No new Regine in sight

September 08, 2006
Updated 00:42:05 (Mla time)
Nini Valera
Inquirer

TALENT manager Ronnie Henares has not found the next Regine Velasquez—not even from among the more than 1,000 hopefuls who auditioned on Monday to qualify as contenders in this year’s “Pinoy Pop Superstar.”

The talent search show, aired over GMA 7, is now on its third season. It is hosted by... Regine Velasquez.

Henares, a guest judge during the last grand audition held at the Premier Theater at the Mall of Asia, told Inquirer Entertainment on Tuesday that finding another Regine could take another lifetime. The talent manager discovered Regine in 1986 and molded her into an enduring superstar in Pinoy pop music.

“The first time I saw and heard Regine sing, my jaw dropped,” Henares recalled. “But during these tryouts, I just saw some potential, not another Regine. We’re looking for people who can cut it in the competition. If they can’t compete in the show, then there’s no sense in putting them there.”

At the end of the first audition, 108 were short-listed for another round. On Tuesday, only 13 made it as contestants to the show.

This year’s judges are stricter, as they were during the initial phase of selection, said Danny Tan, a regular judge in the talent search show, and in-house musical director.

“We don’t care if you came to auditions with barely enough money for your fare,” he said. “If you’re not good, then you’re out.”

Tan dished out some of the harshest critiques of the performances during the auditions.

To Joefel Sidayan, Tan said he was the “perfect example of someone who seemed to have been forced by his mother to sing.” Sidayan barely got to the fourth line of his song when Tan thanked him, the signal that pop superstar hopeful had blown his chance.

“It’s OK if that’s what the judges think about my singing,” Sidayan told Inquirer Entertainment in Filipino. “I just couldn’t get past my nervousness.”

Carla Jane Quinquito, another hopeful, almost finished her audition piece, a song popularized by Shirley Bassey. She had the poise, the pitch and the presence. But Tan thought her to be seriously outdated and a Patricia Javier clone.

“You joined the wrong contest,” he told Quinquito. “You move like a burlesque dancer. You have a strong foundation [in singing], but you should update your style.”

Quinquito merely shrugged. She is only 17, and likely to get another chance another year, or even in another show.

“Danny basically says it all,” said Henares of his fellow judge. “He hits it right away.”

Tan also hits it hard.

To improve“I tell them from the start that they should hear what I have to say in order for them to improve,” he said. “I hit [the nail on the head]. Otherwise, it would be treating them like children.”

In a country where most people are known for their ability to sing and dance, it’s difficult to come up with a short list of potential superstars, Henares said. Being a great singer must already be a given, he added.

“When Danny critiques, he’s not only helping the people he critiques, but also the people in line,” Henares said. “Some talent may have something, but not everything.”

What the judges are looking for is the X-factor that would distinguish a superstar from the mediocre.

“Remember, ‘Pinoy Pop Superstar’ is basically a search for the next pop superstar. Fifty percent of the points goes to superstar quality; the rest to audience appeal, charisma, and marketability,” Tan said. “It’s not all about singing. If it were all about singing, we can just go back to ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ or ‘Bagong Kampeon.’”

It’s about being a superstar, Tan reiterated.

Ironically, most of the people who auditioned to qualify in the show come from the urban poor sector.

“Most of them are jologs,” Tan said.

“That’s okay,” said Henares. “When you talk superstar, we have Nora Aunor, and we know where she came from.”

Still, the process of discovering the next great singer continues to excite Tan and Henares.

“This is what our life is all about,” Henares said. “If we get to pick the next pop superstar, then that’s our contribution to the music industry.”

The first Pinoy pop superstar was Jonnalyn Viray. Last year, it was Gerald Santos, son of a fisherman from Navotas, who won the crown.