It seems that artist-beauty queen Dia Mate is able to check an item off her Christmas list, as, six weeks into the competition, she has finally clinched the coveted “Your Face Sounds Familiar” weekly winner title through her alluring performance of “Santa Baby," as she transformed into Kylie Minogue.
As if struck by fate, her victory happened exactly 25 years after Kylie’s remarkable cover of this song was released, not to mention that the Australian singer-songwriter and actress performed it live again early this December in a popular annual concert organized by a British radio station.
On finally being hailed as a “Your Face Sounds Familiar” weekly winner
For her first win, Dia told ABS-CBN Studios in an exclusive interview that she was actually relieved to finally have her hands on the weekly winner trophy and the huge check indicating her P50,000 cash prize.
WATCH: Dia Mate rules the leaderboard with her remarkable Kylie Minogue performance | YFSF 2025
She enthused, “Parang relieved lang ako kasi ‘yong goal ko talaga is for the show to have fun and to enjoy lang. Pero for me, ‘yong goal ko talaga, other than having fun and enjoying, was to win at least once. So, parang na-achieve ko na ‘yong goal, so pwede ko na ma-enjoy ‘yong show na just to enjoy and have fun without expectations kasi I feel like I’ve proved it to myself na I can win. So, I’m just so grateful talaga.”
Although she truly did a great job with her impersonation, Dia said that she actually didn’t have any inkling or expectation that she was going to win since all of the celebrity performers were excellent. Besides, the scoring of the judges and the contestants was both “very subjective” as well, so nobody would ever know who’s really going to come out victorious in each round.
This actually reminded her of the time when she competed for Reina Hispanoamericana 2025 in Bolivia, wherein, despite being one of the frontrunners, she still couldn’t help but think that she’s with people who are better than her, so she wants to be as good as them and strive to be as good as them, too.
On how she prepared for her Kylie Minogue impersonation
According to Dia, she’d spent the around a week and half given to her and the celebrity performers by the production to prepare for their Week 6 presentations by listening to the song a lot, watching several interviews and performances of Kylie doing different versions of it, and observing how she sings in order for her to study her nuances, especially since they have totally different personalities. At the same time, it’s also different from the past five icons that she impersonated.
Since this was the case, she admitted to imagining that her boyfriend, Juan Karlos Labajo, was standing in front of her in order for her to shake off her shyness—and it was obviously effective, as she indeed channeled the sultry and seductive vibe of Kylie and of the song.
Even though she and Kylie have totally different personalities, especially in this particular performance, wherein she described the singer-actress as “very sultry, very sensual, malandi in the best way possible, “ Dia imparted that she really had fun being in her shoes.
Despite the challenge imposed by the stark contrast in their characters, both as individuals and performers, what made it quite easier for her were the similarities in their vocal range and her admiration for Kylie, sharing that she actually grew up listening to her, with her classic hit “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” being her top favorite. Besides, she also reminisced about singing “Santa Baby”—which she really loves—inside her bedroom.
When asked if she had any inputs in her physical transformation, Dia said that she just let the team of “Your Face Sounds Familiar” do whatever they wanted to her because she highly believes that they can do it best—from putting her in the best costume to providing her the best makeup artist. “I put my full trust into them. It’s my job na lang to deliver the character,” she uttered.
She went on to rave about how she really liked the outcome of her transformation, as well as how wearing heels and a gown made her, in a way, feel at home since she’s a beauty queen. Besides, since there’s no dancing involved in this number, all she had to do was focus on mimicking the voice and projection of Kylie, as well as on channeling her sultriness.
On what was running through her head during the preparations, the performance, and when it was announced that she was the winner
During the preparations, Dia told ABS-CBN Studios that instead of putting immense pressure on herself, she simply reminded herself to just give the performance her best shot regardless of what’s going to happen. She reiterated studying her character for her to be able to give it justice since Kylie is such an amazing artist and she’s fond of “Santa Baby.”
Meanwhile, what was running through her mind when everyone was giving her points after all the performances was gratitude, as she got overwhelmed by the thought of her fellow artists, especially the jury, heaping her with points and praises. But what really astonished her the most was the seven points she got from jury member, Mr. Pure Energy Gary Valenciano, whom she described as “hard to please” as a judge.
“For him to give me [seven] points on his first week back after being gone for so long, na-touch talaga ako. I really proved myself today. And si Ate Shawie and Kuya Ogie [Alcasid] are giving me fairly high points din. Thank you so much po kasi I really tried to do my best in every episode, and maybe some nights are not my night. But tonight talagang happy ako. I’m just really happy and grateful,” she stated.
On the most challenging and most memorable part of this performance
But although she mentioned that they’re on the same range, copying Kylie’s voice was still the biggest challenge for her, particularly the squeakiness because it’s a different placement. Besides, she also found it challenging to hit every single note and to show confidence to make it look like she knew what she was doing.
“Ang pinaka challenging dito, I think, was really making sure na I was getting the tone of her voice and getting her mannerisms, especially the squeaky tone and ‘yong mga piyok but hindi. So, to be able to copy that exact thing, which is so hard to do vocally, I was really practicing that over and over again,” she expounded. “The movements din, because I got all the feedback na kailangan mas sensual pa, i-OA mo na talaga.”
Thus, The Singing Reina did everything she could in order to adapt to the character and to not be shy onstage, keeping in mind the reminders for her to be sultry and not be a sweet girl, as well as to imagine herself flirting with the audience, for she had to seduce them.
“It’s different kasi when you think you’re being the character. Sometimes it’s not enough. You actually have to do more para it really looks like you’re the character.”
On what she thought have made her win
Apart from the preparations she had taken on in order to pull off a spot-on recreation of one of Kylie’s live performances of “Santa Baby,” as well as making sure that she would be close to the way she looked, the way she sang, and the way she moved onstage, Dia related that what she thinks really made her win this week was because of how she enjoyed the entire process.
“Happy ako,” she told ABS-CBN Studios. “Everyone did so well; everyone was deserving to win. Every week, each contestant is up in their game talaga. So, I feel so grateful to have amazing comments from the judges [and] from my co-stars, and overall, I had fun din kasi eh. Nag-let go ako talaga sa performance na ‘to kasi ‘di bale na kung winner ako o hindi, I’ll just have fun.”
Dia also threw away the idea of pressuring herself and instead just enjoyed the performance since, just like what jury member Sharon Cuneta said, the spectators would definitely feel how she feels. Thus, instead of making people feel that she’s nervous, she thought that it was better for her to make people feel that she’s happy.
Thus, she considers this transformation as her top favorite performance of herself so far in the talent competition, not only because she won but also because she had the most fun and the most comfort here.
She told ABS-CBN Studios, “For some reason, kahit hindi personality ko, kahit hindi boses ko, I just had fun, which I’m really happy about. I'm just happy to the point na parang I can become comfortable in front of the judges, the contestants, and the audience. That’s what matters to me the most.”
Catch the next performances of Dia Mate on “Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 4," every Saturday and Sunday night, 7:15PM on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), A2Z and iWant.