.

No offense to Diday and Kim, but with their performances last night it kept me thinking that RJ deserved a slot if he performed tonight!

 

10th: Tristhan Perfecto - When I Was Your Man (Team Apl)

Tristhan started strong with his performance. It was cool until the middle part where he struggled. I was wrooonggggg....... That will haunt him for a couple of days. It was just after his performance where Coach Apl defended Tristhan that he voice wasn't really perfect at that time. I just wished that Tristhan changed that part where he will not suffer since he knows that his voice isn't that well at that time. I must say, that part of the song was the MAKE OR BREAK point of his performance & sad to say, he failed to deliver that part. Overall, he still did well. Rest your voice Stan! I believe that you will  be performing with Bruno Mars soon!! :)

 

9th: Klarisse De Guzman - Beggin' (Team Sarah)

Wrong song choice again. Yes, I know that people want to see the other side of Klarisse but that song did not bring out anything good in her. It was plain and simple. I would have opted to see her perform more upbeat songs like Domino or any song by Jessie J, just to be different. Beggin' was performed by Phillip Phillips on American Idol where he performed it as an acoustic version. 

But, despite of that somehow disappointing number, we all know that Klarisse will be saved last night, no matter what happens. Sarah will definitely save Klarisse, for all obvious reasons. She's great but I think Sarah has a female contender already in Morissette Amon which I think has more chance of winning this competition compared to Klarisse. 

8th: Kimpoy Mainit - Hallelujah (Team Lea)

I did not like his version of this song. It was just too much of everything that the song needed. He over sang it. It was too theatrical. He also struggled on the middle portion of the song. This was not how I expected Kim to deliver come live shows, he did well on his performance with Taw and he also did great last night with his duet with Janice Javier. I really felt that none of Kim and Diday deserved to move forward to the next round. I hope he will be able to give us a better performance come next week.

 

 7th: Isa Fabregas - You Got A Friend (Team Bamboo)

This will all be good comments from now on. Haha. Isa really did great last night! She sounded classy! It was like were were all watching her perform on a bar. It's really good! This is how you pick a song. You pick a song that will bring out the best in you. Where you can shine and stand out among the rest. I was having doubts with Isa before since I for me, her vocal range might limit her to only a number of songs but she made the necessary arrangements and really made it her own!

 

6th: Yuki Ito - A Song For You (Team Sarah)

I did not like the arrangement of the song, but who cares? His voice is really incredible! I can consider his voice one of the best voices for this season! He gave his all! His voice quality is crazy good! The control, depth, texture and all! We lost a great talent!!! What a waste. :( He deserves to be in this competition! SAYANG!!!!!

 

5th: Paolo Onesa - You Give Me Something (Team Bamboo)

He has really something to show! Paolo gave a very good interpretation of the James Morrison song. I thought he will still be that shy and awkward while performing but he definitely improved last night. He just needs more confidence and take the risk of hitting those high notes much longer. He can do it, he should give it a try. I believe we will be seeing Paolo for a long time in this competition! 

Coach Bamboo proved to us that he was right when he chose Paolo over the Cordovales duo. Cheers Coach Bamboo!

PS: Paolo's are really great singers. Paolo Valenciano, Paolo Onesa and Paolo Valencia. Kidding.=) haha!

 

4th: Penelope Matanguihan - Ordinary People (Team Apl)

I am disappointed with her performance but I still ranked her 4th. Why am I disappointed? This song was too easy for her! In other words, no challenge, no thrill for her. She needs to test her limit, take risks, she has wide range so she can definitely play with her voice. I ranked her 4th because of her voice, it's probably one of the smoothest voices in the competition. Coach Apl can make her sing anything! Penelope, we know you're a good singer, we want more! We know you have the talent! Don't hold back!

3rd: Maki Ricafort - Without You (Team Sarah)

I'm up for a Maki-Thor-Mitoy and Myk finale! Woohoo! Maki murdered the song! He sounded like Brian Mcknight! I applaud his effort to really not sound as much as Brian Mcknight and it showed somehow. His runs and riffs are crazy good! We were all shouting at home! Coach Sarah was also on point where she said that Maki needs to show emotions while singing. Coach Lea gave a very good criticism too, sometimes when singers tend to style it too much, the lyrics of the song were suffering. I'm sure come next week, he will improve on those things. Maki all the way!

2nd: Janice Javier - I Believe I Can Fly (Team Apl)

Standing Ovation from the judges. No words needed! Janice soared high last night! Shame on me for underestimating her. She's here to win this competition! I felt that she really meant every lyric of that song! Big Momma J brought the house down! She owned the stage and really made the tv viewers and the live audience feel her fire!! Coach Apl is very lucky to have a very diverse and strong team with Thor, Janice, Jessica and Penelope!!

1st: Mitoy Yonting - Don't Stop Me Now (Team Lea)

Mitoy saved Team Lea last night! It felt like he was not a contestant but a guest performer! He totally rocked the stage and fired up the crowd! That's how you make someone understand on how you should define stage presence! He is a PRO! He made it look easy! Hitting those crazy high notes from time to time! I'm speechless as I am under his spell too! Mitoy is a total performer! Definitely the best performance of the night! Mitoy also got the highest vote percentage of 82%! Talk about total domination!

It's like he just sang and told everyone that THE SEARCH IS OVER!! I will win this competition! :)

 

 And there we have it! Klarisse and Maki completed Team Sarah. Mitoy and Kim for Team Lea. Janice and Penelope for Team Apl & Isa and Paolo for Team Bamboo! I would also like to congratulate the voters for doing a job well done! We are making the right decisions! Let's continue to vote for the best until the 2016 National Elections! Haha!

We now have our The Voice Of The Philippines Top 16!!! Who's the strongest team? Here's my take on each team.

#1. Coach Apl de Ap's #TeamApl

How can you go wrong with: Thor Dulay, Janice Javier, Penelope Matanguihan & Jessica Reynoso? This will be really challenging for the four of them to do better than the other! Another headache for Coach Apl! :)

#2. Coach Lea Salonga's #TeamLea

Headed by the two musician veterans on Radha Tinsay and Mitoy Yonting, plus the originality of Darryl Shy and Kim Mainit, Team Lea is also one of the teams to watch out. I can see Mitoy and Radha fighting for the finale spot on Team Lea but I hope Darryl and Kim will do something to surprise us!

#3. Coach Sarah Geronimo's #TeamSarah

It's Maki Ricafort versus the ladies for Team Sarah! Morissette Amon, Klarisse de Guzman & Eva Delos Santos will surely fight hard to win Coach Sarah's vote. I'm prediciting a Maki vs Morissette for the number 1 slot on Team Sarah.

#4. Coach Bamboo's #TeamBamboo #KampKawayan

I can see Myk Perez leading this team all the way but we should also watch out for Paolo Onesa, Isa Fabregas and definitely Lee Grane. This team needs to do a lot of work to somehow keep up with the intensity and talent of the other three teams!

There you have it everyone! Please tell me about who you're picks are! I have a comment section and we can discuss anything! Put your ranking too and let's see if the other readers agree on your ranking!:) Let us all interact and really discuss things out!

Credits to: The Voice Of The Philippines for the photos. ABSCBNBestProgram and ALiWAN for the videos!

Keep the Faith.

Paolo

The Voice Of The Philippines: The Battles Round 4

Sorry for the late upload, been experiencing bad internet connection for the past week. Good thing they were able to get it done before tonight's episode.

What did we miss last week? Did the coaches made good decisions? Will we see another surprise pick from Coach Bamboo? Let's see.

Team Bamboo opened the night for Battle Rounds. Isabella Fabregas and Angelica Prado battled out with the song "Don't Speak" of No Doubt. No doubt that this was a very great performance and a very controversial one. I think in this performance, it was Angelica who outperformed Isabella Fabregas. Another surprise pick from Coach Bamboo. I am now confused on what is his plan for his team. 

No DOUBT, his team is the weakest SO FAR. No offense to the talents he have on his team right now, they are all talented but they're not enough to battle Thor, Radha, Maki and Junji. I was really disappointed because during blind auditions, Team Bamboo was close enough to winning this competition. But after the Lee Grane controversy, it was just followed by another one. I just hope that during the last part of the battle rounds, he will be able to put up a competitive team.

Big Momma J and Lance Fabros battled it out for a slot on Team Apl's team. They sang "Don't Stop Believing". I think this is a mismatch and wrong pairing. You know who will win even if you don't watch them perform.

I couldn't say that it was a great performance since in my opinion that song wasn't really one of their genre. Maybe it was too low or high for one of them but I commend Janice Javier's stage presence. I felt her performance, she really doesn't want that night to be her last. Clearly, her hard work paid off. Lance wasn't just able to keep up with the intensity of Janice Javier. Coach Apl is really blessed and packed with a lot of talents!

The next one was in my opinion the best battle of the night. Team Lea's Darryl Shy and MJ Podolig. Their song might not be really a typical battle song but that really doesn't matter as long as they can deliver what the message of the song asked. I hope they can record a studio version of "Tuwing Umuulan at Kapiling Ka".

I can say that Mr. Daryl Shy is the dark horse on Team Lea.  You might underestimate him but I can really see that he has more to give on this competition. As for MJ Podolig, he did great but nothing spectacular. Coach Lea is really great in giving advices to her team. She is not holding back on anything, she will say anything she wants because she wants you to be better. I would love to be coached by Ms. Lea Salonga.

Last battle of the night was Team Sarah's Mommy Eva Delos Santos and Michaellen Temporada. I can consider this as an odd pairing but I was really surprised with Coach Sarah's team performance so far. Her team is for me, the team to beat in this competition. She might be an underdog during the blind auditions but she have surpassed Coach Bamboo's team in terms of giving the audience the performance they deserve. Coach Sarah continues to impress me with her song choice, mentoring and even her positive vibe that everything will turn out right. She is proving everyone why she deserves to be seating next to those 3 other judges!

Mommy Eva was just the better singer that night. :) Just sad to see a good singer leave the competition this early.

Last 2 battle rounds left! I honestly can't wait for RJ Dela Fuente, Radha and Maki Ricafort's battle. :) 

Credits to: VoicePH for the photos and TheVoiceABSCBN for the videos.

Do you agree with me? Did they made the right decisions?

Keep the Faith.

Paolo