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Hailed Philippines’ Bob Marley On ‘The Voice’ — Now Back On The Street Doing What?

Kokoi Baldo sang “One Day” by Matisyahu on The Voice of the Philippines that completely took the world by storm. The reggae singer has quickly compared to the king of reggae himself, Bob Marley, and established himself as a frontrunner of the entire competition. Check out his incredible season two audition below.

Kokoi Baldo Gave The Coaches Bob Marley Vibes On ‘The Voice Of The Philippines’

During his audition, coaches Sarah Geronimo and apl.de.ap turned their chairs almost immediately. Bamboo Mañalac and Lea Salonga turned their chairs soon after and it turned into an all-out battle as all four coaches wanted Kokoi on their team. Ultimately, he chose to be on Team Sarah.

Kokoi did fairly well on The Voice of the Philippines but he made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t come on the show to win. He wanted to share a message of unity and peace through his singing. He did just that each week, always giving the coaches hard decisions to make when he went head to head against other artists.

Fans were quite devastated when Coach Sarah had a very tearful decision to make between Kokoi and another artist Monique Lualhati. It was one of the longest deliberations in The Voice history but she chose to keep Monique and eliminate Kokoi. Her reasoning was that she felt Monique wanted to stay in the competition more while Kokoi had served his purpose.

If you want to check out some other amazing Filipino acts that competed on talent competitions, check out the video below. Host Mriganka takes a deep dive into these acts and how they each did while competing on their shows. Plus, find out what they are all up to now.

SEE ALSO: VIRAL 19-YEAR-OLD DELIVERS SHOCKING VOCALS ON ‘THE VOICE THAILAND’

Where Is Kokoi Now?

After appearing on The Voice of the Philippines, Kokoi continued on to pursue music. In 2019 news broke that he had got into a serious car accident and Swivel Productions asked people to donate money to help pay for his medical expenses.

He recovered from the accident and went on to compete on a show called Your Moment with a band called Juan Gapang. The group was named the grand singing champion. The show is “a 2-in-1 competition, with both singers and dancers given equal opportunity to showcase their talent. The grand cash prize for the winners is P2 million.”

Though he has had some major successes in his career, he has also gone through some hard times. “It has kept me grounded,” he said in a recent interview. “My head might be high up in the clouds, but what is important is my feet are firmly on the ground.”

He credited music for allowing him to travel all over the world and provide for his family. However, the coronavirus pandemic has definitely halted some of his traveling and performing plans. He now has resorted to selling chorizo in the Philippines as a way to earn a living.

“That’s the thing about Kokoi, he is so grounded, he doesn’t mind selling chorizo to get by” his friend chimed in during the interview.

SEE ALSO: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF TESSANNE CHIN, THE FIRST ASIAN JAMAICAN WINNER OF ‘THE VOICE’

What did you think of Kokoi’s audition for The Voice of the Philippines?