My thoughts on Gerphil Flores

Gerphil Flores has the kind of musical talent that would matter in the real world which goes well beyond the confines of any talent reality search show. For one, Gerphil Flores performs the kind of songs the way she interprets them to be and that has certainly added a healthy dose of realism to her performances that the others just don’t have. Furthermore, she conducts herself in such a respectable and sophisticated manner not often found.

Gerphil Flores is almost like a “throwback” to a bygone era in popular music; her vocal technique isn’t as widely utilized these days because of the level of difficulty to master it. Another point for her is her physical appearance which also reminds me of that much more simple, carefree, and innocent time when it did not take a lot of “packaging” or resorting to desperate gimmickry for someone to stand out. I mean, just look at her and that smile just radiates confidence when she is onstage. That is one main reason her performances come out so smooth and almost effortless, thus remarkable. It certainly helps, too, that you can tell she enjoys what she is doing.

For me, Gerphil Flores is clearly a representation of a superior level of talent that knows who she is and what she wants to achieve more as her singing career finally pushes forward without the “road bumps” that have hindered her in the past.

The way Gerphil Flores is artistically is the way she should be. There is no longer any point in questioning that as had unfortunately happened to her repeatedly when she joined Pilipinas Got Talent five years ago. That debacle happened when the two female judges could not figure out on their own how to properly critique Gerphil’s performances which were clearly beyond their realm of understanding and familiarity. So, instead of admitting their ignorance which anyway showed through glaringly on air, they chose instead to pull her down with their unfair and uncalled for remarks. Do I detect envy there ?

How bigoted could those two female judges have been ? Instead of seeing the value of watching someone who was her own person, they were so baffled by it and so were more consumed with covering up their own lack of knowledge of musical diversities by throwing harsh criticisms at Gerphil–criticisms which were neither helpful nor constructive. Sadly, with their “blinders” on, they could not see that right under their noses, they were already looking at one of the best unsigned local classical singers to have emerged in a long, long time !

I watched that whole first season of Pilipinas Got Talent so I know what I saw and let’s just say that the two female judges’ own “performances” who were obviously totally aware of the cameras rolling were meant to re-direct and draw attention to themselves forgetting that the “stars” of that talent reality search show should be its contestants, not them.

Now, back to Gerphil Flores. Boy, were those two female judges so wrong in their assessments of her, and so off the mark !

Why so ?

In fact, what to those two female judges were Gerphil’s musical qualities and traits not to their liking and which they believed would not work out for her were, in fact–to the right kind of people–the very points that would carry her through in the long run. The right kind of people I am speaking of are those involved in the music industry.

The label heads, producers, managers, sound engineers, and A&R executives would love the way Gerphil Flores is because they will not have to do much packaging and “polishing” and training for the artist to be marketable and relatable to music aficionados. She is already a complete package the way she is now, head to toe, too.  In essence, all they have to do is give her a platform to perform and get her original music released, and everything else will follow.

What was once one of the best “kept secrets” in terms of unsigned talent outside of the Philippines has now gotten the attention of people from the world over and it is a virtual guarantee that she will be offered a recording deal very soon, if it is not already in the works, as we speak. When I think of it, it was really just a matter of time before she would get international exposure because a talent as remarkable as hers cannot remain hidden forever. Poetic justice it is, I say, for Gerphil Flores who got repeated put-downs and negative criticisms from those who are so closed-minded to anything but the kind of music they are used to hearing and to the kind they have only been exposed.

Let’s be true to ourselves here. There are not a lot of unsigned talent left who can perform with expertise one of the hardest genres to master–classical-pop–and at the same time manage to deliver grand performances that could get the crowd on hand and viewers at home totally mesmerized. One of them is definitely Gerphil Flores when she first performed on Asia’s Got Talent. Not only did she get a standing ovation but she was also joined onstage and congratulated by none other than David Foster after her very first performance–an unprecedented one that happened in the early stages of the show’s run–and she was the first competitor to whom David Foster gave the “Golden Buzzer”. If you ask me, David Foster immediately recognized greatness in her and this is unquestionable since he has an excellent eye for outstanding musical talents and he knows how to hone them that he brings out the best that the artists have to offer.

Under the expert tutelage of David Foster in any role he decides to take in the professional singing career of Gerphil Flores, it is safe to say that, now more than ever, she will be in the best of hands. Gerphil Flores certainly has a very bright future ahead of her because now she has somebody–none other than world-renowned record producer David Foster–with enough clout from the music industry watching her back.

Now the sky is only the limit for Gerphil Flores .

No one and nothing more can hold her down from fulfilling her young dreams !