TV Buff

INXS has a new frontman and his name is JD Fortune.

I have to admit that I was very fascinated by this show. Although I was not able to watch each and every show because of my schedule, I try to keep abreast of what was happening every week. I follow the rockstar blogs on MSN Spaces and make sure that I at least get to see a little bit of each week.

As always, Filipino pride had me rooting for MiG Ayesa. Not that I was blind to the talents of the others. In fact during the course of the competition, I honestly thought that he would be in the bottom three or be eliminated. I wasn’t so confident of his first performance of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” However, his supporters from around the world made sure that he would only taste being in the bottom three in the last round of eliminations prior to the finale. He seems to fall victim to poor song choices. I felt disappointed that he chose “Bohemian Rhapsody” for his performance. It signals that he’s still stuck in his We Will Rock You persona which INXS have been questioning him about. He should have shown the same growing up that the other two finalists have shown.

When Marty Casey and JD Fortune debuted “Trees” and “Pretty Vegas,” I pretty much resigned myself that they will be the final 2. Both rockers showed how much they have matured and changed while the competition was ongoing. Both gave manic intial perfomances that turned me off but they progressed as intense singers with very good musical sense.

Marty’s major strength is his strong musical talent and his ability to work with the rockers. I have to echo Dave Navarro’s comment that his song, “Trees” is something that I can imagine listening to on the radio right now. He is an intense performer and it was good that he was really able to channel that intensity when he sings, allowing him to really connect with the audience.

JD was nearly eliminated first and there was tension between him and the rest of the group down the line. Many were expecting his elimination particularly when he did not practice the new INXS song they all did a recording of. He seemed to be so immature and impetuous that I so wanted him out of the competition. When he finally got his act together, he seemed to be an unstoppable performer scoring high praises for the last weeks of the competition. JD has the charisma and the appeal to get younger fans for INXS.

I’m looking forward to seeing both Marty, MiG and the other rockers (My other favorites were Ty and Suzie, self-proclaimed “Queen of the Bottom Three”) in their future projects. I’m pretty sure that with their exposure on the show, they have their own following and a chance to be big in the industry.

They are talking of having a second season of Rockstar and Mark Burnett has been quoted as looking for another band to feature. I have mixed feelings about this since what made this work out great was INXS themselves. They provided very positive feedback with the intent of making the rockers better singers and performers. They were building stars and relishing cutting people down to pieces — unlike some other shows and their wannabees.