X Factor Philippines: Grand Finals

Well. We're here. It's the Finale night. The night OF the finale, rather. And this means that all of the angst, anger, grief, sarcastic remarks are all being dusted off and will be applied to the contestant tonight. Haha.

The night was mostly uneventful, but that's not shocking by any means. I mean, the show's momentum and buzz got lost when the good singers  got eliminated early in the competition. But then again, what do I know. 

So, I’m going to structure the review a bit differently tonight as I will go round by round and offer my opinions before calling a winner for that round and then at the end of it all, I'll give my final prediction for tomorrow's announcement.

Here we go!

FINAL PERFORMANCE

Daddy's Home

Gaya Ng Dati
Of course, everyone sings in white. Again. For some reason I will never know. Haha. From a technical standpoint, they were making more vocal choices this time around that got me really interested. They elongated some of their notes and the crescendo made for a more dynamic performance. And as karaoke as their arrangement of this song was, there was so much life in them and for the first time in weeks I felt myself jumping into their bandwagon. There were no big risks taken, but it was a pretty strong performance. I would have enjoyed it even more if it weren’t for the weirdly placed a capella bit at the end.

Gabriel Maturan

I Believe
When I first heard that Gabriel had decided to sing Fantasia Barrino’s American Idol coronation song, well, I was a bit confused as he's never been that soulful singer who goes to the nitty gritty side of his vocals. Yes, there were a few flat notes towards the beginning, but once Gabriel got into his zone the stage just lit up. For the first time in this entire competition, he performed the HELL out of a song. Where did this come from? It felt like he actually had something on the line. There was this fighting spirit within him that I’ve never felt before and I was on my feet rooting for him to prosper! To me, this performance was full of passion and fire and I want some more!

KZ Tandingan

Superstar
Underwhelming. That is the word I would use to describe KZ’s performance of Superstar. I don't know if it's because I expected more from her, but this just seemed a tad predictable and didn't really do her any great favors. Was it beautiful? Sure. Was it impressive? Not if I've heard something like this from her before. Don't get me wrong, her rendition of this song was still strong enough performance-wise to get rid of any doubts that she can win this whole thing, but it's just not memorable enough to stand out on it's own. Sorry.

VERDICT:  This is where you really have to sit back and marvel at how different these three contestants are. I have to say that this round goes to Gabriel, but just by a hair.

DUET

Daddy's Home & Nina
Through The Fire
Wow. This was possibly one of Daddy's Home's finest moments on the show. Sure, they were dressed like a hybrid of Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano, but they nailed the song. Passion; check. Vocals; done and done. Heck, I didn't even notice Nina was with them. Haha.

KZ Tandingan & Rico J. Puno
The Way We Were
Truth be told, I thought her duet with Rico J. was fantastic. It was soulful, she was connected, and the song choice was actually great! That said, this felt like an intermission number above anything else.

Gabriel Maturan & Bamboo
The Man Who Can't Be Moved
He seemed cheerful enough when he shredded his duet with Bamboo, which was a complete turnaround from the almost jazzy performance prior to this. He made it through the song, sounded great, and his voice, for the most part, held strong against Bamboo. Oh, and that short mash up in the end was a pleasant surprise.

VERDICT:  Gabriel and Bamboo provided a certain hip/cool vibe to the whole proceeding, but Daddy's Home, I thought, gave a showstopper just from that one note towards the end of their duet with Nina.

PREDICTION

Well, according to my count, tonight was a draw between Gabriel and Daddy's Home. Both acts scored big hits. Gabriel  managed to turn in a good performance with I Believe while Daddy's Home scored with Through The Fire.

But I wouldn't even think of disregarding KZ's chances because if the audience decides to vote and acknowledge the vocal excellence, calculated risks and consistency she’s displayed week after week after week, then there's NO WAY Gabriel and Daddy's Home will win over KZ. But since she turned in two good, but unremarkable performances tonight, she just made the competition a little less predictable.

But, consistency is where I will base my prediction.

Who should win X Factor Philippines?

Gabriel Maturan

(based on his Finale performances)

Who will win X Factor Philippines?
KZ Tandingan

acknowledgement whatsoever of the vocal excellence, calculated risks (“Sweet Dreams,” “Stuttering”) and consistency she’s displayed week after week after week.

Read More at: http://tvline.com/2012/05/23/american-idol-recap-season-11-top-2-performance-show-finale/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral

acknowledgement whatsoever of the vocal excellence, calculated risks (“Sweet Dreams,” “Stuttering”) and consistency she’s displayed week after week after week.

Read More at: http://tvline.com/2012/05/23/american-idol-recap-season-11-top-2-performance-show-finale/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral

acknowledgement whatsoever of the vocal excellence, calculated risks (“Sweet Dreams,” “Stuttering”) and consistency she’s displayed week after week after week.

Read More at: http://tvline.com/2012/05/23/american-idol-recap-season-11-top-2-performance-show-finale/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral