10 reasons why not

LOS ANGELES – His fans from all over the world are still asking the same question: Why not? Why was Mig Ayesa not chosen to be the lead singer of INXS?

10. His wedding band – the metal that he had displayed (so proudly) on his right ring finger. The one that the camera always accidentally caught while zooming in to Mig’s chiseled face as the Fil-Aussie rock star caressed the microphone that was stationary on its stand.

"I’m very proud of him. He’s always been a star to me. But Rockstar has given him an opportunity to be a star for the world," said Mig’s wife, Simone.

9. His marital status – (of course, the ring wasn’t just a rocker accessory to complete the rockstar look!) – and the perceived decreased marketability and appeal of a married rock dude.

"Actually someone said to me at the party Tuesday night after the final, the one thing that Mig did wrong was being married," Simone said, confirming some of the fans’ speculations that indeed, Mig lost the vote of INXS members early on in the series by being a husband. But it’s a shame that people think that. And am also flattered that he was so willing to tell the world that he was married."

He proposed on a white grand piano, in Dubai, overlooking the Persian Gulf. He sang a song he wrote for her. And as people gathered to watch the impromptu concert happening in front of all of them, Mig pulled Simone up to sit next to him on the piano. When all eyes were on them, Mig asked Simone if she would marry him.

Now, talk about performance!

8. Speaking of performance, it could be another reason, too. It was just a tad too theatrical. I guess that’s what two years of top-billing We Will Rock You can do; not to mention the many years of theater which Mig admitted he did to finance his recording artist aspirations. The hand movements were elaborate, facial expressions bordering on over-acting... I’m a fan, too. But I saw from a mile away that he wasn’t going to get picked by the band. Can you just imagine Mig performing like that in wild and irreverent INXS concerts?

Can’t quite picture it; and those who can are not liking the scene.

"I loved doing theater and I loved doing We Will Rock You. It was the greatest experience of my life. But I wanted to actually be a recording artist and I thought this (the show) would be something that would propel me to the next level."

7. His disposition – it just wasn’t rude enough.

"I think maybe possibly INXS had wanted a bad boy image kind of thing. Maybe I was too polite and too nice to be rock n’ roll for them," he said.

Did he really have to give way to Suzie who bitched about wanting to sing Bohemian Rhapsody? Did the Good Samaritan gesture pay off well for him? Obviously not.

And even until the end, Mig couldn’t help being polite:

"JD is a good friend of mine. He’s come a long way. And he finished very strongly in the end. JD showed INXS elements that they were looking for and I can just say congratulations to him," he said.

6. His character – he was a bit too mellow for the band, as evidenced by the song he performed when each of the finalists had to sing an original composition.

"I did a ballad. I did an original ballad called Home in Me. It’s an important ballad which I dedicated to my late Tita Nucay. But I realized at the beginning of the show that the crowd was so pumped and so hyped that they didn’t want to hear a ballad, they wanted to hear a rock song. And I knew that. As soon as it started, I knew I was doing a wrong song for the crowd."

Simply put, Mig thinks that was the beginning of his slide from a strong start in the series: "I think that was the point in the competition that I think I basically took the back seat. Marty and JD were doing so well especially in the last three or four weeks before the finals, so much so that I think they gained popularity so much and the momentum they had gained would bring them to the finals as the favorites."

5. An insider who worked in the show said it was because Mig wasn’t edgy enough. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a competition about the best singer, for if it were, the source said, Mig would have won. But in contention was the lead pat of a rock band. And what are the characteristics of a rocker? Definitely not polite, not mellow, not sane.

Mig understood: "There were many singers in the show who were incredible singers, people who I thought should’ve been there in the final, and they went there to the final. It wasn’t about singing quality. It was a question of who had that star quality, that extra X-factor that INXS was looking for."

4. His pecs and his six-pack abs – which unfortunately, INXS members weren’t interested in. Perhaps when they defined the X-factor they were looking for, they didn’t mean the gigolo, Chip-n’-Dale-kind of sexy and oomph. And probably, the more he showed his assets, the more the band members got turned off that Mig was projecting a different appeal; or threatened that if they chose him, he’d get all the groupies because of his fie bod.

3. He is part-Filipino. But before all of us march to the CBS studios and cry, "Racial discrimination!" (even though two white people remained in the end), I don’t mean for it in that way. Mig was just too much of a romantic, too emotional. Perhaps it would make him a successful balladeer in the future. Or in his words, rock-balladeer.

"And though I didn’t make the new lead singer of INXS, I received a lot of interest since then from the show. And I’m very excited to chase up these interests, these contacts. And a lot of doors are opening up to me and I hope to one day release my own album and show the world what Mig Ayesa is really all about," which he explained was really about rock ballads. "Rock is a part of me. And also ballads, I love. I think I’m going to blend the two and make my own style."

2. The combined population of Australia and the Philippines is not big enough to convince INXS that the public wants Mig. Is the band even including the two countries in their upcoming world tour?

"I could really feel that I was getting a lot of support from my hometowns of the Philippines and in Australia. The support that I got from there was outstanding and it kept me in the competition and I really felt the love and I felt so proud that people in the Philippines and people in Australia love me so much that they kept me in the competition, believed that I should be the new singer of INXS. And for that I’m eternally grateful," Mig said.

1. His wardrobe – tight white pants, colorful shirts with buttons open halfway up, necktie loosely hung in the neck – it just didn’t do it.

Right now, Mig is in talks with some producers hoping to produce a concert for him in Manila.