Turgid tales of woe hobble ‘X-Factor’
CONCEPCION. Hosts talent search.
THE first telecast of the Philippine edition of “The X-Factor,” hosted by KC Concepcion, last June 23 was a fun view due to its brisk pacing, which did away with the long pasakalye that new programs are usually bogged down by. In no time at all, the first contestant was already performing for both jurors and the studio and home audience.
Instructively, she didn’t get enough votes to move up to the next round, but other hopefuls did better, and some even got the jurors excited enough to give them their unanimous nod. We saw two contestants who were so good that they could make it all the way to the finals, so things are looking up.
The two bets were both good-looking, sang really well, didn’t copy name singers’ style too much, came across as their own persons, and had charisma—in heaps.
They should serve as examples for other hopefuls, many of whom don’t get anywhere fast, because they’re happy to just be clones of established stars.
Clearly, in singing tilts like this, that isn’t the way to go. Let’s hope other prospective musical “stars of tomorrow” will take this key advice to heart.
On the debit side, quite a number of contestants featured in the show’s first telecast were fashion victims whose outlandishly “trendy” outfits got in the way of their performances, instead of stylishly showcasing them, as clearly intended.
Come to think of it, even juror Charice’s own look was more distracting than enhancing—including her colored hair, which clashed with her oriental features. And Pilita Corrales looked too dolled-up for her age. So, the show is in need of a better stylist on both sides of the judges’ table.
Also quite distractingly persuasive was the show’s big to-do over the melodramatic “back stories” behind some of its contestants’ desperate bid for singing stardom.
Melodrama
Too many treacly tales about personal woes were milked for all the soggy, two-bit melodrama they could produce and some of the jurors were visibly stirred. —Especially Charice, who empathized so much with a sad story involving a dad that she broke down, and a break in the proceedings had to be called, to give her time to recover.
We understand the singer’s feelings of loss over her own father, but we hope that, in future, she learns how to separate her own emotional baggage from the more objective task at hand of recognizing and rewarding the contestants’ relative excellence in singing.
As for all of those contestants who feel that they have to share their turgid tales of woe to make a mark in the competition and touch jurors’ and viewers’ hearts—please desist, because the ploy often has a counterproductive effect and ends up as a big turn-off! —After all, this is a singing tilt, not a “Reyna ng Vicks” sobfest.
Finally, it’s still early days for the show, but we note that an incipient tendency on the jurors’ part to occasionally be quite subjective in their views on what excellence in musical performance is all about.
For instance, one of their unanimous “yes” votes went to a funny guy who didn’t sing all that well, but still won raves from them for what they felt was his overwhelmingly idiosyncratic and entertaining performance.
When pitted later against other surviving semifinalists who sang better, would he still be able to hold his own? The answer to that key question would give us a clearer idea of what that vaunted “X-Factor” really means to jurors, Charice, Pilita, Gary V and Martin Nievera.
