Losing isn’t the end. ‘The Voice Kids PH’ coaches show the way
Mentoring adult singers is hard enough—what more kids?
The contestants on “The Voice Kids Philippines” step onto the stage during a formative time in their lives. At ages 7 to 14, their minds soak up everything and their dreams are just starting to take flight. So how do you push them without dampening their joy for performing? How do you dispense honest feedback without them hearing, “You’re not good enough”?
And perhaps the trickiest question: How do you send them home—and, in the same breath—tell them that losing is not the end of the road?
Thankfully, this delicate balancing act now rests in the able hands of Julie Anne San Jose, Zack Tabudlo, Billy Crawford, and Paolo and Miguel Guico of Ben&Ben. More than an ear for spotting talent, these coaches have the heart to nurture. And most of them know exactly what it’s like to be in the shoes of this year’s hopefuls.
Coming full circle
In 2014, a then-12-year-old Tabudlo tried his luck in the first season of “The Voice Kids” under the mentorship of Bamboo Mañalac. However, he couldn’t get past the Battle Rounds, the second level of the competition.
As a kid who loved music for as long as he could remember, being onstage, especially on TV, gave him a glimpse of what his future could have looked like if only he had gone all the way in the competition. When the spotlight was switched off, so was his dream—or at least, that was how it felt at the time.
“I thought my dream was over. Iyak ako nang iyak. I told my father I didn’t want to sing anymore,” Tabudlo recalls in an interview on the set of “The Voice Kids PH,” the seventh season of which airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on GMA 7 starting Sept. 14.
But eventually, he realized that he could turn his pain into fuel. He continued to pursue music, not for trophies or titles, but for the sheer love of it. He wrote songs about young love, his crushes, and friendships. Before he knew it, he had become one of the biggest artists of his generation, with multiple hits reaching nine-digit streaming numbers, including “Binibini,” “Pano,” and “Habang Buhay.”
“It was a starting point and motivated me to strive harder,” says Tabudlo, who ended 2022 and 2023 as the most-streamed solo male artist on Spotify.
Now, he has come full circle, sitting in the very chair he once hoped would turn around for him. “I’m a coach who used to be in our contestants’ shoes. That’s why I always tell them that it doesn’t really matter if you win or lose in this competition. If your coach could do it, you definitely can, too,” he says.
Because if there’s one thing that stuck with him from his conversations with his father during those trying times, it’s this: “You will never know what the future holds unless you try.” “So don’t ever stop,” he stresses. “Everything is possible—in the right time.”
Perseverance and faith
San Jose shares a similar journey. A runner-up in the 2005 singing contest “Popstar Kids,” San Jose, like Tabudlo, thought that nothing would come of her career after the loss. Worse, it had her doubting her talents.
“It hurt me a lot. I was a kid and didn’t know what was left for me. Ano ba ang mangyayari sa ’kin? ‘Di ba ako magaling? Am I deserving of a spot in this industry?” she recalls. “It took time for me to really heal. It was a really long process.”
But with perseverance and faith in God, she now finds herself in a place she surmises was meant for her all along. She’s the youngest recipient of a Diamond Record Award for her self-titled debut album—one of the bestselling records in the Philippines. She eventually branched out into acting, where she’s just as successful, starring in historical dramas like “Pulang Araw” and “Maria Clara at Ibarra.”
“I still gave my best and worked hard. There were so many times in my life when I faced a career crisis, so I just left it to God’s will. And for some reason, it feels like I was being led here,” she adds. “Challenges will always be there, but if you know your dreams and what you truly want, you will keep going because you choose to.”
Indeed, much of pursuing music isn’t about the creative process itself but also about handling victories, failures, and other intangibles. It’s “80 percent life skills, 20 percent music,” as Paolo puts it.
“More than the music itself, it’s about bouncing back, learning, and listening,” says the co-lead singer and songwriter of Ben&Ben, the pop-folk band that brought us contemporary classics like “Leaves,” “Kathang Isip,” and “Sa Susunod Na Habang Buhay.” “It’s about expressing yourself and being yourself, which might sound simple, but is actually hard to do.”
Let kids be kids
And then there’s a crucial aspect that seemingly gets lost amid the intensity and pressures of competition—having fun. While the main goal is to bring home the crown, we mustn’t forget to let kids be kids, the coaches agree. Sometimes, young singers come carrying the weight of helping their families. And in those cases, winning starts to feel like the only way forward.
Crawford, once a quintessential child performer, knows that all too well. “Sometimes, they see their parents struggling and feel like they have to do something [to help]. So aside from the usual reminders—being professional, punctual—I hope to help them not dwell too much on their problems… that we can always find a solution,” he says.
“I also want to make them feel that they’re all winners once they step onto that stage,” adds Crawford, who started out as a child performer on the variety show “That’s Entertainment” before achieving success in the 2000s with his album “Big City,” which charted across Europe and reached as high as No. 7 in France. Of course, you can’t forget that he recorded the theme for “Pokémon: The First Movie.”
Paolo reinforces Crawford’s point, noting that the friendships formed during the show may be just as valuable in the long run. “These are core memories… These people may not stay in your life forever, but you will learn from them while you’re with them,” he says. “That bond is one of the things that will help shape their character.”
“You’re not here to win and just forget about everything else,” adds Paolo, who—together with his twin brother Miguel and the rest of Ben&Ben—helped define the sound of early 2020s OPM together with Tabudlo and other rising acts.
Talking about what they plan to tell the kids is one thing; getting those messages across is another. “It won’t be an easy task,” Miguel admits. “You will never know what the exact right words are. But as long as your intention is to impart something valuable in their lives, then we just have to trust our words.”
