A Filipina singer found success in a place away from home — roughly 1,454 kilometers away, to be more specific.
Filipino Janice Buco, 28, who used the stage name Janice Phuong, has earned the distinction of being the first foreigner to win the singing contest Vietnam Idol, which just wrapped up its seventh season last Fri, Sep 30.
Buco defeated 22-year-old Viet Thang from the Northern Province of Hai Duong. Her prize money is 600 million Vietnamese dong (around US$26,800 or around PHP1.2 million).
The Bohol native has been staying in Hanoi for a couple of years now. Prior to joining the contest, she performed in bars with her Vietnamese husband, who was her bandmate.
Joining the franchise of the popular American Idol was unplanned. But Buco took the chance when the contest opened its doors to foreigners who could speak and sing in Vietnamese. She was the only foreigner who auditioned.
For her audition, Buco sang a Vietnamese song, “Cam On Tinh Yeu (Thank You, My Love).” She was also asked to sing Filipino songs “Anak (Offspring)” and “Sa Ugoy ng Duyan (In the Rocking of the Cradle)” during her audition. She sang “Hello Vietnam” in the finals.
“Buco trained intensively for Vietnam Idol for three months. The finals night was a lifechanger for Buco, who wasn’t able to finish her studies due to poverty,” Julie Aurelio in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“If you really want to sing, you can’t be fainthearted. You really have to go for it. Like I said, ‘pakapalan lang ng mukha (have thick skin),'” she said.
Buco will be managed by the show’s organizers for the next couple of years. She launched her first single “Love You in Silence” last week.
Here is her winning performance.
