Paolo’s pop standards and Myk’s acoustic tunes

There is never a shortage of aspiring singing stars in this country of ours. Everybody out here loves to sing. But take note of that word, aspiring, there are many who aspire but not everybody who aspires deserves the prize. This is why talent contests remain the best source for newcomers. You get to see and hear the aspirants at their best.

And this holds true whether it is an amateur contest on an entablado in a town fiesta in some remote barrio or in those sleek, globally franchised reality competitions on television. Tap into these for new voices and you are already assured of finding somebody who can truly sing. And as in the case of Paolo Onessa and Myk Perez, he does not even have to be the winner.

Crooner Onesa and singer-songwriter Perez were two of the 52 artists from out of 121 blind-audition contestants who made it to the Battles section in the first season of the TV show, The Voice Philippines.   Named as the grand champion was Mitoy Yonting, who was mentored by Lea Salonga. The first runner-up was Klarise de Guzman of Team Sarah Geronimo and in the third place was Janice Javier of the Team Apl.de.Ap.

Onesa, who was with Team Bamboo Mañalac,  was eliminated on the fifth week of the competition.  Perez, who was also mentored by rocker Bamboo, stayed a little longer and came in at fourth place. But their journey to stardom did not end with the show’s season. They were both signed by MCA Music to a management and recording contract and they have now released their first albums. 

The 20-year-old Onesa is being packaged as a singing heartthrob and that is a type that local music has a big need for nowadays, what with champions, Mark, Christian and Eric now already in their 30s.  What is interesting about his album though, is the way the usual pop songs was arranged to sound like the standards. This is similar to something that Raymond Lauchengco did a few years ago when he recorded an album of rock tunes with big-band arrangements. The CompanY’s Lighthearted series of albums has also been very successful with this sort of adaptations. Onesa’s collection has a pop-ballad vibe and this suits his light singing style very well.

These songs are You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker; Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan; a duet of Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) by The Temptations with fellow The Voice finalist Klarise; Marry Me by Train; You’re Beautiful by James Blunt; and When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars. It is also nice that he gets a crack at interpreting two new ballads by foreign writers, Lucky In Love and Which Way, Robert Frost? by Roxanne Seeman, Daniel Nitt and Philipp Steinke. And so as to remind the public about his origins, his songs from The Voice have been included, Skyfall by Adele; and Elesi by Rico Blanco.

As My Acoustic, the title of his first album clearly says, Perez is the latest addition to our pool of guitar-toting acoustic balladeers. So for his first recordings, he has taken assorted rockers and toned them down for an acoustic feel. Nice to find among these in his CD though, is Honey Under The Moon, which is Myk’s own composition. It is great to find out that he can write songs. We are also in need of new, talented songwriters. Truth to tell, while his and Onesa’s albums are well-produced and easy to listen to, they both suffer from a lack of Filipino songs.

My Acoustic by Perez includes Easy by LioneI Richie; Two Is Better Than One, a duet of the Taylor Swift song with acoustic artist Krissy Villongco; Why by Avril Lavigne; the first single release, Runaway by the Corrs; Clarity by John Mayer; and for the fans who discovered him in The Voice, there are his contest songs, Adele’s Chasing Pavements; Ed Sheeran’s Give Me Love; Peter Frampton’s Baby I Love Your Ways and two versions, unplugged and not, of Coldplay’s Fix You.

For a look at the local sounds, here now are the Top 20 videos in last week’s Pinoy MYX Countdown: Do The Moves by Sarah Geronimo, apl.de.ap, Enrique Gil and Elmo Magalona; Kislap by Kamikazee; Singapore Sling by Sponge Cola; Kiss You by Karylle; Anting-Anting by Sponge Cola featuring Gloc-9 and Denise Barbacena; Kailanman by Dennis Trillo; Tayo by Sarah Geronimo; Bawal Sa Gamot by Banda ni Kleggy;

Sana 2x by Angeline Quinto; Good by Sunday by 6Cyclemind; Paraan by Mayonnaise; Runaway by Perez; Di Ko Makontrol by The Moonflowers; Pelikula by Bob; Basta Masaya Ka by Kilos; Electrified by MYMP; Free by Kidwolf & BV; Parang by Mayonnaise; Dahan-Dahan by Maja Salvador; and Promise Ain’t Enough by Richard Yap.