Singer Joey Villanueva of Niverville has booked his ticket to the Pinoy Pop Star finals, to be held on March 2 at the McPhillips Street Casino in Winnipeg, with a strong performance this weekend at the event’s semi-finals. Pinoy Pop Star is an amateur singing competition for Filipino Manitobans held once every couple of years. The current season is the competition’s fourth outing.
This is Villanueva’s second run at the Pinoy Pop Star title, having also made the finals during the competition’s debut in 2009. That year, he lost out to Elsaida Alerta, who went on to achieve international acclaim by winning the World Karaoke Championships in Singapore in 2015. Alerta, a powerful vocalist, will be a familiar name to many residents of the rural southeast. Alerta headlines Last Call, a cover band which has recently performed at the Niverville Olde Tyme Country Fair and a handful of dance parties at Whitetail Meadow.
“It was a nerve-wracking experience for me, the first time I joined,” says Villanueva of the 2009 competition. “But at the same time, I was excited because I got to meet a lot of talented people. After the competition, it opened a lot of performance opportunities for me in and around the community.”
In this year’s opening round, back in October, Villanueva performed “Killing Me Softly” by the Fugees. On the strength of that performance, he was selected to join 39 other singers in the semi-finals.
“At the semis, I chose a song by Sisqo called ‘Incomplete,’” he says. “I like R&B and I felt like it was the right song to showcase my vocal skills.”
Villanueva had a couple of months to prepare for his semi-final performance, a time filled with “practice, practice, and more practice.” However, the road to the semis certainly wasn’t a smooth one.
“I got really sick days before the semis, and I was still sick while the contest was going on,” Villanueva adds. “I was losing my voice and I almost had to drop out of the competition because of it. But I’m glad I didn’t, and I somehow managed to perform well enough to secure my spot in the finals.”
The semi-finals played over two consecutive nights to a packed house on the second floor of the McPhillips Street Casino, with several hundred people showing up to watch this year’s talented crop of singers. The event, hosted by CKJS radio personality Lucille Nolasco, was also live-streamed.
Four judges presided over the two-night show, including Paul Ong, Anita Lubosch, Frank Urbano, and Michelle Majul-Ibarra, all of whom are well-regarded in the local music scene and Filipino community.
The remaining 14 contestants will perform once again at the finals on March 2. The winner will receive $2,000, and the first and second runners-up will receive $750 and $500 respectively. The top three performers will also be given trophies to commemorate their accomplishment.
“The other contestants are amazing!” says Villanueva of his competitors. “Each contestant has their own style and interpretation to showcase their vocal ability. And everyone will give their best at the finals. I was definitely a little nervous, and I’m just relieved that the semis are over now. I hoped that my performance would be good enough to win the judges over—and it was.”
Tickets to the finals are available now on Ticketmaster for $21.
