Jona vivifies teen singing tilt’s youthful vibe

Jona Soquite

After months of singing and striving, “The Voice Teens” has finally crowned its winner, Sarah Geronimo’s bet, Jona Soquite.

Similarly outstanding also-rans were Sharon Cuneta’s Jeremy Glinoga, Bamboo Mañalac’s Isabela Vinzon, and Lea Salonga’s Mica Becerro.

Since the competition was ultimately decided by the viewing-voting public, we’ll have to abide by that subjective reality, and hope that Jona will indeed become a durable singing star.

All too often, talent tilt winners don’t have the “legs” (staying power) to sustain stardom for the long term. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that she will turn out to be an exception to that desultory role.

Truth to tell, in terms of pure talent and charisma, no clear and certifiable star emerged from the monthslong competition. The finalists were all good singers, but not spectacularly, triumphantly so.

Others too adult, ‘hot’

“Blame” it on their youth, of course, but it would have been really great if one of them had unexpectedly bowled everyone over with his or her prodigious singing gift.

Fact is, despite her occasional lack of stellar flash and polish, winner Jona had struck us favorably even before the “final-finals,” because she perfectly personified the teen aspect of the singing tilt.

Unlike some of the other bets, who tried to sound and look too adult and “hot,” she remained true to her youth and promise, and thus passed muster as a teen singing champ.

Unique edge

Our personal best bet, Jeremy, was a better, more sensitive and expressive singer. His duet of “Sana Maulit Muli” with Heather Hawkins was the best musical “moment” in the entire competition.

As a solo performer, he can still attain stellar status even without a title because, like Jona, he comes across as fresh and young.

But, his handlers should realize that there are many balladeers on the local performing scene, so they should find a unique edge and ledge for him to inhabit.

Isabela can also have a solid career, because she’s good-looking and feisty, but she should tone down the sneers and snarls, because they call too much attention to themselves.

As for Mica, she should be credited with making “classical” singing riffs more familiar and popular. But, can she continue to bank on this signature touch after the competition? Gerphil Flores already has a head start in this regard, so…?

The ‘Sarah G factor’

Finally, let’s address the “Sarah Geronimo factor” related to Jona’s victory.

Being a popular young-adult singing star in her own right, we feel that mentor Sarah was uniquely positioned to come up with a winning “representative” for this particular singing competition.

Of course, Jona’s own youthful vibe had a lot to do with her victory, but the teen nature of the tilt gave mentor Sarah’s bet an empathetic advantage, because the show attracted and appealed to her copacetically youthful “votership.”

The fact that Jona got 44 percent of the vote, with the runnerup scoring only 25 percent, is a clear affirmation of this built-in advantage due to mentor Sarah’s overwhelming popularity with young viewer-voters.