The Voice Philippines: Top 8 Live Show (Semifinals)

It's such a shame that this season started REALLY well and then just went straight to hell. What happened? Give me Paolo, Morissette, Radha or even Thor in the Finale - anyone of them - and that would've been THE Finale!

Ok. I liked Klarisse over Morissette in this particular show, but when you find Mitoy and Janice in the Finale when they shouldn't be in the first place - mostly carried by their coaches' scores over Darryl Shy and Jessica Reynoso - then you'd know that the format is so f*cked up. The show just wasted the people's votes (and money!). Why do we have this format in the first place?

I don't know, but tonight, The Voice Philippines crossed a line with me. Somehow, the whole thing just became too heavy handed. Why do these coaches even have a say on who should go or not at this stage of the competition? Can't we just public have the sole power already?

But again, I digress.

TEAM LEA

Mitoy
Power Of Love
I held my breath. After all, if Mitoy had unleashed his super-powered vocal chords in the middle of that room, he could have killed everybody in that studio. Haha. This guy's range is ridiculous; in a bad way. Mitoy was the definition of a man trying to impress purely on belting those high notes, but left me feeling more annoyed than impressed. Sure, his vocals sounded good towards the second half of the song when he finally found a little passion, but other than that? Weird. I don't know, but something about it felt unnatural. Sue me. 6.5

Radha
Let It Be
She sang The Beatles' Let It Be and showed us that she was a born performer and seemed quite ready to take the next step and become a star. In my opinion, these are some of the greatest lyrics written in popular music, and Radha absolutely killed it. Her voice always hits me hard, but this song was a beautiful match to her powerful vocals. It went slightly overboard towards the end, but I didn't really care. 8

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Lea's Score)

Mitoy

TEAM BAMBOO

Myk Perez
Baby I Love Your Way
On paper, this would have been the perfect song for his voice, but he had this weird tendency to overreach his vocals. Sure, his voice is perfect for this kind of arrangement, but the song sounded better when you weren't watching him wander around the stage like he was on a sinking cruise liner. Oh, and can someone out there explain to me what was up with the denim polo? 7

Paolo Onesa
Elesi
Elesi was a minor mistake for Paolo Onesa as he came out with a reinvented arrangement that didn't quite work. It was a soulful performance and some of it was good, but the chorus was so weak that the song choice was not a very potent weapon. It never quite took off. So while the song was very spirited, the vocals just weren’t present. Such a shame. 6.5

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Bamboo's Score)
Myk Perez

(Note: Paolo got most of the public votes!)

TEAM SARAH

Morissette Amon

Who You Are

Sigh. This was sad since I really liked Morissette, but her performance of Who You Are was a classic case of someone overcompensating. She just did way too much! She went overboard trying to outclass her competitor, and ended up creating something less than stellar. Of course, she still sounded great in parts, but while trying to make this performance work in ten different ways with the liberties she took with her phrasing and notes, she ended up causing it to not work at all. 7.5

Klarisse De Guzman

To Love Somebody

Klarisse just obliterated To Love Somebody! I sat there in stunned silence as I watched an incredible singer that this show was lucky to find stand there and take a song she'd never performed before and make it new again. Some people were too foolish to underestimate her as there was no denying the vocal domination of this performance. 8.5

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Sarah's Score)
Klarisse De Guzman

TEAM APL

Thor

Climb Every Mountain

There were moments of Climb Every Mountain that worked from a purely technical level, but when Thor tried to stretch his voice and do too much, he ended up aggressively overworking his upper register to the point where he sounded like he was yelling those notes. Somehow, they didn't sound comfortable. Sure, he's got pipes, but everything else about him screams dull! I don't know. 6.5

Janice Javier

Imagine

My head practically smacked my desk when I heard this song choice. Seriously? Imagine? This song choice boggled the mind and left Janice with absolutely no opportunity to show off her main weapon: powerhouse vocals. Oh wait, she did and it was awful! I hated that she did too much with the melody that it became practically unrecognizable. It's Imagine and you don't do that to a classic song. You ruined it! I don’t even want to talk about this performance. In fact, I’d love if we could all forget it even happened. Superman! Please rotate the Earth in the opposite direction so I can forget this horrible moment. 3

VERDICT

(Public Vote + Apl's Score)
Janice Javier