Filipino-Mexican Jessica Sanchez is currently one of the top 4 contestants in America's most popular singing competition American Idol. Being the second Filipino to have reached this level in the competition (next to Jasmine Trias who was the third place finalist on the third season), Jessica has created a hype even greater than that of Trias as she actually has a real chance of winning the contest.
When the judges saved Sanchez from the elimination moving her up to the top 4, it was evident that they truly recognized her talent and potential as an artist. And after giving her a standing ovation for her performance of 'And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going', Sanchez sealed herself as one of the American Idol favorites.
But sadly, the American Idol competition is more than a singing and talent contest. For the most part, it is a popularity contest among others (thus most of the weight of the eliminations comes from the viewer's votes). This is why Sanchez, even with her undeniable talent, can never be the next American Idol even when it's is true that every Filipino (including the half-Filipino, 1/4-Filipino, 1/8-Filipino, has a Filipino ancestor, and have dated a Filipino from the internet) from the DHs to the immigrants are supporting Sanchez by flooding Fox with votes.
But consider this, even when it seems that we are slowly invading the US, the Filipino community is only .8% of the country's total population. Now, since we are Pinoy and its (ab)normal for us to own 2 or more phones, let me stretch this a little bit more. Allow me to include all the other Asian minorities and the Hispanic community in the US (since Sanchez if half Mexican) that comprise 15% of the total population. With an approximate total of 20% of the US population voting for Sanchez, the other 80% can still crush her like a bug in a windshield. And this is even a long stretch.
It is without question that Sanchez has what it takes to be on top, but we have already witnessed that being the next American Idol is more than being the best singer in the group. Season 8's Adam Lambert was obviously a better performer than season winner Kris Allen but because he confessed that he was gay he ended up in 2nd place. I guess a lot of girl voters got disappointed with this revelation and decided to ogle at Allen instead. This might be true, since season 2 winner Ruben Studdard beat Clay Aiken by a small margin considering that Aiken supposedly led the fan voting from the wildcard week onward until the finale. I supposed during the finals Aiken's girl fans realized he was to gay to be true. And true enough, he admitted he was.
Please don't get me wrong though, I am not pointing this out to belittle our gay brothers and sisters. I just wanted to allude that wherever you go, may it be here in the Philippines, or much more in the US, there will always be the issue of minorities and discriminations. It's always easy for us to say 'why not?' but do you really think with all honesty that America is ready for an Asian American Idol?
As a Filipino I understand our fixation in claiming all that is Pinoy no matter how minute the relation is. Maybe it has something to do with our inferiority complex as a people or our colonial mentality (blame the Spaniards -- by the way why aren't they called like that anymore?) no one really knows. Being a third world country we try to live vicariously through the success of our "kababayan" who have made it big in the world. That is why we love Nicole Scherzinger, Tia Carrere, and Lou Diamond Philips since they all have Filipino blood. This fascination often mistaken/cloaked as national pride leads me to speculate that if Bin Laden had pinoy blood we would have taken credit for that too. Noticed how we whispered our I LOVE YOUs to Reomel Ramores and Onel de Guzman.
But wait, let me go back to my point, I am a Filipino and Jessica Sanchez has all my support but until the world can see beyond the color of a skin, I really don't think that she will be the next American Idol.
But then again, I almost failed college statistics so my math could be flawed and maybe Jessica Sanchez can still win this thing. If so, then we will have yet another celebrity to brag about as a nation. And probably we can ask Jessica to lullaby China and have Manny and Lou Diamond kill them in their sleep. And that's how to end the Scarborough dispute. Just a thought.
Sources:
http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/ethnic_groups.html
http://names.mongabay.com/ancestry/ancestry-population.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2142187/American-Idol-2012-Jessica-Sanchez-Joshua-Ledet-earn-rave-reviews.html
Sponsored by:
How To Organize And Preserve Your Entire Photo Collection In As Little As 10 Days -- Even If You Have Years And Years Worth Of Photographs And Absolutely No Idea Where To Begin.
Click Here!
No comments:
Post a Comment