LOL. With all the rants I made in twitter over the now very famous XFactor Phily 2nd results night, [exposing myself to other fans, especially chasters] it suddenly hit me. I made this blog for the very reason to serve as a channel for my angst without soliciting direct argument, confrontation, from relatively “concerned” parties.
Warning: This might be a long blog (since it took me weeks to make a follow up on my very first, and because we will be talking about, drum rolls please, MARK MABASA!)
Sko! (call center agent saying “let’s go”)
Fact #1
I was a Charice (Pempengco) fan even after she gone, uhm, let’s just say after she dyed her hair, got a tattoo and whatnot. I always believed in her talent. I used to fight for her against cyber bullies, and even got a lot of RT’s and favorites from fellow chasters (obviouls that’s on twitter).
However, last Sunday (August 12, 2012) I declared myself to be her worst hater.
Fact #2
Mark Mabasa (I feel tickly saying his name) first came to my attention during his brief stint in the now defunct GMA talent show Pinoy Pop Superstar. But he made a mark during his This Is It days (also a defunct GMA show).
Mark, unlike many balladeers, he can do pop, rock, etc, without sounding as if trying hard. After This Is It, I literally went gaga trying to take a hold of him, on FB, Multiply, etc. unfortunately, NADA. Nevertheless, I became the first ever Mark Mabasa fanatic.
So what did happen last August 12 that stirred up the twitter nation (or I’m just exaggerating things)?
Still painful (not exaggerating things) Mark got eliminated from XFactor Philippines.
(I assume you all know the format of X Factor)
But before it happened, he did put up a God damn fight (expression from the almost fail movie No Other Woman, we’ll talk about that on a different post). He sang James Ingram’s “There’s No Easy Way” aarghh, no words, no words. Just imagine this, Mark was holding back his tears, trying to compose himself, he was on the verge of a meltdown (still not exaggerating things), while saying these immortal lines of Ingram…
I thought that she’d bring down
But she smiled at me and never made a sound
And I guess she understood in her way
Coz her silence told me everything she could not say
When they fall apart
There’s easy way to break
There’s just no easy way
There’s no easy way to break somebody’s heart…
(for better imagination, play his videos on, where else, youtube)
People say that the best singers should convey the story of the song better than by just performing it. I don’t know if it helped Mark to motivate himself by being in the bottom two but he did nail that survival round, he did without a doubt.
As for his opponent, the other part of the bottom two that night was Take Off, another crowd fave. I admit, the first time I saw Take Off during auditions, I did think they were good, but that was just that.
Anyway, for their survival round they sang Secondhand Serenade’s “Fall For You” (like that’s a shocker). Fine, they did blending and all, but it was no match from the vocal versatility of Mark. For me, Take Off is a good example of Cheerleader Effect (lesson learned from barney of HIMYM). Take Off as a group looks good together but look at them individually? I rest my case.
Funny, it takes five voices to complete their act, but it only takes one Mark Mabasa to perform one very superb (yes, no exaggerating on that one too) number.
So what went wrong?
Charice happened.
When it was the judges turn to make the decision, Martin Nievera and Charice were the key players. Martin saying that he will follow his “gut feeling” chose Mark, and Charice, well for many, they say she played it safe by letting the people (votes) decide, giving equal chances to Mark and Take Off. I say it’s Nicole Scherzinger all over again.
Nicole was a judge of X Factor America. Apparently she had no clue as well who to send home so she let the people decide. Rachel Crow, another talented girl was sent home by America. Nicole, on her interviews said that she thought Rachel will be saved, and that she was stunned with the results as well. But she didn’t want to end somebody’s dream so she let the people be the bad cop.
This part is where I am really annoyed (that’s an understatement). The thin line between X Factor and American Idol is that in X Factor, the judges have the last say (in AI, judges have one Save Power). I think this is better because these set of people are the experts in the industry, they should be the one to make the cut, not the people, not just by popularity, but by pure talent, focus and determination.
Going back to Charice, if you watch the episode again, when she couldn’t decide, it was as if someone shouted/dictated for her to vote off Mark so they will all have to go to deadlock.
(January 28, 2013)
Gaaaaawd! Just opened my blog again, after almost a year (exaggerating of course) and i see this on my drafts. Talk about procrastinate. Well, I was busy. And lazy, fine. Anyway, as i wanted to say 5months ago, Charice should’ve made the cut. Or at least own up to who she really thinks must go home that fateful night.
Lesson learned, the moral, JUDGE, a person appointed to decide in any competition, contest, ormatter at issue; a person qualified to pass a critical judgement.
troutymouth 