Idol 86 - Ramiele Malubay

86. Ramiele Malubay

Season 7, 9th Place

It may come as a surprise to some of you that Ramiele is this low. Well, I just don't see anything that stands out about her at all.

When I first got season 7 spoilers, there were two Filipina girls on the list, Neyshia Go and Ramiele Malubay. Based on the music they had posted on the internet, I expected Neyshia to make it through, but it was Ramiele who made it instead. I mean, her audition wasn't that impressive at all. I admit, I'm a sucker for great vocal control and I cringed a bit when she did a very sloppily controlled run in her Natural Woman piece.

Now, Ramiele, at least, started off the competition decently with You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, but somehow paled in comparison with Nadia Turner's version. She used the exact same arrangement Nadia did and brought nothing new to the song. This was also the case with all the songs she did on Idol, and her singing generally got worse. She has a good voice, and nothing else. I said this from the very beginning, and Ramiele decided to start proving me right week after week after week in the live shows.

It was almost as if she had studied an Idol 101 manual and was content with giving karaoke performances the entire season. And boy, she must've loved Season 4. She covered Nadia the first week, then Vonzell, then Scott and Jessica. But those darn Beatles! No former Idols to cover. Haha. Luckily, she was back to doing some Carrie with the ill-advised Alone. It was quite humorous.

To me, she didn't play the game smart at all. She made herself look bad by comparison and did absolutely nothing to show who she is as an artist. She did redeem herself on Top 9 night with Do I Ever Cross Your Mind to some degree, but it was too late.

Ramiele actually wasn't my least favorite of the Top 12 at the beginning. But her lack of effort was really disappointing to watch. I think, personally, she was the only one of the 12 that didn't once deliver an exceptional performance all season and I'm not even saying she sounded bad. She just sounded 'blah' to me. Heck, I'm not even sure winning was on her agenda - she seemed to be there to make friends and have a good time based on her pre-performance packages. Just my observation.

Favorite performance(s): First I must say that I thought her performance during the Top 24 week was pretty overrated. It was good, but for me, it was just good karaoke. Nothing special. But, it was definitely her best, and my favorite from her. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind was also pretty decent.

You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

Do I Ever Cross Your Mind

#85 - Joined American Idol just to make David Hasselhoff cry