Lee Grane

Lee Grane

On a Monday night the Apex Lounge is almost full; the featured performer, Lee Grane, is a virtual nobody—until our friend points out: “She’s one of the semifinalists in ‘The Voice.’ She’s good.”
A few bars into a Sting number, Grane on acoustic guitar captivates her audience with a voice soaked in sweet honesty, in a style that evokes the enduring appeal of soft rock.

She’s equally adept in Pinoy folk such as Asin classics and Freddie Aguilar’s “Anak,” which she deconstructs into a luscious lullaby, coating its remorseful lyrics with a bittersweet lament.
Batangueña
In between songs, Grane engages the crowd with short spiels, spoken in a friendly, personal tone that makes us smile. The lady is so carefree, confident and oozing with talent, we wonder where the hell did she come from.
“I’m from Batangas,” she tells us, after her first set, adding that she dropped out of school to pursue music, her dream. She’s been living in Manila the past years, doing gigs in various clubs until she auditioned for “The Voice.”
We strongly believe that Grane is on to bigger things, even if she doesn’t win the grand prize.

LEE Grane performs at the Apex Lounge of Seventh High
The Apex Lounge should get her to perform regularly as soon as “The Voice” finals end—that is, if ABS-CBN bosses have yet to realize what to do with such a promising artist. - Pocholo Concepcion

Fans of Lee Grane will be delighted to know that her new single “U.N.I.” is already out in various local streaming sites. With its idiosyncratic strain of sun-drenched pop, the track steps out of the familiar singer-songwriting conventions and wraps itself up in lush instrumentation and quirky vocal inflections. Obvious comparisons with Kate Torralba and Regina Spektor might abound especially after hearing the key verses. But Lee has a style all her own: coy but organic, with an eccentricity that sits well with the song’s bubbly aura. It also helps that Carlos Castaño’s production gives her lightweight vocals a chance to glide and shine above the rich sonic details. She’s the star after all, the kind of glow that shows up at night and accompany you in your sleep. - Vandals on the Wall

It’s early days yet, but in only its second weekend of competition, the Voice of the Philippines might already have unearthed a potential winner in Lee Grane of Batangas City. That statement is, of course, made with inspired regional bias.

The show was becoming increasingly remarkable for its insanely prolonged commercial breaks, but Lee Grane’s angst-filled rendition of Freddie Aguilar’s ‘Anak,’ followed by Sarah McLaughlin’s ‘In the Arms of an Angel’ were the night’s orgasmic performances.

But maybe that was not even fair because only she got extended airtime which may yet be crucial later in the competition. In fact, the name ‘Lee Grane’ immediately trended on Twitter, such was the impact she made.

Not that it was even her fault. If at all that turns out to be an advantage, we all have Lea Salonga to blame.

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By the way. The number of Lee Grane’s Facebook page ‘Likes’ rose from 1,5k to 4.5k overnight. That’s how much of an impact she made in The Voice of the Philippines.
”
Lee Grane’s offbeat interpretation of ‘Anak’ was pitchy in parts but was sang with heartbreakingly raw emotion that Bamboo and Sarah G inevitably were the ones to turn. But Salonga just had to ask her if she could sing in English.

And Lee Grane was happy to oblige. As it turned out, her soulful interpretation of the Sarah McLaughlin song was even better than ‘Anak.’

It was comical to watch Salonga contort herself and practically pull her hair out in regret, such was the cacophany of emotions that flowed from Lee Grane’s second song. “I would have turned for that,” Salonga declared.

Bamboo was moved to tears. A bit cheesy, yes; but at the very least it earned him a potential winner for his team.


Sarah G was sporting but still heartbroken. She wished Lee Grane well but described the latter’s choice as something similar to breaking up with somebody. Oh, she should know... (Looks innocent.)

I was curious enough about Lee Grane to do both a Google and Facebook search; and yes, she has a fan page. This was in the ‘About’ section:

“If music is a direct reflection of one’s soul, then solo acoustic singer/songwriter and musician, Lee Grane, is undoubtedly one of the coveted muses in the industry. Born and raised in Batangas City, Lee Grane is one of the most recognizable acoustic performers in the music scene today.”

By the way. The number of Lee Grane’s Facebook page ‘Likes’ rose from 1,5k to 4.5k overnight. That’s how much of an impact she made in The Voice of the Philippines.

The night was not just about Lee Grane though.

The show started with the Eva and Monique de los Santos mother and daughter tandem from Cebu city who performed individually and were, in a manner of speaking, competing against each other.

Inday tried her luck but failed in American Idol. I thought she had a fairly decent voice and deserved to be invited. But her song choice was poor to say the least. She probably would have done better with something more melodic than the Beatles’ ‘Oh Darling!’

Then Nanay took the stage and did a Tina Turner. ‘Proud Mary’ was so her age. But while Inday’s performance was workmanlike, Nanay Eva’s was passionate and showed her experience. She started slowly – even lazily – and then built up to a swaggering ending.

Enough, at any rate, to make apl.de.ap and Sarah G turn. The curiosity here was, perhaps, that the pop princess got herself her a second straight rocker. The world is strange.

The mother-and-daughter act was followed by Guji and Grace Lorenzana, who performed as a duet. I did not know duets were allowed; but then again, Salonga was just as surprised as I was.

By the way, Guji Lorenzana was one of the ‘other guys’ in the recent afternoon teleserye ‘Paraiso.’ He did say in the primer that he really moved to the Philippines more to be a singer than an actor and has worked in musical theatre.

Sarah G was correct to point out a bit of pitchiness – particularly at the start – but the melodic blending was lovely and enough to make apl.de.ap and Salonga turn. The Black Eyed Peas star was in luck.

The final performer of note was somebody named Sir Lord Lomibao from Zamboanga City. Band singer: check! Sob story: check! But the most remarkable thing about him was not really his singing. He has 23 siblings.

Que horror. His dad never heard of family planning.

To be perfectly honest, I thought his performance was what Simon Cowell would have called ‘very karaoke.’ But apl.de.ap must have heard something and turned around. What do I really know? I am just the blogger.

Then Lee Grane arrived to make everyone forget the disgraceful number of commercials there were in last night’s show... - Rex Raymond Torrecampo

Manila, Philippines – Lee Grane Maranan made singer-coach Bamboo cry as she performs during the “The Voice of the Philippines” Blind Auditions, as shown in the video below. The name of the 29-year old professional singer from Makati City also went trending worldwide on Twitter right after the show.

Lee Grane The Voice Philippines audition

Lee Grane, singing during “The Voice of the
Philippines Blind Audition
Credit: ABS-CBN video
As aired at ABS-CBN Channel 2 last night, Saturday, June 22, Lee Grane sang Freddie Aguilar‘s iconic song “Anak” and impressed the four coaches Lea Salonga, Allan “apl.de.ap” Pineda, Sarah Geronimo, and Bamboo Manalac. Geronimo was first one to decide to turn her chair, and even raised her right arm when she saw Lee Grane singing.

And when Lee Grane is almost finished with her song, Bamboo pushed his “I Want You” button to turn his chair. After her performance, Salonga and Pineda turned their chairs and all of the four coaches clapped their hands, along with the crowd. However, Lea asked Lee Grane if she can also sing an English song.

Then, Lee Grane performed her own version of Sarah McLachlan‘s hit song “Angel” while playing the guitar. This was when Lea Salonga was heard saying, “This could have made me turn.” Apl.de.ap also showed signs of his regret of not turning his chair, while Sarah can be seen starting to get emotional.

On the other hand, Bamboo said, “Oh! Beautiful!” And before Lee Grane finished performing, the former “Rivermaya” vocalist stood up and apologized to Sarah, who was beside him, saying that he will fight to get the contestant. After the performance, Bamboo was seen rubbing his eyes, trying to hide his tears.

Apl.de.ap and Lea expressed their regrets, with Lea even deciding to sit on the floor so she can see the reactions of Bamboo and Sarah. The 24-year old Popstar Princess praised Lee Grane, and even sang a portion of “Kailangan Kita,” apparently begging the contestant to choose her over Bamboo as her coach.

Shortly after, Bamboo admitted that he became emotional with Lee Grane‘s performance, and that it was the first time he was touched by a performance. Bamboo then could not control his tears and started to cry, and told her that she is the “artist that I’ve been looking for.” Eventually, Lee Grane chose Bamboo as her coach.

After the show, the hashtags “Lee Grane,” “Bamboo” and “#TheVoicePHBlinds” went trending at Twitter worldwide. It was later known that Lee Grane has a SoundCloud account, where she can be heard singing “Can’t Make You Love Me,” “Faithfully,” “Landslide” and “Payphone.”

“Thank you everyone… Thank you … I’ve read your posts and comments and I am truly humbled… Words cannot express my gratitude for your support. Receiving the love and sending love back!” Lee Grane (@LeeGrane) later tweeted, which has not 8,845 followers and being expected to increase.

“I’m singing tomorrow, Monday night at Cyrano located at C. Palanca corner Legaspi st Makati (Near Greenbelt) 10pm. See you!” Lee Grane tweeted fours hour ago, and even invited the public to watch “The Voice of the Philippines” this Sunday night.

In case you are not familiar with Sarah McLachlan‘s “Angel,” below also is its official music video. The song originally appeared on her 1997 album “Surfacing.” - Angel Cuala, BATANGAS TODAY

We witnessed her sing on "The Voice of the Philippines".

She trended on Twitter and was a hot topic on all the other social media sites.

The entire archipelago was moved by her story and her performance, and brought tears to the eyes of her eventual coach and MYX Celebrity VJ for July, BAMBOO.

We got to chat with "The Voice PH" hopeful Lee Grane Maranan during one of her recent gigs.

MYXPH.COM: How does it feel to be part of "The Voice of the Philippines"?

Lee Grane: I'm so blessed na natanggap ako na mag-audition. And even more blessed na nag-turn around sila para sa akin para makasali ako sa competition.

MYXPH.COM: Why did you decide do join the show?

Lee Grane: I joined "The Voice" because it's really an amazing competition because they can't see the artist. They have to listen to the voice first before anything. You don't get judged with how you look. It's really based on how you sing and as artists, it's really a privilege for us to be here and sing for the four coaches because they are all really amazing at what they do. So there's a lot that we can learn from them.

MYXPH.COM: Why did you choose "Anak" by OPM icon Freddie Aguilar?

Lee Grane: I chose "Anak" because I wanted to do a Tagalog song na 'yung may meaning din sa akin na inalay ko naman 'yun sa family ko. So the song itself really, really meant something to me.

MYXPH.COM: What is your message to all your fans?

Lee Grane: Maraming, maraming, maraming salamat po sa pag-suporta, sa pagmamahal na binibigay ninyo sa akin. I'm so overwhelmed. I wish I can thank each and everyone of you individually. Sana huwag kayo tumigil sa pag-support. Thank you so much! - MYX Philippines