Lea mami-miss si Sarah sa Voice Kids; Mas magiging istrikto bilang coach

MAMI-MISS ni Lea Salonga ang Pop Princess na si Sarah Geronimo bilang coach sa The Voice Kids Season 3 na malapit nang mapanood sa ABS-CBN.

Si Sharon Cuneta ang papalit kay Sarah bilang isa sa mga coach/ judge sa nasabing reality singing search along with Lea and coach Bamboo. Alam naman ng lahat na isa sa mga tinututukan talaga ng viewers sa The Voice ay ang kulitan at tuksuhan nina Lea at Sarah pati na rin ni Bamboo.

Nakachika namin kasama ang ilan pang piling members ng entertainment press si Lea sa taping ng blind auditions ng TVK recently at dito nga namin siya natanong kung mas magiging exciting ang programa sa pagpasok ng Megastar. Sey ng international singer siguradong may mga changes na mangyayari sa TVK now that Sarah is out of the scene and with Sharon’s presence sa show.

“You know masarap ka-sing tuksuhin si Sarah, masaya yung palitan namin (ng punchlines) and Sharon’s has a different thing among the three of us not me. I’m not the most senior despite what you hear Sharon say. Ha-hahaha. She’s the one who entered (first) in showbusiness. I mean the more popular aspect of it first.

“So she’s been an actress for so long. I think a lot of…let’s not underestimate her fans. She has a lot of fans who are kids. And then sa blind auditions she asks the question, why did you pick me and the answer we get a lot from the kids is ‘I’ve been a fan of yours forever, I sing your songs.’ It’s like these kids are legitimate Sharonians,” paliwanag ni Lea. May nagtanong naman sa singer-actress kung paano magbabago ang paraan ng pagme-mentor o pagdidisiplina niya sa mga batang mapupunta sa kanya this season.

“I think that the kids that tend to gravitate towards me, kunyari if it’s not a solo turn, it’s a multiple chair tapos ako yung pinipili I think they know from the start kung sino talaga ang choice niya. Maybe napanood nila ang past seasons ng TVK and alam na nila kung paano ako as a coach,” dagdag pa ni Lea.

Feeling naman ni Lea hindi nai-intimidate sa kanya ang mga bagets, “It’s like they are here to learn and they wanna learn. So they come in medyo may katapangan din or they’re fans of mine. But for me it’s like…bakit kita bobolahin kahit bata ka pa?

“And for me ikaw ang nagpunta rito so you better get ready for work and I have a little boy who has also done theater who auditioned for us and I knew he did theater because I had seen him around and he auditioned and I told him be ready to work and he was like absolutely yes absolutely and he was prepared on what’s gonna happen. Ayoko naman masanay na yung mga bata na it’s all laro. We split what’s play and what’s work. You know how to focus on work.

“But it’s work that’s fun so I try to make it fun so like when I try to impart a coaching lesson I try to make it funny I try to make them laugh like it’s not naman super strict na ayoko na sa kanya. I don’t want that to happen either,” paliwanag pa ng Broadway superstar.
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Sa tanong namin kung bakit natsa-challenge pa rin siyang maging coach sa The Voice Kids after ng mga nakaraang season, tugon ni Lea, It’s fulfilling. It’s fun for me. I mean the whole blind audition is fun to watch and fun to do. It’s mentally challenging.”

“There’s also the challenge on trying to figure out with that child how can I get this note out of this kid? Or what can I do to help this kid not be a nervous wreck because I had a few of those. I had one who got up to the sing offs and she was very nervous during the blind auditions and she was glorious by the time she did sing-offs and I still try to keep an eye on her as she get’s a little older.

“Musical theater is something she wants to do so I try to keep an eye out for her. So I guess the other part that is really fulfilling is seeing what happens after the show and for example I have one little girl whose gonna do ‘Les Miserables’ in Singapore and so she is someone I always keep an eye out for and my mom really lobbied for her.

“When Cameron was looking for little kids to be in it, she said, ‘Oh I have somebody for you, would you be interested?’ So she came over to my mom’s house and then coached her for less than an hour and she auditioned the next day and she got in…that’s Esang. That’s fun. She may not won the prize but she got the career which I rather she has.

“If I had the kid who wins, that’s good. If I have the kids who loses parang there is a long term thing, there’s a future and this kid she has perfect pitch, a fantastic memory, great diction. Yeah, you’d be just fine I’m not worried about you,” pagmamalaki pa ni Lea sa runner-up ng TVK Season 2 na si Esang.

When asked naman if she feels like coaching The Voice Kids is like being a mother again, here’s Lea’s reply, “I try not to think about it kasi, okay for example my kid is now ice skating, if she falls down my heart falls down along with her. If I treat this kid like a parent, I can’t be objective. I lose my objectivity I can’t be too emotionally connected.

“I have to…there has to be a distance or I will lose all objectivity. I mean it’s a very…wow anong klaseng sagot naman yan but you got to understand that’s why I don’t like doing…I don’t think I could have coached my kid to sing because she’s too close. Somebody has to do it.

“Like a surgeon that cannot operate on your child. I’m not a parent, but I can advice your parent what to do at home. I can be objective and at least know there is one person in your life that is at least straight with you.”