Jessica is 'filipinizing' American Idol

The Philippines has just found the female counterpart of Manny Pacquiao.

No, not in terms of boxing prowess. But when it comes to the art of making people hang on every note while a song—hard or harder—is sung, Jessica Sanchez is ‘in it to win it yooh’ as the popular line of American Idol Judge Randy Jackson would go. So it’s not a surprise why we Filipinos in all parts of the globe are romping around with our hearts full of optimism believing this time around, it will be a contestant with a Filipino heritage’s turn to walk away with the title in the show’s 11th season.

In fact, Jessica found support in her new fan, our President no less, who hopes for what all the rest of us also hope for. And before that, Vice President Binay had congratulated and commended the 16-year-old Filipina for having reached so much at a young age, thus spurring a ray of inspiration to youths with the same dreams in life.

For many Filipinos, the show has turned out to be more than just a cheering game. Now, it has also become a platform to let everyone in the world see at least by rooting for our kababayan picture not quite common to our senses—Filipinos in unity—a picture we are only privileged to take delight of whenever Manny steps inside the boxing ring. It’s very enlightening that with all the social and political division thwarting our way to public harmony, it’s still indeed possible to draw Filipinos together in support to a universal goal.

But going back to Jessica and the show, I think it’s especially heart-warming to note our bet is getting a lot of backing from her fan base in the US, with Filipinos there getting seriously crazy with campaigns in voting for the girl. Plus, with the support she’s getting from Idol alumni themselves Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Haley Reinhart and Jennifer Hudson, I can’t just totally absorb how amazing the Filipino-blooded talent is.

Which is why it’s not a doubt Steven Tyler has Jessica in his notes of the final (wo)man standing, giving her a standing ovation after she performed ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing.’ And while the rest of the jury did not stand, they still praised the young singer in their comments.

In yesterday’s results show, American voters have decided the journey of Joshua Ledet to end despite having consistently brought the judges to their feet (although it could have been great to witness him and her battle it out in the final stretch). This leaves Phillip Phillips, who I feel is another Scotty McCreery archetype, to come to blows with Jessica come finals night on May 23,daytime here in the Philippines.

So it’s going to be a finale of completely opposite singers talking about their gender and genre in music. This is then set to give the voters later on a hard time to decide. They can always go for the singer-songwriter who has won plaudits for bringing his own distinctive style of guitar playing music. Or they can go for the contestant who has impressed the judges since the start of the season with her mastery of music despite being the youngest in the bunch. 

Win or lose however, for all of us Filipinos, we know in our hearts the winner will always be Jessica. It’s not to underrate the other but at the end of the day or maybe the show, and when the whole Idol hype is over, we will be happy to look back to these moments when she has magically transported all Filipinos in a trip toward national oneness. And though it will be short-lived, I hope it gives everyone the lesson that unity is not just a dream too high to reach but a reality always waiting to the avail of all Filipinos. 

Well, I so can’t wait to see both Jessica and Pacquiao stride into the boxing arena one day, one to sing the Philippine National Anthem, the other to slay his boxing opponent. Now that’s Philippines in double unity!