The Voice Philippines: Top 16 Live Show Part 1

We are down to 16 and somehow, The Voice Philippines production team decided that it's their best interest to change the process - to further manipulate the results - and came up with an incredibly idiotic format, and here's my problem with these changes:

One, the coaches just had TOO MUCH control on who goes home! I mean, can't the voting public already have FULL CONTROL of the results? For all I know, these coaches have had their hands on the pairings - no, I don't think they were done randomly - so it's annoying that they were still giving scores!
 
Two, the potential of the contestants have been pretty outstanding, but they weren't showcased properly due to the faulty, and yes, dumb format. Look, Morisette Amon and Maki Ricafort performed relatively well and yet one of them SHOULD be eliminated because they're in the same team. I didn't care much about Thor or Penelope, and we're stuck with one of them for another week. What gives?

Also, why are they always battling each other head-to-head instead of as a team? Wouldn't it be better to have all 4 perform and then just pick the best 2? And do they keep on going against each other of their own team? Isn't it more interesting to compete with the other teams instead?

Oh, and yes, the stage lighting was just as screwed up as the format! Blech.

Anyway, rant over, let me just say, I'm relieved (sort of) with the results, but I digress. Here we go!

TEAM SARAH

Morissette Amon
What About Love
Morissette completely blew it tonight. She was flat, sharp, off-key, off-time, and I’m pretty sure she hit all her notes wrong. Ok, none of that’s true, but I’m starting to get really bored writing this every week: This was fantastic! She delivered an incredibly controlled version of this overdone song choice and blew me away. It was passionate and intensely delivered, and I found it amazing how rich and layered this performance was. Very nice. 8

Maki Ricafort
Maki has a natural rasp in his tone, which makes his voice sound awesome and would probably make a great recording artist, but I do believe that he should have stuck with a more subdued, soulful and laid back number since Every Breath You Take was a little too big for him. His voice was straining at the high end of his range and some of his runs were a little too much. It's not bad by any means, but it just wasn't enough. 7

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Sarah's Score)

Morissette Amon

TEAM LEA

Darryl Shy

Balita

So much soul, so much blues, so much promise. I was seriously ready to write him off just because I don't really gravitate towards his style, but when I saw his subdued, but unbelievably honest interpretation of Balita, I instantly became a fan. The effort that was seen on his face as he told a story was palpable and measurable. Throughout the competition Darryl Shy has shown us flashes of greatness and tonight was one of those moments, this was just sublime. 8

Mitoy
Paano
Did Mitoy pull off the mad vocals of this song? Yes! But, the whole performance somehow felt really lazy. It was almost like he was doing a benefit concert and spent not one iota of time getting into the actual story of the song and his tone was almost too screechy. I don't know. Something was missing and it really left me wanting more. 6.5

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Lea's Score)

Mitoy
(Note: Darryl got most of the public votes!)

 TEAM BAMBOO

Lee Grane

Losing My Religion

Too bad! I was a fan of Lee Grane's blind audition, but she just went downhill after that. Losing My Religion was bland, and her DICTION!! I mean, she has this incredible ability to sound off-key while singing on-key. It's like magic. There were plenty of times where my nose will scrunch up at some of her notes, but then I’ll go back and realize that she was actually fairly close to being in the right spot. Unfortunately, the placement of her voice caused some very unpleasant moments in this performance. The arrangement was good, but this was a bit of a mess. 5

Paolo Onesa

Skyfall

Skyfall suited Paolo's voice perfectly and allowed him to send in a much needed solid performance after last week just to prove that You Give Me Something wasn't a fluke. I thought the song was a beautiful match to his haunting tone, he gave it subtlety that was quite riveting ,and this allowed me to hear a new dynamics to his vocals. But the thing that I'm starting to like about Paolo? I don't think we've had a voice like his in a very long time (or ever) on a reality singing show in the Philippines and it will be great to see him continue to evolve. 7.5

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Bamboo's Score)

Paolo Onesa

TEAM APL

Penelope Matanguihan

Superstar

Well, Penelope, managed to deliver a moderately strong vocal performance. This should have been a complete home run for her if not for her voice which sounded thin. She was pushing so hard in her upper register that at some point, I couldn't physically stop myself from wincing. Plus, she's a vanilla singer with no real grit, soul, or texture to her voice. I was just left feeling cold and lifeless. Kind of like what I felt after my first heartbreak. Haha. 6

Thor

Lately

This song was again such a safe choice for a balladeer and it had a very lazy approach to the vocal choices Thor made. It was pretty and comfortable and definitely spoke to a few viewers, but it just wasn’t bold enough to make any sort of lasting impression. True, we were able to hear again Thor's vocal talent, but his stylish runs sounded like mush and I was still left thinking, "Who the hell is he besides a big voice?" 6.5

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Apl's Score)

Thor