KZ tops ‘X Factor’

TANDINGAN. Offbeat edge.

AGAINST all odds, KZ Tandingan deservedly won the top plum on “X Factor Philippines” last Sunday, beating Gab Maturan, who had never been a bottom-dweller in terms of votes garnered throughout the tilt, and third-placer Daddy’s Home.

KZ was our bet from the start of the competition’s final round, because she had what to us was the requisite combination for singing stardom—good looks, good voice, temperament, charisma, etc.

Yes, she’s still terribly raw and sometimes quite unfocused and gauche, but she’s her own person, so she stands out.

Her “signature” fusion of singing and rapping is similarly unique for female musical performers on the local scene, and we like her avowed goal of proving that singers can make it in the biz without notoriously becoming biriteros and biriteras.

Now that it has a winner, ABS-CBN’s starmaking machine should kick in for KZ, to transform her from a promising talent, into a certifiable headliner. It worked up to a point in the case of Angeline Quinto, but her style is too much like Sarah Geronimo’s, so she hasn’t really been able to carve out her own, unique niche in entertainment just yet.

Since KZ is distinct on point of singing style and temperament, she doesn’t have to emulate anybody, so her stellar prospects appear to be more “open.”

True, she may be too edgy and unfocused, and thus possibly get herself into unstellar predicaments now and then, but it’s up to her handlers to teach her that stardom can’t be about spontaneity and temperament all the time, and a talent needs to be “showcased” to some extent, so that she can truly shine.

Let’s hope that, in the process of all that focusing and showcasing, KZ won’t lose the offbeat edge that made her win the tilt’s top plum, in the first place.

As for runner-up Gab Maturan, he needs to acquire greater “weight” and substance as a performer to similarly make it in the biz. It’s great that he had such consistently strong voter support throughout the finals, but he now needs to overcome his basic shyness and tentativeness.

That will take more than just voice or acting lessons, and should entail a radical change in how he thinks of himself, both as a performer and as a person.

What about Daddy’s Home? Their challenge is to make it big as a group, a rare accomplishment on the local show biz scene.

For starters, they should reduce their “daddy” factor, and underscore their adroit musicality instead. After all, the Apo members were also fathers, but they didn’t make that fact the focus of their collective performing persona.

Finally, starmakers shouldn’t concentrate only on the top three “X Factor” winners, but should also look into the stellar prospects of the so-called “losers”—because a couple of them could also end up as musical luminaries in their own right—in particular, Jeric Medina and Allen Sta. Maria stand out, so they could eventually make it, as well!