ALCASID. Committed to developing Filipino music and singers.
ONE OF TV5’s promising new shows is the singing tilt, “Born To Be A Star, (BTBS)” hosted by Ogie Alcasid. Its initial plus factors are paced by Ogie himself. As a prime mover at OPM, or the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mangangawit, Ogie is committed to developing Filipino music and singers, so “BTBS” is right up his Tin Pan Alley!
True enough, the first telecast of the show we watched last month fielded contestants who were more carefully vetted than usual, because each of them had something uniquely “stellar” going for them.
That’s another factor that distinguishes the new show from the many talent tilts already on the tube: It seeks to showcase, not just gifted singers, but potential show biz stars, who can make it not just in the music field, but also as actors, etc.
‘X factor’
Thus, the stellar “X factor” is part of what the show is looking for. It’s hard to definitely define it, but it involves looks, character, temperament, charisma, appeal, a talent’s unique selling and loving proposition—etc.
When we watched the show, some contestants had “it” in abundant supply, so the tilt’s judges were hard-pressed to choose the best of a good lot. They ended up declaring a tie, and choosing two young standouts to move up to the competition’s next round.
The first, Jhoas, was a tween charmer who sang in a winningly fresh and natural way, no pa-impress gimmicks and porma needed. The other young discovery, Nikki, was older but similarly fresh and winsomely appealing, a teen singing fave in the making, this early in her fledgling career.
Promising finds
With very promising finds like these so early in the game, “BTBS” should end up being quite a productive singing search. The big question now is what will happen to its gifted discoveries after the competition?
All too often, winners and finalists of local singing searches end up feeling frustrated and decidedly unstellar, because the tilts they’ve done so well in don’t know how to productively follow through and make them truly popular, with the albums, concerts and other productions and showcases needed to generate a big enough fan base for them to sustain a long show biz career.
With Ogie on top of things at “BTBS,” we trust it will do much better in this key regard. —Fingers crossed!