Who would have thought that a wild card contestant from a local television show in the Philippines can dominate and capture the world like no other? It could only be the new singing prodigy Charice.

Charmaine Charice Relucio Pempengco was born on May 10, 1992 in San Pedro Laguna. At the age of four, her mother Raquel and brother Carl moved out from their father due to domestic circumstances. Even with this unfathomed problem, this little girl discovered to sing during this age. In spite of her mother’s daily work, Raquel still managed to help her daughter join singing contests counting to more than eighty events since Charice began at the age of seven.

It was Little Big Star who opened a huge step for Charice way back 2005. As a thirteen year old hopeful, unfortunately things didn’t turned out so well. She was eliminated even in the first round of the contest. But during the course of it, she was invited back in the said competition as a wild card contestant. Determined to win, she did good after being back and reigned first in the next succeeding rounds. As the contest comes to a close, Charice ended third because of her low total text votes.

The output of the former competition saddened her and decided to pursue a nursing career instead. Ironically someone from the Internet with an alias of FalseVoice came and resurrected Charice and her voice in the web. He posted her singing videos in YouTube and other gigs that eventually were viewed by millions that made her an instant Internet sensation. This overwhelming door led Charice to Sweden to record songs for Ten Songs Productions on June 2007.

But it was this South Korean talent show on October 13, 2007 that sky rocketed her career. The producers of Star King from the said show invited her to be a guest. Little did the audience know that they are currently witnessing a blooming star at that instant. As one audience said shortly after her performance, “It’s like the stage isn’t big enough for her!” Charice has indeed owned the stage throughout the whole rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”. The video of this performance amounted to millions of YouTube hits making Charice an ever viable artist in the cyberspace.

It was then David Foster, who arranged to meet Charice after her triumphant performance in South Korea. He then mentored her and helped her dreams became a reality. It was David who took Charice to see Celine Dion, her idol since she was a kid, in Las Vegas on December 15, 2007. Four days after, she appeared in the Ellen Degeneres Show whom Ellen personally phoned her to come to the United States for a live performance. Charice didn’t fail her and the audience, she rendered the same song from the talent show but they were blown away giving her a standing ovation after the rendition.

There was no stopping for this new star to rise. Charice had been invited to various Filipino gatherings in the United States to perform. To name a few she sang in the O’Grady Show in England on April 8, 2008, Hit Man: David Foster and Friends at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas on May 23, 2008 featuring Andrea Bocelli who personally congratulated her, and with Bocelli’s birthday concert in Tuscany Italy on July 20, 2008.

It was Oprah who put Charice to super stardom line. It was also her who made her dream a reality by showing a live feed from her idol Celine Dion. With the video, Celine invited her to sing a duet during her Madison Square Garden concert. Such an envisioned dream was now a reality for Charice as she sang with Celine herself Because You Loved Me on September 15, 2008.

And now, as her star shines even brighter, she had a new song recorded for us entitled Note to God which was first seen in Oprah. The powerful song together with her powerful voice generated an overwhelming aura to everyone that even made the Queen of Talk cry. As with all her other performances, a standing ovation is worth of such a well refined rendition making the song duly befitting to Charice. No wonder why she was embraced by millions because of how she manages to deliver the song that touched anyone who could hear her.

As her star is shedding more light in the music field, Charice remained humble and sweet. She never forgets to visit her country Philippines for television appearances. She even made a debut album locally produced with the main single “It Can Only Get Better”. Shortly after this album was released in the market, it became gold reaching over 12,500 copies sold. With that said, I am sure that her new international album would reach even far in record volumes.

Congratulations Charice for a new accomplishment! You are truly one of a kind and you would truly go far. Click for more...

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American Idol Season Eight has officially ended with Kris Allen being declared as the next singing sensation. A day before the winner was proclaimed two marvelous singer hopefuls set the stage for their final three pieces namely Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. What truly captivates everyone and sets the disparity between the two finalists was their third song. They both sang the same piece with their own interpretation parameters. And this song truly manifested what the singers truly are. That song is entitled “No Boundaries” composed by Kara Dioguardi the fourth American Idol judge.

No Boundaries


Seconds hours so many days
You know what you want but how long can you wait
Every moment last forever if you feel you’ve lost your way
What if your chances are already gone
Started believing that I could be wrong
But you give me one good reason
to fight and never walk away

Coz hear I am — still holding on!

Every step you climb another mountain
Every breathe its harder to believe

You’ll make it through the pain (or through all your aches and pains)
Weather the hurricane
To get to that one thing

When you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you’ve almost gave up on your dreams
Then take it by the hand and show you that you can

You can go higher
You can go deeper
There are no boundaries
Above and beneath you
B-reak every rule coz there’s nothing between you
and your dreams

Every step you climb another mountain
Every breathe its harder to believe

I truly salute American Idol for creating fresh new songs for the finale. Much more they made the finalists sang the same lyrical song giving them room for their interpretation. I as a watcher can then judge the difference on their delivery and how they would make the song different than the other contender.



Adam Lambert was the first one who sang “No Boundaries”. He was always known and popular with his high pitch voice. True enough, he used this vocal range to sing it and he delivered it quite well. I guess the notes of it were perfect for Adam as he was hitting it effortlessly. He was indeed a theatre singer as he was prior to the American Idol journey.

Kris Allen was next in cue to sing it. He may not come close to Adam’s high voice but he made a whole new elucidation making it unique. The notes are a little high for him as evident by an instance where you can’t hear any sound. Moreover, there were shortness of breathes at the end of the songs line. Nonetheless, he delivered it well considering Kris as a musician by heart and nature making it an equally beautiful interpretation with the former finalist.

To hasten the pace of the American Idol finale, it was Kris who was declared winner among the 100 million record breaking votes. Before the show ended, this season’s song was rendered by the ultimate winner. And looks like Kris will be using this as his debut single in his soon to be album.

Upon the song’s released for public listening various commentaries had been thrown to the songwriter herself. There are hearsays that the song is awful and that the song is great. For every American Idol season, new songs are being composed and given solely to be released by the winner. This was not the first song that was duly criticized by the public. I guess every song being sung on an AI stage is being listened to in order to be commented. And this song definitely is not an exception. Thus Kara’s reputation being a songwriter was questioned and even Simon, an American Idol judge, has his own share of thought that the song is corny.

As a listener and an avid music fan I must say that American Idol composers want a finale song that is inspiring. And I had seen it in the song “No Boundaries”. I know phrases were cut short and there are little holes in the lines as to whose hand would be taken and be shown. Grammatically wise there are flaws. But let’s look on the other side of it. If you would collect the phrases, the song is telling us to pursue our dreams regardless of the hurdles it might bring. You have the capability to do such a thing just like what the American Idols did. They dreamed, they pursued and in the end everyone might not bag the sought after title but nonetheless they made that opportunity to realize their dream. And they are telling us viewers and listeners to do the same.

Thus whether the song was awful or not, grammatically incorrect or plausible, you be the judge.

Congratulations on the new American Idol.

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