White and smooth

The scholars opened the night with a dance performance, to show whatever Maribeth Bichara has taught them.  They all don 60’s outfit and hairdo singing and dancing “Can’t Stop the Beat”.  But I guess they lack the practice because at the end is talagang hingal na hingal sila and it shows.  Juror of the week is Louie Ocampo and Girlie Rodis, but they would only give commens with no scoring.  Girlie Rodis is the manager to some singers  like Rachel Alejandro and Geneva Cruz.  She has guested before as one of the judges and it was clear then that her favorite is Van.  For this week, the scholars would be singing their song choice that would show their emotions.  It was a song that has a big impact on their lives.

Sen sang Lauryn Hills’ “His eye on the sparrow”.  A very sad song, which was evident on his voice, but he was able to sang it very well.  His mum and brother is watching and they too are emotional too as shown by the near tears.  Van came next with “Who Am I” by the casting crown.  A calm Van singing this time, as opposed to the very hyper guy last week. He showed little emotion on singing the song, but since he is really good looking on camera, he has a strong stage presence whichcompensates his lack of emotions with his song.  Laarni with “I am blessed” sang next.  Her makeup and hairdo was good, actually all the girls has good makeup that highlights their pretty faces.  As expected, it was a good song, a good rendition.  With the exception of a parang ginulat kang birit sa chorus, her breathing was correct all throughout the song.  I was expecting na sa may ending eh sasabit na naman siya but no, I guess she really practiced the song.  Sabi nga ni Louie, she really is a blessed one because she has a good voice.  Miguel sang Sandra by Barry Manilow, obviously this was a song to his mum.  He looks mature singing the chorus when the lines and notes are difficult, but his face was softer on easy lines, but he really don’t look like 18 years old.  His body movements were bad, halos tyan lang ang gumagalas sa kanya, and may mga lines na parang sasabit na siya especially the high notes.  I guess he lacked practice especially on the breathing.  Goodbye (The saddest song) was Liezel’s  piece.  Nakulangan, nabitin, not much emotion.  I was not bored, it’s just she sang with no emotion except for her voice na parang iiyak ba.  And the notes were real high that parang masakit na sa tenga pag sumisigaw siya.  She was not like that before, but I guess she has grown tired, or the other scholars have improved a lot that naunahan na siya.  Cris version of Inseparable was good, though on the part na malapit na sa dulo eh medyo naflat siya.  But songs like that are really the ones bagay sa voice nya.  Well halatang halata ang PDA na favorite si Bugoy because obviously laging siya ang huling performer, top scholar or not.  He sang “Can’t stop a river”, but he still have problems with his diction, lalo on the part where he is nakatungo and sang the low notes, you will not understand the words of the song.  And one part on the middle of the song is parang nawala siya.

Most of the song choices of the scholars are not so popular ones and most of their parents are on the audience.

Last performance was the grand album launch of their album “Scholars sing Cayabyab”.   They sang three songs from the album, Paano na Kaya, Another Goodbye Song and Ganon Ba. I like the Paano na Kaya and Another goodbye song.  The top 10 scholars was the one included in the album where each of them sang the song composed by Mr C just for them. 

After that, the top 5 was called to be on the stage, and then the two probationary scholars, as expected Toni announced a commercial break to give suspense as to who will be expelled.  With a percentage of 54.58% Van was the last top 6 scholar while Sen has 45.42% making him the expelled scholar.  Of course it was touching especially when it showed his mum crying and panicking.

For the last 2 weeks, the scholar would have mall shows and singing engagements to make them known to the fans.  Tony also announced the charities that the scholars chose to support.  Bugoy had Gatbo Irrigation, Gawad Kalinga for Cris, Ambassords of Light Chorale for Laarni, Miguel had Mindanao Emergency Responcse, Zel has Emmaus House of Apostolate Home for the Aged while Van was Cebu City Task Force for the street children.  The gala night next week would be a benefit show, tickets would be sold, and whatever was earned that night would be given to the chosen charities.  PDA wanted that the talent of the scholars would be use to help the less fortunate.  This was good, at least they would be able to help the ones in need.

It was celebrity duets on Pinoy Dream Academy 10^th gala night.  Judges were Louie Ocampo, Dulce and of course, Gerard Salonga.  Inaki and Bituin opened the night with Proud Mary.  It was good with so much energy from the two singers, though Inaki’s voice was not as powerful as Bituin.  They really enjoyed the song, and he really was good at offbeat performances because he moves well on stage.  Miguel and Sheryn sang Never Ever Say Goodbye.  His facial muscle movements are now softer.  It was a good performance by Sheryn.. hehe.. joke, by both of them.  Though Sheryn’s performance was powerful, so was Miguels’.  He make sure that he was not intimated by her presence and high notes.  His voice really showed, and a very nice duet.  Gerard said that he was not eaten alive.  Next was of course the very powerful and nakakapanindig ng balahibong performance ni Laarni at Jed Madela of The Prayer.  Laarni looks good, lumalabas ang ganda nya.  They started really good, smooth and their voices was really wow!  Jed’s voice was equally good, hats off to the both of them.  She really is a soprano, but she needs to improve on her breathing, because she has the habit of having an offkey pag patapos na ang song.  So ayun parang may sumabit at lumihis na tono, which the judges noticed.  Bulong by Kitchie Nadal was the choice for Van.  Grabe, she really make her kaduet parang backup.  He just ran and ran all over the stage during the very long intro and all the time Kitchie keep looking at the back para bang she’s asking “kelan ka titigil at napapagod ako sa yo, samahan mo ko dito sa gitna ng stage!”. As a result of Van’s running on the stage, he got tired that when he finally sang, you can’t hear his voice.  There were a lot of flat notes tuloy.  He was not as good as last week.  Kissing a fool was Cris and Richard Poon’s piece.  She looks like Manilyn Monroe singing a sexy performance, but still I think there is still something lacking.  I think medyo nailang pa siya with Richard Poon and sa middle part parang medyo sumabit ng konti.  Joey G of Side A was Liezel’s partner.  Zel’s voice was really good, kaso parang kulang pa din performance nya, kahit her voice is so good, on some high notes parang nagiging chipmunks na lang.  Sobrang easy kasi yung song for her kaya parang walang effort on her part.  One poor guy who has a poor song choice was Sen.  Sobrang pangit ng song nya, Can we just stop and talk awhile which she sang with Rachel.  He should have been given a Basil Valdez or Marco Sison or a Bryan Adams song.  Nasayang din yung ganda ng voice ni Rachel at di nagamit sa song.  Plus Sen’s happiness was nasobrahan ata at wala na lang siyang ginawa kundi ngumiti na whole time.  Of course, kaabang abang yung number ni Bugoy with Vina, singing Muli.  Another good performance from him.  I enjoyed it very much, pero parang minsan lang nakakasawa na yung mga kanta ni Bugoy kasi pare pareho na yung tone.  But definitely it was good talaga, though minsan sobrang hina ng boses nya at halos boses ni Vina ang nadidinig ko.  Very entertaining naman the number of Poy and The Ryan Cayabyab Singers.  Kinaen niya ng buo yung group ni Mr. C.  She was not stiff on stage and her moves are like a pro.  It was just bad at sobrang laki nya na mahirap talaga siyang ipackage as star.  Sayang ang ganda ng voice, just like Bituin at Frenchie Dy.

Well as expected, Inaki was the one expelled having only around 24% of votes.  Sobrang bastos na kasi ni Inaki, halatang halata naman na he’s just taking advantage of Cris.  As my mother have said (she has been an avid fan of the show, more than me!) Cris would be very happy and relieved to know that Inaki was the one expelled.

As expected, Bugoy was the top scholar having a very high score of 9.81 with Sen on the bottom at 7.29.  It would have been nice if they called the top 3.

Well as a twist, since the Dream mentors sat at the judges table, there would only be 2 scholars that would be a candidate for expulsion.  It was Sen and Van, with the latter having 7.30 score, just .01 away from former.

I’m excited for the next gala night and to know who would be the top 6.  My prediction would be Bugoy, Laarni, Liezel, Miguel, Cris and Van.

For Saturdays’ 10^th gala night, the scholar would be performing a duet with a celebrity.  Cris has Richard Poon with Kissing a Fool.  Miguel’s partner is Sheryn Regis singing I’ll Never say goodbye. , and praktis pa lang kinaen na siya ni Sheryn.  She really has this habit of overpowering her co-performers.  Good thing that it was Eric Santos who won the title, kung hindi, she really would be so mayabang.  Inaki would be teaming up with Bituin, who was very kind to let Inaki shine on their performance.  Laarni and Jed Madela would perform ‘The Prayer’.  I had concerns with this, because the note is too high, and from experience the judges don’t like that kind of singing from Laarni.  I just hope she would perform really good on Saturday. Rachel Alejandro would sing along with Hansen with ‘Can we just stop and talk awhile’ which is a simple but hard song.  I hope Sen would perform really really good and would won the judges.  Van has Kitchie Nadal while Poy would be with the Ryan Cayabyab Singers. And this would also be Poy’s last performance since it would be her last week. Joey G of Side A would be performing along with Liezel. Bugoy would be working with Vina Morales, she was the last celebrity that was revealed and she haven’t been to the Academy to see Bugoy, only through telephone only.

Hmm.. very interesting na naman ang gala night this Saturday.  Of course very much anticipated ang numbers ni Poy, Zel, Bugoy and Laarni.  I’m excited nah!

Pinoy Dream Academy 9^th gala night is all about counterpointing.  Judges were Louie Ocampo, Lani Misalucha and Gerard Salonga.  So first things first, what is counterpointing?  Base on what I understand; this is singing two songs with almost the same notes.  It would be hard for the two singers, since there is a big possibility that either one would end up singing the note of the other one.  Bunny opened up with an Ogie Alcasid, Huwag Kang Mawawala.  You can notice two points, one is that she really is sick, and the other one is that she is a good singer.  She managed to sing even thought you can feel that the pain is there.  At least this time, the voice is okay that it she didn’t sing out of tune.  I pity her because she really is a good singer and I’m sure she can give the top 3 girls, Zel, Laarni and Poy a run for their money.   But that cyst has to go for her to move on.  Sen’s opening was really bad and it was very much evident.  He has a good material, Martin’s Say that you love me, but that opening was such a bother.  Bunny and Sen had a good combination, it was hard for Sen, but hey he managed to do the counterpointing and it was good.  Though it was not a very strong performance but you can feel the chemistry between them and that they don’t seem like they are trying to outdo each other.  I had fun listening and watching them.  Not unlike the performance of Miguel and Zel.  Miguel did Stay Awake, but hey I nearly fall asleep with his performance, and I managed to stay awake during their counterpointing because it’s like listening to two different radio stations at the same time.  Though Miguel lessen the strong facial features, I can’t seem to connect with him while watching him.  Liezel did Sometimes a Love goes wrong.  And boy, it was a disaster.  I feel that the chipmunks with their high notes shouting at me.  Her voice didn’t fit the song.  It seems that she was tired because she can’t offer something new.  Every week she just gave the same performance.  Their counterpointing was worst, I thought that they had perfected their combination earlier that the other teams.  But it seems that they lack practice.  I know for sure that Liezel would not get to Top 3 if the other scholars would perform better.  Miguel was even better than Liezel during their counterpointing, but I know that she is a favorite among the judges, they would find it in their heart to just give her a low score, being a top scholar for several times before.  Poy sang next with Forever’s not enough of Sarah Geronimo.  Her voice was really good; I just don’t like her outfit and her hair.  She seems to be singing like a cabaret song.  Moreso, the outfit emphasizes that she doesn’t have waist and that she was just straight.  But she should know and study more on how she would hit the high notes without sounding like she was shouting, because it comes as if she can’t hit the notes.  Van sang Maybe, and he really shows big improvement on the way he sings.  Though there are some parts which he cannot hit, he is still getting better.  Also, he should try to make his singing a little louder.  During his counterpointing with Poy, he was easily shadowed by her big voice.  But then again, the way their voices blend together was good.  A Roselle Nava song, Dahil Mahal na Mahal kita was sang by Cris, though her rendition was not as powerful as the original singer.  It was good because her voice now shows the power it can give, though she still needs to be confident on high notes.  It sounded so raw and as if she might be out of tune on that high note.  Inaki was really worst at ballads, doing Kunin mo na ang lahat sa akin.  His voice is really not as powerful as Bugoys so he really should be careful with his song choice.  He can’t sing ballads, but his voice is really for those non-conventional songs.  Pumiyak pa nga siya in one of his lines.  The counterpointing with Cris was a disaster, it seem like a circus.  Good thing, the next number was Laarni and Bugoy so it is something to look forward to.  I didn’t like the way Laarni played with the notes of On the Wings of Love.  It seems she is still thinking how she would sing the next lines.  Though it really sounded good, there was something lacking on her opening.  Bugoy sang Back at One, and of course, what else is new.  A good performance, he looks like he is in his elements that night.  The duet with Laarni was very good! Fantastic!  What I only noticed during their counterpointing is sometimes, I cannot hear his voice because it seems like fading while Laarni is singing with great gusto!  I really enjoyed their number; you can see and hear that the audience liked it.  Laarni was really a good singer, and this night I like her performance, even the makeup, the hairdo and the gown she wore.

Liezel was the one that Poy had to sing a duet for.  Too bad, they both gave a mediocre number.  A very boring and disaster number from the two scholars who have always been at the top.  Pumiyok pa si Liezel and they don’t have the chemistry.  Their notes do not jive, a very forgettable performance.   After that they announced the top 3:  Poy (what else is new!), Laarni (who was very excited to belong at top 3!) and Bugoy (expected by many!)  And finally! Laarni was the top scholar for the week, even though her grade didn’t make it to 9, still the 8.97 score she had make her the top scholar for the week.  And she was excited!  Good thing that the judges finally take a look at her.  Hehe, it was fun seeing Laarni belonging to Top 3 and not seeing Liezel to be one of them because she really didn’t gave a fine performance.

Bunny was the latest scholar who was expelled.  She got 39.65% of text votes while Sen got 60.35%.  She can’t sing on her farewell performance, but at least she can now get to rest and have her cyst be taken care of.  I really like her sing pa naman,   because I like the way she projects during her performance and the quality of her voice.  Chivas, her husband was in the audience along with Biatch Bea.

The next one that was announced was the Bottom four.  Sen got 6.30, Inaki got 7.27, Cris having 7.43 while Miguel 7.50.   The dream mentors choose to save Sen and that was a good choice.  I wanted to see Liezel’s reaction when her name would be called on the Bottom four, good thing there are 4 scholars who sang bad.  I just hope that Sen would perform really better next time.