KZ Tandingan

Kristine Zhenie Lobrigas Tandingan (b. March 11, 1992), mononymously known as KZ, is a Filipino singer. She rose to prominence following her win on the first season of The X Factor Philippines in 2012.

That same year, she won Aliw Award for Best New Artist. She has released notable songs in the Philippines such as "Darating Din", "Mahal Ko o Mahal Ako" and "Two Less Lonely People in the World", which peaked at number 2 on the Philippine Hot 100 in 2017.

Tandingan is one of the members of the girl group DIVAS along with Yeng Constantino, Kyla and Angeline Quinto.

She became known internationally when she joined Singer 2018, a popular singing competition aired on Hunan Broadcasting System.

## 2012: The X Factor Philippines

Tandingan was considered as an early favorite after she performed a jazzy version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the fourth week of the Judges' auditions. After receiving a standing ovation from all the judges', she was requested to sing again. Tandingan obliged and sang "Ready or Not" by American hip-hop group, The Fugees. With her second song, she also showed her rapping skills. Tandingan was greatly praised by all of the judges. Nievera even shouted that, "A star is born in Digos!". The video of Tandingan's audition went viral online after it was uploaded in YouTube. The video reached nearly 1 million views before it was removed due to copyright issues. During the Bootcamp stage, she sang "Mahirap Magmahal ng Syota ng Iba" by the APO Hiking Society and cried after she made the cut for the Top 20. Tandingan sang "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack during the Judges' home visit. On week 9, she landed on the bottom 2 for the first time with teammate Allen Sta. Maria, but she survived elimination. Tandingan was Charice's last remaining act after Allen Sta. Maria was eliminated on week 9. She reached the grand finals on October 7, 2012 and was proclaimed the winner of The X Factor Philippines.

## 2015: Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 2

In 2015, she was announced as one of the eight contestants for the second season of Your Face Sounds Familiar along with Myrtle Sarrosa, Sam Concepcion, Cacai Bautista, Kean Cipriano, Denise Laurel, Michael Pangilinan and Eric Nicolas. The show ran from September 12, 2015 to December 13, 2015. and she was the 3rd runner-up.

## 2016: We Love OPM

In 2016, Tandingan was announced as one of the mentors of We Love OPM: The Celebrity Sing-Offs alongside co-DIVA Yeng Constantino. Tandingan mentors the team O Diva, composed of Emmanuelle Vera, Klarisse de Guzman and Liezel Garcia.

## ASAP Soul Sessions

In 2016, ASAP established an R&B/Soul group titled ASAP Soul Sessions. The group is composed of Tandingan, Kyla, Daryl Ong, Jason Dy and Jay R. The group officially formed on May 15, 2016, alongside the launch of the segment. The group lasted until October 2017, when it was disbanded in favor of the acoustic group ASAP Jambayan.

## 2018: Singer 2018 and first major concert

On February 9, 2018, Tandingan competed as a weekly challenger on China's Singer 2018 wherein she placed first on her debut round on week five. She sang her own rendition of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". She remained as a contestant on the show until her elimination on week nine.

On February 16, 2018, Tandingan sang the Mandopop song in her own rendition, "The Hurts You Never Knew" (Chinese: 你不知道的痛), a combination of three pieces of songs "What Else Do You Want From Me" (Chinese:你還要我怎樣) by Joker Xue, "All The Things You Never Knew" (Chinese:你不知道的事) by Wang Leehom and "Still Aching" (Chinese:還隱隱作痛) by Power Station. She was allowed to remain in the competition for ranking third in the top four, per the competition rules for a challenger.

On March 16, 2018, Tandingan sang "Royals" where she was the third person to perform. That week was a double elimination (after one contestant was too ill to perform and was given bye that week), and per the competition rules the two singers receiving the lowest count of overall votes would be eliminated. She finished last on the overall votes, resulted in her elimination of Singer 2018 (another contestant, James Li, was also eliminated for finishing 7th on the overall count after a challenger of the week successfully placed in the top four).

Tandingan's stint in the show had made international music fans noticed her unique and creative musical artistry in different music genre. Her eventual elimination created a flurry of criticism from social media commentators and the Chinese fans she has built during her short stint in the show. On Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, KZ Tandingan became the second most talked about topic after her elimination.

As a rule, however, all eliminated singers except singers who withdrew and singer in the first round, returned for the breakout episode (aired April 6, 2018) for a chance to re-enter Singer 2018 and qualify for the grand finals. Tandingan performed a Tagalog/Mandarin rendition of Anak and finished 7th, and was unable to advance to the finals. Despite her elimination, she later returned as a guest singer (along with former winner Coco Lee) for a performance from Jessie J (who was the series winner) in the grand finals aired April 13, 2018.

On June 22, 2018, Tandingan staged her first major solo concert at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, titled Supreme. The concert was followed by a tour in Cebu, Dagupan and Davao.

## DIVAS

On April 27, 2016, Tandingan was announced, along with Yeng Constantino, Kyla, Rachelle Ann Go and Angeline Quinto to be part of the then-upcoming concert titled DIVAS Live in Manila. However, Go unfortunately left the group on September 1, 2016 due to prior commitments abroad.

On the concert, Tandingan showcased her rapping skills and performed Sumayaw Ka by Gloc-9 as her solo on the concert.