(MB) MANILA, Philippines -- Fil-Am Top 10 finalist Thia Megia proves herself as not just a ballad singer by fighting back and redeeming the judges’ nod during “American Idol’s” Motown performance night, March 24 (Manila time).
Thia performed Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heatwave,” an upbeat song far different from the ballads “Out Here On My Own” and “Colors Of The Wind” that she had sung in the previous weeks.
“Okay! Now I feel like we’re scratching the surface a little bit with you right there. It was great to see you let loose like that. Wow! Who knew? I didn’t and I wasn’t sure but now that we’re going there. I need you to dig even deeper each week. You know you’re 16 years old and I don’t expect you to have the live experience in the world to bring what you need to bring to the lyrics but part of performing is acting and you have to bring that every time, so always make sure you connect with the lyrics so you can bring even more because I just see, now I know, you got it in you,” an ecstatic Jennifer Lopez exclaimed.
Randy Jackson agreed with J.Lo but urged Thia to be more adventurous when it comes to making choices.
“The reason you’re here, cause we knew you had it in you right? And the public is definitely resounding with that because you’ve been here every week. This new thing is a good thing because I know this has been tough for you the last couple of weeks. But I got to say it’s about taking chances. You took a chance tonight and you didn’t sing a really safe ballad although I still feel you can dig deeper and you can do more with it. Take more vocal chances. You can really sing and I want you to believe and I’m happy to see you move up a notch tonight with something different, congrats on that. Take some chances, continue! Push!” he said.
Maintaining a brief stance, Steven Tyler quipped: “You’ve taken a step out, I love it. Just great! I’m good. I’m good with it.”
As competition heats up in the 10th season “Idol,” Thia has been a fan favorite and has produced a strong following. The youngest contender ever at 16 years old, Thia is following on the footsteps of Jasmine Trias and Camille Velasco (Season 3, 2004), and Ramiele Malubay (Season 7, 2008)
