The lucky 3

Six months ago, Gian Magdangal was working as a marketing events officer in a telecommunications company, Mau Marcelo was a band singer in Lucena and Jan Nieto was a customer marketing manager in one of the top companies in the country.

Tonight at 9, the three will sing before an audience of 10,000 at Araneta Coliseum and millions of viewers nationwide as they vie for the title first Philippine Idol. Each of them will perform, with musical director Mel Villena and the mega band and the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra, three songs each – a song of their choice, song chosen by the judges and musical director and song chosen by SonyBMG.

Mau’s personal choice is Mariah Carey’s Love Takes Time. She said she chose that song because she "knows it by heart and it’s a beautiful song." Gian chose The Impossible Dream and we probably know why he picked that song. Philippine Idol is indeed one impossible dream but nothing is impossible for someone as talented and dedicated as him. Jan’s choice is Say That You Love Me by his idol Martin Nievera. "I love that song and I’m happy to sing that in the finale," says Jan.

This will be their final showdown, their last chance to prove that they are the one, the ultimate Idol who can represent our country if ever there’ll be an Asian Idol or even World Idol in the future.

They all have come a long way. Each of them didn’t expect that they would be this close to winning the much-coveted title. One dream will be fulfilled tomorrow, the final results night, as the Filipino’s choice to be the first Philippine Idol will win and receive P1-M, plus a recording contract from SonyBMG and management contract from FremantleMedia. The final results night will also showcase special spot numbers from the Top 3, the three resident judges Mr. C, Mamita and FM, the nine eliminated finalists and a whole lot of surprise guests.

"You guys are so very lucky!" That’s all the maestro could say after the Top 3 was announced. Gian, Mau and Jan are indeed lucky for out of the thousands who auditioned from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three of them bested all the others and emerged as the big three.

Some people are still at a lost on who should they vote for among the three. Others are already predicting who would win, while there are those who are waiting for the final performance night before they decide. Some Idol observers are saying that it will be a toss-up between the soul idol and livewire idol since the two are both superb talents and they both show ripeness in their every performance. In fact, there’s one Internet forum that has a poll on who the public would vote as the first Philippine Idol. Gian got the most number of votes while Mau came in closely at second and Jan still needs to work on his charm to the public. But the hunky idol has shown big improvement over the past weeks, and not to mention he has the star quality. He sure can give the two a run for their money and maybe he can again surprise us all with a killer performance in the finale.

It can be recalled that among the three, it was Jan who got into the Final 12 first while Gian and Mau needed the Wildcard round to get in the Top 12. When Jan made it in the Final 12, some Internet forums and blogs questioned his talent. Jan has been bashed in the Net but this only made him stronger. He said he stopped reading all the negative stuff about him and he just focused on his every performance. Good thing his family and friends are always there to support him. His dad was even the one who would always look for the cd of the song he’ll sing and he would listen to Jan and give advice.

The Ateneo graduate is a first-timer in singing contest. He never dared to join one before but at the back of his mind he really wanted to try. He only joined Philippine Idol because he knows it is a prestigious talent search.

When asked what he thinks is his winning edge, Jan has this to say, "I think my edge will be the fact that I really study the songs that I sing. Study in the sense na inaaral ko yung gustong sabihin nung kanta. Yung essence nung song inaalam ko. Kasi kapag naiintindihan mo yung gustong sabihin ng song, mas makakanta mo siya nang maganda. If it is a happy song, you have to smile when singing it. When the lyrics connote something sad, it is a mortal sin to smile. Things like that. Sa tingin ko kasi yun ang madalas nalilimutan ng ibang singers. They just belt everything out."

It’s hard not to be mesmerized with Gian. He is every bit a performer. He started singing at a very young age as a member of Tiples de Sto. Domingo, an all-boys choir of the Sto. Domingo Church. His mom is a vocal teacher by the way (reminds me of American Idol 5’s Katharine McPhee), which explains why his singing talent is inborn yet you know his vocals is well-trained. In high school, he was a member of Kundirana (Gary Valenciano was discovered through that) in La Salle and in college he joined the Trumpets. But his talent is not limited to singing. He also knows how to act, play the piano and dance, even tap dance.

Give Gian any genre of songs and he can sing it well. Even his most dreaded theme R ’n B, Gian still managed to make it his own version. Not many people knew that he was not feeling well during that time but he still gave a good performance. "I was in pain during that week, physically and emotionally," Gian explained.

Why Gian has to win? Well, the judges have said this so many times already but we’ll say it again – Gian is the total package, total performer and he exudes confidence on stage.

Mau has always been the crowd favorite. There’s something about Mau that endears her to the audience. When she sings, everybody listens and when she finishes, you can hear everybody’s applause.

When Mau was still young she was the subject of mockery in their neighborhood and in her school because of her skin tone. But being a strong woman that she is, she didn’t let all the harsh words get to her instead she tried to prove to everybody that she’s beautiful and she has talent.

Some viewers are already familiar with Mau because she’s a singing contest veteran. She has joined practically all the contests there are, be it in Lucena, other provinces and even in other TV search. Just goes to show how badly she wants to make it in showbiz.

Mau is pure talent because she wasn’t vocally trained at all. Perhaps it just runs in her blood because her parents are good singers. She said Philippine Idol is the best singing contest in the country and it’s also the toughest. "Joining Philippine Idol and making it in the Top 3 is the best thing that ever happened to me so far," Mau gushed.

So, who will it be – Jan, Gian or Mau? It’s really hard to tell and because it’s Philippine Idol, which is full of surprises, we can never really predict. But one thing’s for sure, there’s still one last face-off tonight on ABC 5 so maybe base on the performances of the three we can finally decide. Be sure to catch all the action in the two-part season finale of Philippine Idol.