Jessica Sanchez drew thousands in recent hometown visit

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino-Mexican “American Idol” finalist Jessica Sanchez has not won in the tilt yet but she’s already enjoying the rockstar treatment as seen in her recent hometown visit on May 12 (US Time).

Thousands of fans packed the Eastlake High School’s football stadium in Chula Vista, San Diego, California to get a glimpse and hear the voice of the young “Idol” superstar. They lined the streets and screamed the 16-year-old singer’s name while holding homemade signs as her motorcade drove by.

The “Idol” Top 3 finalist couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the huge amount of people that trooped to the venue. According to a report posted on Fox5sandiego.com, about 4,000 fans crowded the field while a whopping 2,500 people packed the stands.

Sanchez sang three songs during her first stop – “Try A Little Tenderness,” “Stuttering” and “I Will Always Love You.”

The Whitney Houston hit was supposed to be her last number in the venue but after much prodding from her fans the youngest contender in “Idol’s” Season 11 agreed to do an encore, “Proud Mary.”

The teen continued her homecoming celebration at the USS Midway Museum around midafternoon. There she sang the U.S. national anthem and “Try A Little Tenderness” for fans aboard the ship. Sanchez asked her US Navy dad, who is set to be deployed to Singapore soon, to come up with her on stage while she dedicated her emotional performance of “Dance With My Father” to him.

In honor of Sanchez's achievements, city leaders County Supervisor Greg Cox and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders proclaimed May 12 as “Jessica Sanchez Day” in San Diego.

After her performances aboard USS Midway, Sanchez left via a helicopter from the ship to head back to Los Angeles in order to resume her preparations for the Wednesday (US Time, Thursday morning in Manila) performance night together with other finalists Joshua Ledet and Phillip Phillips. For this week the Top 3 are tasked to perform three songs – judges’ choice, “Idol” mentor Jimmy Iovine’s choice, and the finalists' own choice.

The two finalists who will be moving on to the finale will be announced on Thursday (US Time, Friday morning in Manila).

article source: mb.com.ph

Sanchez Bounces Back On 'Idol,' Reclaims Judges' Nods

MANILA, Philippines — Jessica Sanchez once again earned a standing ovation – her third – from “American Idol” judges, coming from last week’s not so impressive performance.

The Filipino-Mexican contestant performed “Everybody Has A Dream” during Top 10’s Billy Joel Night, March 21 (March 22, Manila time).

It was a defining moment for the 16-year-old singer from San Diego who made the cut to the show’s Top 9 with Hollie Cavanagh, Skylar Laine, Elise Testone, Joshua Ledet, Colton Dixon, Philip Phillips, DeAndre Brackensick and Heejun Han.

Erika Van Pelt was voted off from her season 11’s journey.

Just like her previous standing ovation performances of Jennifer Hudson’s “Love You I Do” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” Sanchez’s rendition of the Billy Joel song left judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson mesmerized.

Tyler told Sanchez, “You’ve gone way past my judging.”

“When God was giving out vocal cords, you were so at the front of the line. I’ve got nothing to say except for thank you for letting me hear you sing, baby,” he added.

Lopez, on the other hand, thought of Sanchez’s piece to be a fitting choice, like it was her own.

“That song was, like, written for you… Like [Billy Joel] wrote that song for you a long time ago.

“That was a defining moment for you, for me… a defining song because I really feel like that’s you. That’s you. You have this dream and you’re here and you’re seizing the moment and you’re living it in every second and we all get to feel that and that’s a beautiful thing,” she said.

Jackson took note of Sanchez’s consistency and described her performance flawless and perfect.

“It takes consistency to win and you have a moment every time you step on that stage… Every time you step up every week, you have to have a moment. You have a moment every time you step on that stage and I love it. You are flawless, it was perfect.”

He even commended “Idol’s” resident mentor Jimmy Iovine, image adviser Tommy Hilfiger and guest mentor Sean “Diddy” Combs. “Yo, Jimmy, Diddy, Tommy, everybody was right on. Excellent!”

Prior to Sanchez’s well-lauded performance, Diddy told the young singer during rehearsals, “I don’t believe you.”

“To be honest with you, I don’t believe you. I just think that you’re over singing the song. I just want to believe that you have that dream… If you hold back on the showing off tricks… Tricks are not going to get you to that superstar level,” Combs suggested to Sanchez.

Taking Diddy’s advice, Sanchez proved that she can sing in a more restrained manner while looking straight at him, turning Diddy into a believer.

Sanchez’s take on “Everybody Has A Dream” was one of the standouts on Wednesday’s performance night. As per judges’ verdict, same raves went to Colton Dixon and Elise Testone. Being the youngest contender left, Sanchez is considered as one of the frontrunners this “Idol” season.

The latest “Power Rankings” of Entertainment Weekly had Sanchez on the third spot coming after Phillip Phillips Jr. and Hollie Cavanagh.

source: mb.com.ph