Will they finally find ‘The Next Big Star’?

By Alwin M. Ignacio, Contributor

06/14/2009

GMA Channel 7 produced and bankrolled the three seasons of Pinoy Pop Superstar. Unfortunately, its winners Jonalyn Viray, Gerald Santos and Maricris Garcia (to be fair to Garcia, she had a hit, “Mahal Kita,” the theme song of the phenomenal Marimar series) did not soar to superstar status. As a matter of fact, industry observers were unanimous in their opinion that during the three incarnations of the musical contest, it was the first runners-up, namely, Brenan Espartinez, Aicelle Santos and Bryan Termulo, that had more superstar promise.

Then the network tied up with an international singing franchise to bring their version of Philippine Idol re-named and re-packaged as Pinoy Idol. The contest came and went, and its major winner, Gretchen Espina, remains neither stellar nor promising. She did not muster enough star and staying power to convince the populace that she is worthy to be called “Idol.” As of this writing, Espina will be re-launched some time soon and one wonders if, this time, she will finally prove her worth as a star.

Recently, the Kapuso network launched another singing tilt, billed as Are You The Next Big Star? The show was conceptualized to raise the bar of singing contests for TV. This show aims to find two (one male and female) promising stars that have the musicality, pop star appeal and over-all mass appeal; not to mention the capacity to withstand the demands of a career in the highly competitive music industry.

From more than 10,000 hopefuls, currently competing on TV are the remaining 40 contenders who will be further slimmed down to 16. The 16 will comprise the finalists and in 15 weeks, they will undergo grueling tasks, workshops and weekly live performances. The last two will emerge as victors.

Tasked to find the male and female big stars are record producer, composer and song writer Danny Tan, musical director and arranger Mon Faustino, vocal coach and founding member of The Company Anne Quintos, power pop sensation Randy Santiago, and concert queen Pops Fernandez.

Hosting the show are Regine Velasquez and Keempee de Leon.

“Whenever the network invites me to host a singing contest, I immediately say yes because malapit sa puso ang mga ganitong paligsahan. As you all know, prior to being in show business, I joined many amateur singing contests. As a matter of fact, it was Bagong Kampeon that opened the doors for me. The last contest I participated in was the Asia Pacific Singing contest where, fortunately, I won. I am very happy and honored to be hosting this new show,” says Regine.

“We have an abundance of singers but that doesn’t mean that we must stop searching, discovering and honing other talents. We are a very lucky country because there we have so many gifted singers, maraming tayong diamonds in the rough, and we are hopeful that through The Next Big Star, we can unearth and polish these diamonds,” she continues.

For Regine, talent is the main thing. Next, she says, is the X-factor. “This whole X-factor thing is really unexplainable, but (you see it when a) contender... oozes with charisma, draws the people and knows how to wow them. That is very important. And thirdly, this person must have the willingness to learn, to keep learning, to be humble and work with other people. As we all know this is a fun job, but it’s not all fun. It’s work. You really have to work hard to be able to reach your dreams especially if you want to be a big star.”

She elaborates, “Of course, the network will back up, as much as they can. During my time, when I won in the Bagong Kampeon, I was on my own. The winners now are very lucky and blessed because they have the whole network to back them up. But it is still up to the person to push himself. They have to remain focused so that they can realize their dreams.”

The grand champions of Are You the Next Big Star? will each be awarded with a GMA exclusive management contract, a GMA Records recording contract and P1 million in cash from SM Supermalls.

Fans of the contenders may keep track of the competition and share their thoughts with other fanatics by logging on to www.igma.tv/areyouthenextbigstar.

Regine concludes, “I don’t have any secret to share on why, after all these years, I am still here. I am just very happy and thankful that there are still so many people who believe in me and the talent that I have. I am forever grateful to my mother network because they give me great projects such as this. I don’t know what the real secret is, but these I can share with our contenders: Love your work, be professional, respect all the people you deal with, pray to God for guidance and thank Him for the talent, and most of all, let your passion for singing drive you so that you can make all your dreams come true.”

Are You The Next Big Star? airs every Saturday night after Pinoy Records.

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