My wife tivos and watches the Ellen show daily and she called me over to see this amazing young singer from the Phillipines. My jaw dropped, she was amazing. Check it out yourself.
http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2007/12/charice_pempengco_i_am_telling.php
I opened this thread intensely hoping to read that Ellen Degeneres had been mounted by a French monkey.
That’s more interesting than my expectation. I thought it was some kind of story about an old burn mark.
Eh. Oversung versions of And I Am Telling You are a dime a dozen. It’s the go to song for belters who can’t handle the high notes in I Will Always Love You. And this one blows more than a few of the low notes in this song.
She was okay. But Bianca Ryan was better.
That hurts my soul.
Seriously, I want to take aside whoever thought it would be a good idea for an 11-year-old to sing like that and explain a thing or two to them about vocal physiology. And then twist their larynx around with pliers, so they can experience what she’ll be feeling by the end of puberty.
Not that I have any strong feelings about this.
Her voice coach at that time was Yolanda Adams. But don’t feel too sorry for Bianca. She won a million dollars, released a CD that debuted solidly in the top 100 (50-something), and has a five-year recording contract with a Columbia label.
I’m sure she’s quite happy right now. It just saddens me that someone who clearly has the potential to be a real talent in the future, with the right direction and the patience to allow her voice to develop, is exploited so young and encouraged to sing in such a damaging way. It’s possible that she’ll come out okay, but I wouldn’t bank on it.
Money and a record deal are all well and good, but it doesn’t make up for a meaningful future (in my mind, at least). If she wants a non-singing career, I guess there’s no harm done. If she plans on continuing to sing, I have reservations about her ability to continue if someone doesn’t step in and teach her to sing, rather than belt. Again, she could prove the exception, but from my experience with vocal development, what she’s doing know (or, at least, in that video) is not healthy.
Of course, I also find that style of singing intolerably ugly, but that’s neither here nor there.
At any rate, I’ll hijack no more. For some reason I can’t view the OP’s video at home, so I can’t really offer an opinion on that performance.
That’s what I was thinking, too.
I was hoping to see pix of a long-concealed burn scar in the shape of something entertaining. Like Huckleberry Hound. Or Bolivia.
The video of her performing “And I Am Telling You” on Korea’s “Star King” made the rounds in October. I think it was the video Ellen first saw her in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZccz5cy3ks (performance)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K16p3tA1YVY (subtitled interview)
I thought she was much better on Star King. She sounded a bit nervous in the Ellen performance. She was also spunkier and sang more on Star King. I love the Korean singing and her joking around with the hosts. That pink little girl’s outfit was just flat out wrong though. 
I forgot to post the video of her performing “A Whole New World” with one of the Super Juniors (the huge boyband who was in that audience in the other videos).
I’d like to hear her sing “Lovin’ You” as well as Minnie Riperton does. Now THERE’S some high notes!