Voice Kids PH: The search for tomorrow’s singers continues

MANILA, Philippines – Children have that magic adults gravitate to. They make us pause from the myriad things we do to say hi to them. They ask the simplest question and what we find strange in an adult suddenly becomes cute.

No wonder ABS-CBN’s kiddie reality show The Voice Kids PH is already on its third season. Airing Saturdays and Sundays, the new season retains the old format but brings in a different flavor. Kim Chiu is one of the hosts (she joins old reliables Luis Manzano and Robi Domingo) and the Megastar is now Coach Sharon Cuneta along with Lea Salonga and Bamboo Mañalac (Sarah Geronimo decided to take a break).

Sharon is expected to bring experience — lots of it — and fans to the table.

“Let’s not underestimate her fans,” Lea says of her new fellow coach. “She has a lot of fans who are kids. She asks the kids why they picked her, and they say, ‘I’ve been a fan of yours forever. I sing your songs.’ These kids are legitimate Sharon fans.”

The show’s business unit head Raymond Dizon observes that Sharon connects with kids. As a mom herself, she knows how to kneel in front of them, look them in the eye and speak to them in a way they understand.

Lea and Bamboo have mastered the art of coaching talented kiddie singers themselves.

Bamboo doesn’t just coach kids in his team. He mentors those in other teams as well.

The singer-songwriter molds their character. The competition, he tells the budding singers, is not a sprint, but a journey, marathon.

“Character and values are important to me. I keep telling the kids they have to learn how to carry themselves.”

Coach Bamboo isn’t satisfied just mentoring the kids in the studio. He visits them in their home, even if it’s in a province like Pampanga, where Bamboo met the employer of The Voice Kids Season 2 grand champion Elha Nympha’s mom. Bamboo found out more about Elha’s family and learned how to mentor her better.

Lea’s coaching technique is different from Bamboo’s. Mom Lea takes a backseat and a firm but understanding Coach Lea takes over.

“If I treat these kids like a parent, I lose my objectivity I can’t be too emotionally connected. There has to be a distance or I lose all objectivity,” she explains.

Lea likens the situation to a surgeon who can’t operate on a relative, or herself, who can’t coach her own daughter, Nicole Beverly, to sing.

The other person is too close for comfort. Somebody else must do the job.

But Lea is no terror coach. She mixes work and play by injecting funny moments while she’s coaching.

“I try to make the kids laugh,” she chuckles.

The formula works. As we all know by now, Lea coached Season Two finalist Esang de Torres “for less than an hour” the day before she auditioned for the Singapore production of Les Miserablés. Today, the girl is poised to play little Cosette in the long-running musical.

To Lea, this feat makes her work a lot more fulfilling. It makes her return to The Voice Kids again and again.

After all, when you help a child take the first steps towards a promising career, you not only help him or her. You inspire other kids to take that big step towards doing what they love to do, and help them grow up into confident, fulfilled adults. You’re putting your trust in the next generation.

Nothing else can be more rewarding.