Maureen Marcelo aka Samantha Brown

Maureen MarceloMau Marcelo started way back during Sing Galing, where she’s known as Samantha Brown. Her talent was highly appreciated on that show. When I found out that she joined Philippine Idol, I was rooting for her to win. But sadly, she got booted off in the semi-final round. From then on, I lost interest in the show for the following reasons:

  1. Judges are just there to give advice but don’t really have power to save the best contestants.
  2. People vote for whatever reason they like. They can send off a few extra votes for good-looking, showbiz packaged contestants but not for VOCALLY talented ones.
  3. Good singers who deserves to be on top, sometimes end up in the bottom 3.
  4. Some people believe that those who land in the bottom 3 are not really talented.

So I hated Philippine Idol and all shows that leave everything to the public. Good thing, Philippine Idol had a wildcard, and she won. But I didn’t watch the show from the day she got the boot, because I had this feeling that the public don’t like her still and its only the judges who want her to win.

I think the public is starting to appreciate Mau Marcelo’s talent only now when Pinoy Idol is losing their better contestants. For me, singing competition is not about singing “cool songs” but singing “vocally challenging” songs that would show off their versatility, what they are capable of as vocalists, and how they are willing to be molded to create a style of their own. In the real world, it is the composer’s job to create “cool new marketable songs” that the younger audience would appreciate. I think she deserves more praise than what she has now, and this post is my way of acknowledging her talent.

photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org