[News] Pilipino singer Christian Bautista anticipates "boos" when he front acts for 2NE1 concert

MANILA, Philippines — Korean pop superstars 2NE1 (pronounced “twenty one” or “to any one”) will storm the Araneta Coliseum on June 4 with powerful front acts like Callalily, Bloomfields and Christian Bautista. I was also tasked to do a comic act in-between which is giving me jitters.

But the person most nervous is Christian Bautista. He is actually requesting our producer if he can go first because he is afraid to get boos for 2NE1 fans.

Christian Bautista afraid of being booed? The Filipino pop-star whose albums reach platinum levels afraid of 2NE1 fans?

I mean, it’s understandable for me to freak out on how I’m going to connect with fans as old as my entire career (imagine the generation gap!). But Christian Bautista, whose popularity has reached the entire South East Asia and is super dooper big in Indonesia feeling insecure of his fantastic career?

He appeared very confident though when we had our concert in Bracknell, United Kingdom.

Don’t worry, Christian, music is universal. Once you sing your hit songs, “The Way You Look At Me,” “Everything You Do,” “Invincible,” and “She Could Be,” believe me, after romancing them with your songs, 2NE1 fans will be converted to Christian Bautista fans. I just hope comedy is universal as well as I try to make the 2NE1 fans laugh that night.

Going back to 2NE1, one of the members is very much excited to visit the Philippines again and we all know who she is – Sandara Park or Dara as she is known all over the world now thanks to 2NEI’s popularity. Sandara was the very first and probably the only Korean to enjoy Philippine superstar status.

Although her fellow Koreans like Ryan Bang, Sam Oh and Grace Lee entered show business as well, they were not as big as Sandara. “Krung Krung,” a nickname coined by her fellow showbiz friends to call Sandara because of her quirky personality became famous through ABS-CBN’s 2004 “Star Circle Quest.”

I was so happy Sandara was the “It” star of ABS-CBN because I was always cast then as her older sister.

At the peak of her career, Sandara thought she made a big mistake. She decided to go back to Korea to finish college. When she came back to the Philippines, she received cold response due to her inactivity for half a year. That’s the Philippines for you. You rest for six months and you are already replaced by a new fast-rising star. She went back to Korea and trained with Korea’s YG Entertainment.

Little did Sandara know that what she thought was a big mistake turned out to be serendipity. God really works in mysterious ways. He had great plans for Sandara.

YG Entertainment never meant for Sandara to join 2NE1. But after seeing her KBS documentary and her star potential, YG signed her up in 2007 and she became the fourth member of 2NE1. YG entertainment calls her the “Philippine Boa” and the final ingredient to complete the secret recipe to music’s new evolution – 2NE1.

Other members of 2NE1 are CL, Minzy and Bom. CL is called “The baddest female” and she is 2NE1’s fierce leader.

I was very impressed with her music video “Go Away” although I did not like the part when CL’s boyfriend punches her and she did not punch back. As the “baddest female,” she should have.

Bom took a leave of absence from Berkeley College of Music to pursue a career as a singer. Now that her career is in full swing, she does not know when she will be back in Berkley. It took Bom three years of constant knocking on YG Entertainment’s door just to become a trainee and her persistence pulled off.

YG meanwhile searched for Minzy after her amateur YouTube video garnered thousand of hits. The K-pop sensation got her superb dancing skills form her grandmother, Gong Okjin, who was a famous dancer in Korea.

2NE1 super hits are “Fire,” “I Don’t Care,” and “Can’t Nobody.” Most of their songs are collaborations with Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas who was quoted saying: “2NE1 will be big and not just in Korea but all over the world.” The Black Eyed Peas frontman plans to launch the girl group in the US after he finishes their album.

2NE1’s concert tickets are available at Ticketnet and all SM outlets or log in at www.ticketnet.com.ph.

Source: Manila Bulletin