JESSICA SANCHEZ IN AMERICAN IDOL
American
Idol started airing early this year and from that time, we have followed the
Idol journey of Jessica Sanchez. A 16-year old, US citizen Fil-Mexican, who
finished as a runner-up in the said televised singing competition, behind of Phillip
Phillips. Sanchez, after trying her luck in the audition, made it to Hollywood,
entered the top 24, and ended one of the 12 finalists of the American Idol. Among
the finalists, she was, I guess the first who was given a standing ovation by
the judges with her song “I Love You I do”. Throughout the season, she was
given a total of 6 standing ovations including her duet with fellow finalist Joshua
Ledet and another duet with Jennifer Holiday during the final results night. After
getting consecutive praises from the judges, Ryan Seacrest, the Idol host,
announced Jessica belonged to the bottom three during the top 7 elimination
night and later declared to have received the lowest number of votes. She was
then saved by the judges even before she finished her save song - which was
very dramatic. Since then, she gained more support coming especially from her
Filipino fans and, as per report says, Mexicans do too. Boxing has divided
Filipinos and Mexicans after Manny Pacquiao has beaten out numerous Mexican
boxers, and this time having Jessica in the competition, made everyone united! She
was able to avoid facing the bottom three and later battled with Phillip at the
finale. The show ended having Phillip Phillips as the new American Idol and
Jessica the runner-up. The result made, I think, every Filipino disappointed
and in grief. Topics like “That should be Jessica” and “Jessica is the World
Idol” even trended worldwide on twitter. The issue of racism and how WGWG
(White Guy With Guitar) is being favored by AI were brought up. Rumors and
speculations that it was arranged were raised, that even I, thought those were
true. I thought it was possible since the Mexican superstar, Thalia, tweeted
right after the performance night that her husband Tommy Motola (the man behind
the success of Mariah Carey, JLo and etc.) will produce Jessica’s first
recording album. As far as I am concerned, whoever wins the competition gets an
exclusive recording contract under the 19 management and it wouldn’t be
possible for Sanchez to sign under Motola if she bagged the season 11 American
Idol title.
Well,
just my thought. What happened may only be a result of a coincidence, or
whatsoever. But I kinda thought of the same thing last June 10, during the Pacquiao-Bradley
fight. Hmm??
MANNY PACQUIAO – TIM BRADLEY
The moment that the Manny
Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. match was announced, boxing fans around the globe
started to follow their preparations and get updates regarding their training.
Pacquiao, being the Eight-Division World Champion title holder, was predicted
to win over Bradley. Manny, on the other hand, was humble enough to say that he
cannot be relaxed since Tim’s record shows he is undefeated. So, June 9,
evening in Las Vegas (June 10, morning in Manila) came and the whole world
watched as the two fighters battled for a title. In as much as I wanted to give
a blow-by-blow, per round account of the match, I am neither a boxing analyst
nor an enthusiast. What I know is Bradley was in good condition during the
first two rounds then Manny threw his power punches the next several rounds. While
Pacquiao hasn’t seemed to be unstoppable, he kinda slowed down during final
rounds. Still, all I see was Tim Jr kept on hugging Manny and appeared to be in
a resting pace. I was just like waiting for the Pound for Pound king to knock
out the undefeated boxer because in the way I see it, Manny was already winning
the fight. But I had to wait after the 12th round let the judges
make their decision. And to my shock, the ring announcer proclaimed Tim Bradley
Jr. as the New WBO welterweight champion! WHAT!?! REALLY?!? Then I checked out
twitter and facebook and realized that twitter users and netizens around the
globe shared the same sentiment as I do. I think everyone was disappointed on
how those judges judged the fight and came with such decision by making #RIPBoxing
one of the trending topics. Pacquiao fans also showed their support via
twitter through a hash tag, #mannypacquiaoisstilltheworldsbestboxer and made it
as the top trending topic on twitter worldwide. Although everyone was left in
disbelief, Pac-man on his interviews said, for him he is the real winner but
will respect the judges’ decision. He may have accepted his defeat; I still
cannot help but wonder if everything was right and if something was going on. According
to reports, there will be a Pacquiao-Bradley Rematch on November, which I don’t
know would be possible if not for this controversial decision. Tim Bradley has
even posted this photo on his twitter account last May 30, tweeting, "Gonna be so nice we gonna do it twice".
I can never tell if the bout had been arranged or what. All I know is everything just seemed so wrong.
FIRST JESSICA AND NOW MANNY
“First Jessica” was also one of the trending
topics that came out after the Pac-Bradley fight. Netizens compared Jessica’s
loss to Manny’s defeat, saying it must be a question of racism since both are
not pure American. Some say its business that has been arranged. But whatever,
the world knows who their winner is. Jessica may have ended her idol journey
only as a runner-up, but seemed to be more in demand as evidenced by her TV
guestings. She performed during their Memorial Day Celebration, was invited to
sing the US national anthem during the Pac-Brad match and on NBA Finals – Game
1. She even topped the preorder selling of EPs on walmart.com and is now
working on her own album. Sanchez is also trending on twitter for almost every
other day. For Manny, he may have faced his defeat but look like he is just
gaining more fans and even richer after the fight. Nevertheless, as a Filipino,
I just feel so happy seeing our “kababayans”
making it big in Hollywood and in sports world. :)
photos credit to the owner
