Fil-Mexican Makes It To 'Idol's' Top 13 Cut
If reviews are to be believed, Filipino-Mexican Jessica Sanchez is the one to beat among the girls on this 11th season of “American Idol.” Sanchez just made it to AI’s Top 13, as announced on March 1 (March 2 in Manila).
This young singer from Chula Vista, California will have to face first the other finalists. Alongside Sanchez in the Top 10 are: Phillip Phillips, Hollie Cavanagh, Joshua Ledet, Heejun Han, Shannon Magrane, Skylar Laine, Elise Testone, Colton Dixon and Jermaine Jones; while Wild Cards are: Erika Van Pelt (Randy Jackson’s pick), Jeremy Rosado (Jennifer Lopez’s pick) and Deandre Brackensick (Steven Tyler’s pick).
The 16-year-old pulled off a powerful performance despite suffering from swollen vocal cords during the Top 12 Girls’ Night on Wednesday. The Top 13 Boys performed the other night, completing AI 11’s Top 25 Semi-Finalists.
Sanchez was the only female contestant who earned the judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler’s standing ovation for her performance of Jennifer Hudson’s “Love You I Do” from the movie “Dreamgirls.”
“I had to go to the doctor. I’m worried about my song… my voice is horse and soar,” Sanchez told “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest before performing her piece.
After her number, Jackson said: “Crazy, crazy. Oh my God. Let me just say this... I don’t know about no doctor… What’s really happening [is] that girl can really sing! I can say, one of the best of the two nights right there! I’m so proud of you. You’re so unbelievably talented. That confidence, that control… [Yours] is a voice to be reckoned with in this whole competition.”
Likening Sanchez’s voice to that of singer Beyoncé Knowles,’ Jackson added: “I know you love Beyoncé, ’cause you got that Beyonce bravado. I love that, too!”
Just as astounded as Jackson was Lopez, who said, “The best swag, that attitude, the moves, the punctuation that you put with your body on the ends of your phrases and your notes and everything, the way you pull back, the way you let us have it. The whole thing is really, really so… beyond your years it’s just crazy. The growl, the soft spots, the yelling, all of it! All of it! All of it.”
Tyler also commended Sanchez’s exceptional timing. “It comes out on your fingers when you’re singin’ and making the turn-arounds. Your voice is perfect, your pitch is perfect,” the Aerosmith rocker said.
This early, Sanchez has become one of the early favorites. Will she break AI’s four-year reign of male winners? Or better yet, will she be the first winner with Filipino blood?
In the show’s last season, 17-year-old Filipino-American Thia Megia made it to the Top 12. Other half-Filipinos who emerged as finalists in “Idol” history include Jasmine Trias, Ramiele Malubay, and Camille Velasco.
By JECELYN V. MACAHINDOG
mb.com.ph
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