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By Sarah Baviera
There is no doubt among those who live and
breathe music that the local version of American Idol has failed to
generate the excitement that the original version has so
successfully sustained for six glorious seasons.
When GMA 7 got the rights to stage the local
version of American Idol this year, the network’s bigwigs pulled
all strings to give the show a new personality. First was the change
of name from Philippine Idol to Pinoy Idol. You see, it was ABC-5
who was first awarded the rights to stage the local version of
American Idol and the station tried its best but failed to come up
with a world-class staging. Mau Marcelo won that one but where is
she now? So the producers decided to give GMA 7 the chance to prove
its worth this time.
We were expecting that GMA 7 would be able to
weave a little more magic but when we saw the elimination rounds and
the announcement of the final batch (now trimmed down to the top 16
after eight were booted out in the past two weeks), we thought that
it is not a very strong batch as far as their vocal gifts and skills
are concerned. Another point is that the contestants they chose to
make the final batch didn’t seem to have the personalities to make
it big in the local music business.
My good friend from the University of the
Philippines College of Music even commented that during the earlier
rounds when the show had to trim down the list from 180 to half, he
saw a few impressive singers who were unceremoniously rejected. He
cited in particular the last candidate (he can only remember the
name Abigail) who sang Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” who bowled
him over with her performance.
We reckon that this batch is no different from
those GMA 7 chose for their now-defunct singing contest, Pinoy Pop
Superstar, perhaps that’s why it is so disappointing. Come on, do
we still remember anyone from that show at this time? Frankly, we
were more impressed with the Bagong Kampeon contenders.
Maybe what the producers of the show can do is
to really tap the hidden talents of the remaining candidates, if
they can still find it at this time. I am saying this since we would
very much want to have a local David Archuleta or David Cook in this
batch, even a Clay Aiken.
Even the “most professional” in this batch,
who goes by the name of Robby Navarro couldn’t convince the
viewers to get glued on our seats. Robby, a former member of
Wiseguys, has already waxed a solo album for the BMG (now Sony-BMG)
label but his star failed to shine then and he hopes that Pinoy Idol
can be his “second coming.” Nothing wrong with “try and try
again,” but our point is, this batch doesn’t arouse our
curiosity a bit or cause us to get excited.
Recently, Rye Estrada, the rock star from Iloilo,
got booted out, and there goes another signer who at least, got a
second look from us. Let’s see who among these remaining hopefuls
will remain standing as the weeks go by: Merly David, Jayann
Bautista, Carol Leus, Gretchen Espina, Jenri Rawolle, Mar Flores,
Sue Ellen, Walton Zerrudo, Penelope, Ram Chaves, Kid Camaya, Daryl
Celis, JJ Jr, Warren Antig, Toffer Rei, and Robby Navarro.
How do you solve a problem like Pinoy Idol?
Perhaps, we should just wait for Pinoy Idol 2.
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