Was Jaclyn Victor Robbed off Ikon Asean?

The issue about the "not-the-best singer in the Philippines" Vina Morales defeating the "best singer in Malaysia" Jaclyn Victor at the recently-concluded Ikon Asean competition continues to be discussed, almost violently, by fans of both singers.

Some Jac fans claimed that she was robbed of the title, while others say that she wasn't at here element. Meanwhile, some Pinoys even criticized Vina as below par, that the likes of Regine Velasquez should have been in Ikon (Asia's Songbird didn't join). Others even joked that Jaclyn wouldn't even win "Tanghalan ng Kampeon" (Championship Stage, our version of "Star Search" back in the day). We Pinoys never seem to run out of naysayers, ano?

And I don't wanna even delve on the "ad hominems" on how we Pinoys are being "teased" by our Malaysian neighbors as their maids and prostitutes. That's another story.

Here are the performance clips of the two singers and we shall analyze it one by one. Now don't get me wrong, I adore Jac and I used to call Vina the lone female member of "The Maskulados." That makes the analysis even.

Let's start with Jaclyn's first song choice, a medley of three songs composed by P. Ramlee.



They say that she was pitchy in places, but I barely noticed them. The problem is that even though she sang three different songs, it sounds monotonous to me. Oh, did you notice how she handled the mic? I'll talk about that later.

Then we go to Vina's first song, "Pangako Sa Iyo" (A Promise to You).



It was not surprising that she would sing this in Ikon Asean. It's the theme song of the soap opera of the same title, which was very popular in Malaysia. It was a great choice for Vina because it definitely connected her to the dominantly Malay audience, and it also has a lot of high and long notes giving Vina a lot of chances for her to show her vocal range without having to ad lib like in Jac's case.

Now here are the second performance videos. We go back to Jaclyn and her winning song back in Malaysian Idol, Gemilang.



At least Jac rebounded here. She hit the notes almost right and she made good use of her really powerful voice. However, I'm really bothered by the way she handles the microphone. You know, once she sings the high notes she puts the mic on her forehead. I know that's called style, but where I come from, putting the mic away from your mouth when singing the high notes means you're cheating. Jac made it appear that she couldn't reach the high notes so she would put the mic away from her mouth and it wouldn't sound too obvious.

You would never see that being done by Filipino singers. In fact, if you watch Vina's Pangako Sa Iyo video, she would even put the mic closer to her mouth when she sang the high notes.

Anyway, back to Vina. She performs a dance track "Feels So Nice."



I understand that she chose this so she would show off her dance skills. Catch is, singing and dancing at the same time is pretty tiring, and you would hear Vina catching her breath in some instances. But overall, she performed well in this song, and by that time her fate was sealed anyway.

That's why, I think, Vina won.

Oh by way, can I just say that the female host in Ikon Asean was so inconsiderate. Can't she explain her lines in English for the benefit of non-Malay speakers...like us? Buti pa si Angela Chow kada koda niya ng Chinese sa Miss World may-I-explain agad sa Inggles.