Bamboo all praises for ‘The Voice Kids’ winner Shane Bernabe
BAMBOO Mañalac was beaming with pride after his mentee, 12- year- old Shane Bernabe, clinched the most of number of votes to emerge as the grand champion of “The Voice Kids” Philippines season 5.
Bernabe becomes the second contestant from Kamp Kawayan to win the competition throughout the five-season history of “The Voice Kids,” the first one being Elha Nympha in 2015.
“I am just so proud of her and all the hard work. Maraming, maraming salamat sa lahat ng bumoto para kay Shane. She’s a good girl. I am proud of her. She is dedicated to what she does. That’s all I can ask for,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News on Sunday night.
“It was a full circle thing to see Elha [on stage tonight too]. But of course I didn’t think of it that way. Pero it brings you back. Ilang years na rin ‘yun so it’s special.”
Mañalac said he was fortunate that three-chair turner Bernabe chose him to be her coach, giving him the opportunity to witness her evolution as an artist.
“I think she’s just hungry to learn. ‘Yun ang initial na pagkabasa ko kay Shane. She’s always sort of receptive to everything that was happening. So ‘ yun ang parang evolution niya. She just kept absorbing all the information,” he said.
“Even at the end, habang nandito kami kanina in the lineup before the announcement [of the winner], I was still trying to teach her certain lines like at the end, maybe we could have added two notes. Just to emphasize lang na this is only the start of her journey so there are certain things that she can improve on. What a great start,” he added.
Amid high expectations, Mañalac is confident that Bernabe will go a long way in the music industry.
Taking all the praises from her coach, Bernabe only has words of gratitude for Mañalac for taking her under his wing.
She said she could not wait to do another duet with him: “Ang gustong-gusto ko po ay makacollaborate ko po ulit siya.”
Now that the competition is over, Bernabe is hoping her story could inspire younger people to also be fearless in achieving their dreams.
On what she intends to do with her P1-million cash prize, she said: “Tutulungan ko po ‘yung mommy ko and magpapagawa po kami ng bahay.”
Bernabe bested Ra i Fernandez from Martin Nievera’s team and Xai Martinez from KZ Tandingan’s team during the finale of the singing competition on Sunday.
Aside from her cash prize, Bernabe also won a recording and management contract with UMG Philippines.