KZ Tandingan

Kristine Zhenie Lobrigas "KZ" Tandingan-Monterde (born March 11, 1992) is a Filipino singer and rapper.

She rose to prominence following her win on the first season of The X Factor Philippines in 2012.

Hailed as "Asia's Soul Supreme" by various media outlets, Tandingan is recognized as one of her generation’s most celebrated Filipino artists.

She has been honored with various accolades and recognitions including 7 Awit Awards, 3 Wish 107.5 Music Awards and 2 Myx Music Awards.

She reached the grand finals on October 7, 2012, and was proclaimed the winner of The X Factor Philippines.

On January 7, 2013, Tandingan entered the Himig Handog contest with the song entry called "Scared To Death", written by Domingo Rosco Jr. The song was accompanied with a music video that was assigned as a project to be directed by University of Santo Tomas and premiered on February 2 in Myx Philippines.

She performed the song in the grand finals on February 24, 2013 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

Overall, the song finished in 4th place and was the third runner-up for Best P-pop Love Song thus rewarding the writer of Tandingan's song one hundred thousand pesos in cash.

On April 21, 2013, she toured across North America as a supporting act for pop band Side A.

On May 2, 2013, Tandingan released her self-titled debut album.

The album was produced by Jonathan Manalo and consists of mainly original songs with some covers.

On June 27, 2013, she officially launched the album on Makati City.

On January 11, 2014, Tandingan won ₱1,000,000 in The Singing Bee where she accumulated 4 straight songs correctly.

In the show, she did not make a single error in the first 2 rounds and eventually won a tie-breaker against co-contestants Frenchie Dy and Sitti, who also did not commit any errors throughout the game.

The following year, 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.

She achieved international acclaim after participating in the most popular reality TV singing competition in China, Singer 2018.

The following year, she made history as the first Filipino artist to stage a sold-out solo concert in Dubai World Trade Center Arena.

In 2021, she recorded the first full Filipino Disney song Gabay for the film "Raya and the Last Dragon".

Tandingan is also among the most successful artists on Billboard's Philippine Top 20 chart, scoring multiple hits and has reached Platinum status for her sophomore album, "Soul Supremacy".

As of 2022, her catalog has reached over 278 million all-time streams on Spotify, becoming one of the most streamed female artists in the country.

In 2023, Tandingan served as one of the coaches for the fifth season of The Voice Kids, and currently serves as a coach on the third season of The Voice Teens.

KZ Tandingan started singing as a child but had to stop when she was in her junior year in high school after suffering from a throat problem.

She is an alumna of University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City and had graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Biology.

Before she joined The X Factor Philippines, Tandingan was part of a local acoustic band.

Tandingan was considered 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, "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.