They may have come from different provinces in the Philippines and joined in different seasons of “Tawag ng Tanghalan”—Marielle Montellano hails from Cebu and “TNT Season 1,” while JM Dela Cerna comes from Davao and “TNT Season 3” —but the universe has its wondrous way of intertwining their paths and turning them into among the most promising individual artists and tandems of their generation.
Ever since being paired with each other in the special edition of “TNT Duets” in 2023, from which their team-up fondly called “JMielle” was officially born, their appearances and collaborations together have been highly anticipated not just by their ardent fans and shippers but also even by casual viewers who are struck by their undeniable chemistry.
And JM and Marielle are poised to further prove that they are indeed “Sidlak Bisdak,” a Bisaya phrase that translates to “brilliant/glittering Bisayang Dako,” as one of the eight multifaceted celebrity performers of the brand new season of “Your Face Sounds Familiar.” The competition may have just started, yet they already astounded us on the pilot week via their amazing transformation into Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, the legendary pair who were the voices behind the iconic song “The Prayer.”
Fresh from their well-deserved victory after garnering the highest number of points from the jury and the other artists, ABS-CBN Studios had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with JMielle, where we discussed their overall experience during Week 1 of the competition.
On being declared the winners of the first week
The duo weren’t able to hide their glee when asked how they felt about being declared the winner of the first week. JM conveyed how super happy they were, considering that it was unexpected since they only ranked third with the jury, and it was the votes given to them by other celebrity performers that catapulted them to the top.
While all the performances were splendid and remarkable in their own ways, Marielle admitted that, although both of them are inherently competitive and are very hopeful of winning their first serious foray in impersonation, they still couldn’t help but be pressured and doubtful since they were still feeling their way to the competition and their first icons were Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.
“Nandoon po ‘yong pressure, ‘yong hindi pakakampante, pero nandoon din po ‘yong confidence namin sa tandem and kung ano ang kaya naming gawin as JM and Marielle. Pero as Celine and Andrea, pumasok po ‘yong medyo doubtful kami. Pero napawi naman ‘yon dahil nabigay po sa’min ‘yong first weekly winner na award,” Marielle related.
When asked about what was running in their heads during the preparations, the performance, and the announcement of winners, she imparted, “Na kaya pala namin mag-ganito. Kasi wala po talaga kaming expectations. Kung matalo man, okay, let’s do better sa next week. Pero kapag manalo, eh ‘di pagbutihan pa natin. Isa pa, siguro ‘yong importante talaga na consistent din po, to do the best that we could sa bawat icon na maa-assign sa amin.”
What led them to join “Your Face Sounds Familiar”
Knowing how challenging it could be to become celebrity performers, we asked JMielle what persuaded them to still join “Your Face Sounds Familiar” and how they were able to make it.
Marielle imparted that even though they were invited to audition, she and JM were actually both keen on joining the competition since they consider it a brand-new experience and milestone for them, in addition to being an avenue for them to showcase the other facets of themselves and of their tandem that people don’t see often.
WATCH | WEEK 1: JM and Marielle share their journey in the music industry | YFSF 2025
As they usually do straight and serious singing in their television performances and other gigs, it delights both of them to be able to unleash their comedic side through their banter with the hosts, the jury, and their fellow artists, as well as to develop their acting chops and further hone their versatility through their impersonation of various famous personalities.
JM, meanwhile, conveyed how it amazed him that from simply dreaming to become part of “Your Face Sounds Familiar” as they watched the past edition, they were able to finally make it come true.
But prior to their stint in the ongoing season, Marielle revealed that she actually used to audition in one of the previous seasons as an individual artist.
How they prepared for their stint in “Your Face Sounds Familiar”
And speaking of auditions, JMielle also brought us back to what transpired during their auditions for the ongoing season. Marielle enthusiastically reminisced on their first audition, wherein they were asked to sing the classic duet songs “The Prayer” by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli and “Tell Him” by Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand. Since she was able to prove that she could do both voices in the first song, the auditioners then asked her to take on the parts of Barbra, while JM did the parts of Celine.
Their auditions and their first-ever transformation had made them realize how versatile they actually are, both as individual artists and as a pair. Marielle was surprised to discover that there’s actually more to explore in his voice, while JM grew more amazed with her as he witnessed how she was able to pull off every piece assigned to her. However, there were instances when she doubted herself and needed a little push or validation that she could definitely do it.
Once it was confirmed that they made it to “Your Face Sounds Familiar,” JM revealed that he immediately prepared himself for it. He said, “Kinondisyon ko talaga ‘yong utak ko saka ‘yong katawan ko na iba siya sa ginagawa talaga namin. Noong nag-start na, akala namin madali lang talaga kasi nakikita or napapanood natin sa TV parang madali lang naman. Pero noong kami na ang sumabak, hindi pala (chuckles). Hindi biro ang mangopya ng isang icon.”
Marielle did the same along with psyching herself up to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to the pairs of icons that will be assigned to them next, which can be boy-and-boy and girl-and-girl. Besides, she had to prepare herself for the twists that the current season has in store for them.
Aside from listening to the original version to be able to copy their voices, she and JM also watched videos of Celine and Andrea’s live performances in order to study their movements and mannerisms, especially onstage. At the same time, they sought help from their on-cam and off-cam coaches, too.
While they and their coaches were already in charge of mastering the vocals and movements of the icons they portrayed, JMielle just left their physical transformations up to the program’s makeup artists, costume designers, and stylists since it iwas they who provided everything they needed—from the makeup and prosthetics to the costumes and accessories. However, Marielle related that, as a girl who knows how to doll herself up, she tended to give a few suggestions here and there.
Their reaction upon learning that Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli were their first icons
With international music legends Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli being their first-ever transformation and “The Prayer” being their initial act on the show, JM disclosed that he was actually over the moon since they knew the song very well. Not a lot of people perhaps know, but both of them actually used to be choir members, so they’d performed it a number of times already.
The same went with Marielle, who confessed that it’s the songs of Celine that she usually belts out in karaoke and in singing competitions that she participated in in the past. She enthused, “Siyempre po masaya kasi pasabog agad ‘yong icon, pero nandoon din ‘yong kaba kasi nga iba ‘yong joke-joke lang na paggaya sa actual na talaga. Tapos dapat kamukha, dapat ‘yong mga galaw kuha rin. Masaya na kinabahan.”
And her unserious impersonations of the iconic singer, whom she looks up to the most growing up, seemed to have probably worked, as she already had an idea on how she would do the performance, but make it more serious, more detailed, and more projected. Since they possess quite similar timbre, she didn’t have a hard time portraying her. However, she had to make adjustments with both her voice and movements since she had a duet partner who only stood still onstage.
Since she hasn’t seen her perform live yet, Marielle simply did a marathon of Celine’s concert in Boston. That gave her a chunk of ideas or inspirations that she was able to apply in their act.
Looking back on their winning week 1 performance
The performance of “The Birit Duo” may have come off as impressive and spot-on, yet Marielle still expressed her desire for them to be able to do their winning Week 1 performance again. She related, “Ako siguro, kung mabigyan ng opportunity po, uulitin ko ‘yong buong performance. Now kasi I understand na how everything works. So, alam ko na ang ie-expect ko.”
She then added, “Kasi noong una, bagong salang. I mean everyone naman, feeling ko, gano’n din ‘yong naramdaman. Pero kung ako lang naman, uulitin ko kasi para mas confident na ako, mas alam ko na kung ano ang gagawin. But I think naman, nakita at narinig ng Ka-Familiars natin, ng jury, and all the other artists na nag-try naman kami. So, maybe that’s why we made it as the first weekly winner.”
On the other hand, JM requested a longer preparation time for them to be able to practice their act well, since they weren’t able to focus on it due to the other work commitments and tasks they also had to take on.
The best and most challenging things about their Week 1 performance
Although performing is not new to them anymore since they’ve done it numerous times already throughout their lives, not to mention having sung “The Prayer” multiple times already in their entire career, JMielle admitted that they still faced a few challenges on their first impersonation act.
For JM, it was sustaining their vocals while singing the respective parts of Celine and Andrea. He related, “Kasi, at first, sa first verse ng song nagagaya [namin], tapos medyo mahirap na siya sa kapag sa climax na. Habang tumatagal, bumibitaw. Sa rehearsals namin bumibitaw [at] naririnig din talaga namin. ‘Yon yong medyo challenging talaga kung paano siya i-maintain.”
Marielle then added that they also encountered trouble in setting up a date and time for their rehearsals that could accommodate both of them, as well as in holding their mirth whenever they would see each other’s transformation for the first time. However, JM claimed that it was just her, so he let her release all her laughter first until she was done in order for her to not bring it to their performance proper.
On their edge over the other celebrity performers that made them win
“Two heads are better than one” -- and this certainly applies to JM and Marielle, who thought that being a duo has been their edge, as their teamwork has allowed them to share ideas and suggestions with one another in their every performance. It also delights them to have someone who points out what they can do further and who tells them if what they just did was enough.
At the same time, Marielle thinks that, although their fellow celebrity performers are equally talented and very experienced, they already had an edge as singers. Nonetheless, they’re still not going to let themselves be complacent because they know all too well that this isn’t just straight singing.
They’re fully aware that it is also a must for them to be able to impersonate not just the vocals but also the physical appearances of the icons assigned. So, they have to be in full packages.
However, JMielle also admitted that they have their fellow celebrity performers to thank for their Week 1 victory since if not for their generous votes, they wouldn’t have made it to the top of the charts and brought home the winner’s plaque.
Their realizations from Week 1 that they would carry with them throughout the competition
With regard to their takeaways from their Week 1 performance, JM said that it would probably be their becoming confident.
“Siguro ‘yong pagiging confident. Sa song na ‘yon (refers to “The Prayer”), ‘yon ang masasabi kong pinaka confident kami. Unang-una, alam namin ‘yong song, nakakanta namin, and gusto namin ‘yong song. So, sana, sa next icons and songs na aming kakantahin, ay confident po kami,” he explained.
Show your love and support to JMielle by following their journey together in “Your Face Sounds Familiar,” Saturdays and Sundays, 7:15PM on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), and A2Z. Viewers can also catch it on TV5 every Saturday, at 8:15PM, and Sundays, at 8:30 PM.