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!

X Factor Philippines Wrap-Up: 15 Best Performances

Today is X Factor Philippines Finale and yes, it was quite the season. And just like the other things that I blog here, I like to always end my "writing season" with a list of the Top 15 performances of the season. It didn't take me a long time to carve down a long list of songs into my final Top 15 - just because there aren't that many -  but whatever. I'll post my Top 15 and discuss why I think the performance deserves to be remembered.

So, without further ado..

Here are the TOP 15 Best Live Performances of X Factor Philippines Season 1:

X Factor Philippines: Who Will Win?

We’ve reached the end of the road! Next week will be the Finale and we will watch Daddy's Home, Gabriel Maturan and KZ Tandingan face each other off in a quasi-epic head to head to head! Haha.

But the BIG question is, who will win the first season of X Factor Philippines?  I want to know what DAM NATION readers think. So yes, there's a poll that will run the whole week until October 7, 2012 at 5:00PM.

X Factor Philippines: Top 4

Willow Smith. Chris Brown. Justin Bieber. Journey. Can you spot the difference? Haha.

So, it’s a big week! Who will falter? Who will prosper? Who will get lazy? Who will remain irrelevant?  Who will pick a ridiculous song choice? Who will pick a song older than Allen, KZ and Gabriel?

Traditionally - at least, with American Idol - I spend the week before the Finale analyzing the contestants in-depth. I like to note their strengths and weaknesses considering one of them will be the winner of X Factor in one week.

Here goes nothing! Dim the lights. Cue the music. It’s time to look at the performances.

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.   

X Factor Philippines: Top 5

.. and then they're suddenly down to five! Exhausted yet? I am. Haha.

Again, another underwhelming night. This show had so much promise. What happened? The episode was a little flat and thezzZZzzZZz....Huh! What? Sorry. I fell asleep. Haha.

Oh, and what is going on with the themes? I feel like they fired Lito (Lito is the imaginary name for the person who I believe sits in a house made of candy just thinking up themes) and hired a monkey in his place. "Revivals"? Seriously? It's like a cover of a cover. What's next? "Songs That Glee Can't Cover" or "Songs That's Pure Gibberish". You are X Factor Philippines. One of the most talked about reality show on television in the country today. How about this: The 2000s! or maybe this: Apo Hiking Society! How is it I'm doing your job for you, Lito?

Anyway, here we go! Let’s enjoy the review, and let’s not be distracted. Even if Charice looked ridiculous with that gap in her eyebrow. What are you trying to prove? Haha.

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.   

X Factor Philippines: Top 6

Somehow, I saw this theme, Eraserheads and Rivermaya, coming. Haha.

I'd have to say that half of tonight's performances were mediocre at best, and if anyone tells you otherwise, I want you to slap them in the face and then say, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! You just make me so mad sometimes." Haha. Then, explain to them that this might be one of the more uneventful nights of X Factor Philippines ever. Maybe it was just me.

Anyway, enough rambling, on with my rankings!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.  

X Factor Philippines: Top 7

This week is very important because it marks the halfway point of the Finals. It’s time for these contestants to take it to another level and prove to us that they have what it takes to win. I fully expect to see that next week, because tonight was a wake-up call for them. Sort of. Haha.

As always, I placed the contestants accordingly, and while the night seemed fairly easy to rank the elimination is once again slightly unpredictable.

Well, let’s get to the rankings!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha. 

X Factor Philippines: Top 8

So this week's theme was OPM. Let me just go straight to the point and say that while I wasn't really expecting much from this episode, a couple of people did surprise me. To be honest,  I thought KZ was going to win X Factor Philippines in a cakewalk - especially now that AKA JAM got eliminated shockingly early - but someone's giving her a run for her money. Of course, that's subjective, but whatever. 

Anyway, on with the review!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.

X Factor Philippines: Top 9

Well, this was actually a pretty solid night. I don't think anyone was terrible - aside from the usual suspect - and there were surprisingly a good number of nice performances. Plus, Gary Valenciano's group actually brought it. Really hard.

I also thought that after tonight, I would be able to narrow in on the potential winners. Fortunately - or unfortunately - I STILL have no clue who’s going to take this - mainly because the voting public has been very unpredictable!

Also, the judges were being judges this week and not merely cheerleaders! Yay! They weren't exactly on point, but again, I'll take that. Haha.

So, without further ado, here we go!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.

X Factor Philippines: Top 10

Well, this week was an improvement from last week. There were a couple of terrible performances from the usual culprits, but we saw possibly the first showstopper of the season. It was so good, I had to lift my jaw after that ridiculously stunning performance.

Also, the judges sounded a little more critical this time. Yes, Pilita Corales didn't bring anything new aside from her hysterical comments - I can live with that - but it was nice to see Gary Valenciano and Martin Nievera stepping up their game. Charice struggled a couple of times in the delivering her comments - get a grip Charice, you can speak in Filipino! - but she also brought a couple of pretty good constructive criticisms on this episode.

So, without further ado, here we go!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.

X Factor Philippines: Top 11

This week was a bit of a mixed bag for everyone. There were a few contestants who have managed to build some incredible momentum, but a couple of them were pretty atrocious. I thought the theme was lame, it was like "We were too lazy to think of a theme so you just pick some random word.. Yay! LIFE". Haha. Oh, and the judges suddenly became cheerleaders. Haha.

I have nothing more to say, so here we go!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.  

X Factor Philippines: Top 12

DAM Nation has covered American Idol since Season 7, X Factor UK for two seasons, and even The Voice and X Factor US. So, why not give X Factor Philippines a shot and dive down the proverbial rabbit hole in the quest to find a new recording superstar capable of taking the Philippine music industry by storm.

How did everyone do last night? I thought that this was a pretty solid first live show. Sure, there were some missteps here and there, but we finally had a chance to see which contestants were smart and which ones believed in their own hype. The stage looked great - not at par with it's international counterparts, but good enough - and the production of the performances looked sharp.

Well, it's about time. I’ve been waiting to get to my traditional ratings for weeks now since the show started. Here's a quick reminder on what I look for: strong vocals, unique qualities, artistic merit, strategic decisions, appearance and stage presence. Which contestant last night got to bolster their case of why he should win X Factor Philippines? It's nothing scientific, of course, but whatever.

Here we go!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert, but this is my opinion - to each his own - and yours will be in the comments below! Haha.