SPi Singing Competition

                We were supposed to meet at 10:30am but I was late and I was wet after running under the rain. We taxied our way to Seventh High at Bonifacio High Street right after I arrived at the meeting place. Can you give me a break? Haha!. I was expecting for a bigger place, very concert-like one. Well, expect away! The place is a classy room designed for a club with a slightly elevated performance stage for the singers/bands I reckon. We arrived at 11:45 and Shane got dressed because the program is starting at 12nn but then it was moved to 1pm because everybody has to eat. The food is good, the drink is sweet, the music is dope.

                The show started and we were hoping that the singing competition be held first so that we can enjoy the dance part, but hoping, we were disappointed. The performances were alternated – the dancer, the CRM singer, the Tech singer then the dancer again and so on. Good thing Shane is the second performer for CRM singers. And the great thing… there is a free wi-fi.

carbonara & pizza was good, I didn't get to eat the burger

         With the dancers, I don’t have the perfect view of their performances because I wasn’t blessed with the height of a professional basketball player and of a beauty queen. So I cannot really tell who the best was. With the singers, I can fairly say that Shane was the best and this is not because she is my friend and she is our representative. Here's the reason why...

                Contestant No. 1 sang Miley Cyrus’ The Climb. It’s a good song and a good choice. But Miley has that powerful deep voice and she can hit the high notes. I don’t think the contestant gave that song a justice. Oppsy! Sorry if I hit some nerves. Her voice is far from powerful and deep and the range of her voice does not vary. From the first stanza to the chorus to the second stanza to the second chorus to the bridge, it was all the same. I can't say if she's just playing it safe to avoid screwing it up. But overall, she did okay.

                Contestant No. 2 was my friend. She sang If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys.  A week before the competition and she still doesn’t have a song to practice. Some suggested that she do an Evanescence, My Immortal. So she practiced the song for two nights (Tuesday and Wednesday). Then an e-mail from the HR says that there’s a 4-minute limit for a song and My Immortal runs for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. We thought of having it cut from the first chorus, it will skip to the bridge but cannot find someone to do it so she has to think of another song. Since she has that deep raspy voice, we thought of an Alicia Keys song which runs for less than 4 minutes. So that’s it, If I Ain’t Got You. For me, she sang the song with lesser flaws (if there is any) among the others.

                Contestant No. 3 sang Beyonce’s Listen. She was wearing a cute and sexy top and skirt which awakens the audience especially the boys. Hitting the high notes, check! But she has flats, lots of them actually. And singing for me is not just about hitting the high notes. It’s about singing the song flawlessly, complete with the right emotions, and connection with the audience.

                Contestant No. 4 is the smooth operator. She sang Kyla’s I Will Be There, a beautiful song. She can sing to a wedding but not to a singing competition. She has that chilling and relaxing vibes to her voice. But I don’t think she can hit the high notes too. She kept changing the birit part into a melody she can sing to and I think that was brilliant. But then that won’t give you a win.

                Contestant No. 5 sang Beyonce’s Listen, again!? I thought it was prohibited, two contestants performing the same song? In the end she still got to perform and win in fact. I think her performance was not far from the first lady who sang the same song, hitting the high notes but lots of flats and flaws.

                After the program, we wandered around Bonifacio High Street. We took some pictures then loiter inside Fully Booked where I was supposed to buy a gift for Mac (a key-chain with his birthday on it) but we rushed back to Seventh High because my friend left her mp3 player. We went back to Fully Booked but I forgot about the gift and we did some reading too so it was completely forgotten. By 4:30 we were starving (uhm, not really), so we had some cool, sweet doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. I had one free-from-Krispy-Kreme honey glazed, one soaring Falcons and one chocolate iced raspberry filled doughnut. We ate it at Starbucks while having frapuccinos. So it was an over-sugar-loading snack. We had some fun playing with the cute little girl across our table. She is so cute and so playful. Good thing her parents were cool about her playing with a couple of strangers.-C