A Singing Career...

Star in a Million was a truly memorable experience for me. I had the privilege to sing "professionally" for a few weeks.

After the Top 21 round where they got the 10 finalists for the month of May, I was a busy artist. We had our first video shoot that was on location outside of Metro Manila. We went to a club house of a village owned by one of the corporate sponsors of the show. There, we made shots of us in the pool as we gave one liners to introduce ourselves, shots of us going down a slide, clips of us fooling around, doing karaoke, everything you can think of. They also taped us individually as we were interviewed by the segment producer. It was one showbiz experience. Surreal.

Once that whole outing was over, the next few days were hectic. We had pictorials at a studio of one of the more famous photographers in the country, Jomar Abesamis. Here's a shot of the May Batch from the photoshoot. I'm the one on the extreme left at the back row.


(Front Row - Ashley, Noemi, Michael, Sandy, Laarni; Back Row - Robin, Richard, Frenchie, John, Bocceli)

Then we had to come up with the songs we were going to sing for the pilot episode of the May batch. After numerous debates with myself, I chose Peabo Bryson's "Love Always Finds A Way" using Regine Velasquez' arrangement. It had a pretty solid bridge and the ending would be climactic.

The day before the competition we did our band practice. It was so much fun actually singing with a professional band led by Homer Flores, one of the most reputable musical directors here in the Philippines. I was contestant number 2 hence being second to rehearse. It was exhausting coz I honestly felt like I had to sing out loud. The microphones at the rehearsal venue weren't that good I thought. That day had to end and off we all go back to ABS.

I went home with Richard and John but had to pass by a thrift store to check out some clothes for the show. We all saw fantastic shirts and pants but I opted to stick to what I had planned as my costume for my performance. I thought of wearing my Banana Republic tomato colored shirt layered with a camel shirt. Black pants and camel leather belt and shoes. During the show itself I thought it looked really cool. Anyway, I begged John to take me home after we were through with the thrift store.

I couldn't sleep that night. I was too damn excited. Morning came and I leapt for the shower and finished everything I needed to do. Packed my bags with all my clothes I thought of considering in case they didn't want my costume. I almost thought I brought too much but what the heck, why be a fashion guru if you're not prepared for a fashion emergency, i.e. my shirt getting dirty or my pants would not look good under the t.v. lights.

Off to ABS with my dad driving me all the way to Quezon City. I was so excited as I entered the audience entrance. People recognized me. It was cool. I made my way to the dressing rooms where the rest of the contestants (now my really close friends) were waiting. Apparently they were just waiting for the people in charge of hair and make-up. We were just chatting the entire time until the hair and make-up artists came in. We continued chatting as each contestant would get their hair ironed or lips colored. We had rehearsals at the studio around 4PM (the show is supposed to start at 6PM). I honestly believe I did really well during rehearsals. I was so confident with my song. I was happy. 6PM, we were being called in for a quick rehearsal of the production number where we will be singing with guest artists.

The show proper, we were all quite nervous. Laarni started as she was number 1. She sounded weird that time. It was as if something's wrong. Then I had to hurry over to the stage area where I was blocked initially. I had no time to spare as my name was immediately called. No time to gain composure. I still started. I felt weird. Something's wrong. Fuck. The microphone's not working properly, or at least it was too damn weak. I had to compensate. The chorus of the song comes and I was almost projecting my voice like I've never done. I still couldn't hear myself. I'm just glad I didn't panic. I couldn't make the volume of my voice any louder as I might go off key. I stuck with the right projection. My ending was quite good. I wasn't tense any more. The judges comments...

Judge No. 1 ... "I couldn't hear you towards the climax of your song but I still like your sound, in a Broadway kind of way"

Judge No. 2 ... "there was nothing wrong with his volume, it was just right. I like your voice. You're (me) good!"

Judge No. 3 ... "I would have to agree with judge number 1, I couldn't hear you that well... (doing some actions with his face)... if star quality were considered, you don't... (I point to my get up)... your get up is nice but your face isn't so nice."

GASP!!!!!

God I hope my mom didn't hear that! Did I even hear that correctly? He just insulted me! UGH! I'm so glad my microphone that time was no longer turned on or I would've answered back.

The night went on with memorable performances most especially by my favorite, Frenchie, singing an all Aretha "R.E.S.P.E.C.T."

Amazing woman. Great voice. She'd give Fantasia Barino a run for her American Idol crown.

The show ended with the people getting the boot... Laarni, John, Richard, and moi! UGH!!!

That was it. The experience I'll never forget. I don't wanna get into the other things because I thought they weren't relevant. All I could think of was how much I was thankful for all my friends who went.

Xochi, Angelo, Sharon, Lisa, Vina, Mel, Normie, Nescel, Jack, Stephan, Adjeng, Tegs, Dennis, Wilma, Jet, Paolo... to all of you, Thank You!

To all those who supported me in this endeavor, thank you. May God bless you!

To my baby, thanks so much for the support you gave me during this competition. I know it was hard for you not seeing me that much during those times and I'm thankful for that. Besides, you did miss quite a lot of my other performances... hehehehe... kidding. I love you and thanks for being there. :) MWAH!