Filipino singer gets praise for missing note in concert

Hitting the right notes is what’s expected from singers, and in the Philippines, where singing is serious business, even casual listeners become like The Voice judges with their criticisms. But when singer Morissette Amon missed a high note during a concert in Cebu, she didn’t get the usual jeers but praises instead.

The moment was captured in a video posted by Facebook user Nathaniel Tiu on Saturday. In the video, Amon can be seen singing her rendition of the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) song Pangarap Ko Ang Ibigin Ka (My Dream is to Love You). Her slip up can be seen at the 1:02 mark, where she sings the crucial whistle tone part of the song. 

“Wait,” she told the crowd as she closed her eyes, recollected herself, then proceeded to bring the house down by singing it flawlessly.

After the song, Amon quipped “Live,” as if to prove that she was, indeed, singing live and not lip-synching like other performers.

The video has garnered over 834,000 views and 13,000 likes. Instead of criticizing Amon for being less than perfect, many netizens were all praises for the singer — a hard feat in the Philippines where everyone’s a critic when it comes to singing.

Sasha Garcia Ilustre wrote: “Damn she’s a queeeeeeen”

Raymond Kaye Edillo Martillano wrote in Filipino: “That’s life. It’s like she wants to say that life isn’t always perfect. That’s live. She also wants to show others that her whistle part isn’t lip synced.”

Facebook user Richard Go Dy also sparked a debate between netizens when he reposted a snippet of Tiu’s video on his timeline.

Commenter Joy Sarigumba said: “I think she did the ‘missing the whistle’ part on purpose, to prove a point. Notice the music stopped when she ‘didn’t’? Brilliant.”

But Kamile Ballesteros thinks it wasn’t staged. “Of course the music will stop during the whistle part and who would want to do that on purpose?” Ballesteros asked.

To cut the debate short, Facebook user Joseph Bincé wrote: “Whether it was intended or not, it’s still an ultimate truthslap to those who questions (sic) her whistle note and spread rumors that it’s [just] lip sync (sic) and fake.”

“I love[d] mori since The Voice,” referring to when Amon was a contestant on the show The Voice of the Philippines.

What do you think of Amon’s performance? Was the slip up staged or real? Leave a comment below or tweet us @CoconutsManila.