Filipinos to defend title as Asia’s most talented

SINGAPORE — Asia’s Got Talent, the region’s biggest and most watched talent search on TV, is back for Season 2 with its three celebrity judges all acknowledging the Philippines as a force to reckon with after the country’s hopefuls dominated the show’s first season.

“There are a lot of great singers and performers out there in the Philippines,” declared Canadian record producer David Foster, who is returning to the judges’ table alongside Indonesian rock and pop icon Anggun. “There’s something in the water in the Philippines and I don’t know what it is.”

Even K-pop superstar Jay Park, who is sitting as the third and newest judge replacing Melanie C and Vanness Wu, couldn’t hide his respect for Filipino talents.

“A lot of Filipinos are amazing at singing and dancing,” said the Seattle-based Park, who was just signed by Jay-Z’s Hollywood record label Roc Nation as its first Asian American artist. “Even in the United States, a lot of choreographers and dancers are Filipinos.”

With hopefuls coming from 17 Asian countries, the Philippines ruled the first season in 2015, eventually bagging the grand prize of $100,000 for shadow play performers El Gamma Penumbra and a third place win for opera singer Gerphil Flores.

The show’s Season 2 got off to a rousing start on July 27 with the revelation of the identities of its three judges at Singapore’s famed ArtScience Museum of Marina Bay Sands, along with the new season’s hosts, Asian TV personalities Alan Wong and Justin Bratton.

The three Season 2 judges with Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia SVP and GM Ang Hui Keng and SVP Virginia Lim.

The record-breaking series returns to pay TV channel AXN in October this year with 10 episodes. The first five episodes will be devoted to the much-anticipated judges’ auditions, the filming of which began July 28. Three episodes will be the semi-finals, while the remaining two will be the final battle and the announcement of winners.

The grand winner will again bag a cash prize of $100,000 from AGT’s presenting sponsor Traveloka, South East Asia’s leading app for all hotel and flight needs.

And with Traveloka SVP Christian Suwarma

Present at the media launch were the big bosses of Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia (which manages AXN and other leading pay TV entertainment brands) Ang Hui Keng, SVP and GM; and Virginia Lim, SVP and head of content, production and marketing; and Traveloka SVP of business development Christian Suwarma.

Talking to select reporters, which included The Philippine STAR, Anggun recalled El Gamma Penumbra’s “mind-blowing” performance which future contestants, she said, must take a cue from. She also took pride of pressing the golden buzzer for the winning Filipino group that automatically sent them to the semi-finals.

“(El Gamma’s) kind of act is truly universal,” noted Anggun. “It’s the kind of act where you don’t need a language. They tell a story in such a beautiful and emotional way and the skill is amazing. So for me, that kind of act was perfect.”

As a judge, Anggun said she’s looking for talents who will touch her and make her say, “this talent comes from Asia and this needs to be seen worldwide.”

Meanwhile, Foster just couldn’t get enough of Season 1’s third placer, the classical crossover singer Gerphil Flores of the Philippines, calling her “my girl.” The German-born soprano automatically earned a spot in the AGT semifinals after Foster pressed the golden buzzer.

“When Gerphil is on stage, everything shuts down and all you see is this amazing performer,” said Foster, who, likewise, hailed the world-class talents of his one-time protégé, the former Charice now known as Jake Zyrus; and The Voice Kids Philippines Season 2 grand winner Elha Nympha, who impressed Foster when he saw her belt her version of Sia’s Chandelier in Steve Harvey show’s Little Big Shots.

“I’d be very happy if I see a juggling act or a magic act won,” said the multiple Grammy winner, who has created hit songs for the likes of Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Josh Groban and Barbra Streisand, to name a few. “But of course, in the back of my mind, I’m looking for the next Whitney Houston. I think Asia has someone like her and I think she’s somewhere out there. Or it could be a guy.”

For his part, Park said he wants to be surprised.

“My standards are very, very high and I want to see something that will surprise me and amaze me,” he said. “Asian acts make a big splash when they perform in the west or join talent competitions.”

While Anggun expressed confidence that both male judges will be nice to her as the lone lady in the panel, Foster, 67, hinted a clash might be in the offing between him and the 30-year-old Park.

“Our age gap is so vast and yet we share this commonality of music,” Foster said of Park. “But I know that kid has something up his sleeves.”