They Found Love
By JASER A. MARASIGAN
Photos by PAOLO SY
Styled by JP DICHE and PIERRE PERALTA
Grooming and Hair by JC CANTOS
MakeUp (for Karylle) by RHINA MONTEMAYOR
Clothes from BENCH and
FASHION FORUM available at SM DEPARTMENT STORES
MANILA, Philippines — It is their mutual love for music that binds Christian Bautista and Karylle in a friendship that has survived the test of time, from being partners in a local production of “West Side Story” to the Asian-wide show “The Kitchen Musical” – and to Christian’s attempt to make their relationship more than just friends.
“We would be paired a lot. Sometimes we would go out. We had some moments,” says Christian.
“We’re already friends to begin with. We started pretty much at the same time. We grew up together. I’ve known Christian even before his ‘abs days’,” teases Karylle. “But we realized we’re really better off as friends. And we’re really good friends now, that’s the most important thing.”
Like any friendship, theirs have also had its ups and downs.
“I think, that’s what makes us special. We’ve had our bad days and we’ve had our really good days. We’ve been through a lot together. He’s seen me at my worst and he’s been there for me always,” relates Karylle.
“Sometimes, there are two people, you see them in a movie, a concert, a show, and you’ll think, they’re perfect together, except in real life. What I’m saying is, you could have a platonic relationship outside your careers, yet you can still have a lot of romantic chemistry in your movies or shows,” explains Christian.
Before they were friends and a love team, Christian was an aspiring architect, and Karylle was an aspiring teacher and writer.
This undeniable chemistry will be seen on the concert stage in a show called “Love and Laughter” on Feb. 29, at the Newport Performing Arts Theater at the Resorts World in Manila.
Christian Bautista rides the waves of life
From an average guy who could have been an architect, to one of Asia’s hottest singing sensations today – this is what Christian Bautista has become.
Singing is a talent Christian knew he had, but never really took seriously. He was a student athlete at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, taking up Landscape Architecture and playing table tennis for the varsity team.
“Hindi ko talaga ginusto dito. It wasn’t planned. I’m the type of a guy who just rides on the waves. Before I did not have any goals in life. I took up Landscape Architecture not because I wanted to, but because I had good grades in drafting. Whatever my strength is, that’s where I go. Singing is a talent I knew I had but never really took it seriously to the point of making a career out of it. I’m content with it as just a hobby,” he says.
But it seemed like a singing career was imminent. Christian was a church choir member who later on joined the musical theater group Trumpets and got a bit part in “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”.
“When I felt that maybe I had some promise in singing, I said, alright I think I like this. It’s easy for me. I’m driven, I’m passionate. Most people don’t know this but I really started in theater, not in the talent search Star Million. I auditioned with my pimply face and bad teeth. That’s when my goal came to me – to be a singer and to last in the industry like Basil Valdes,” shares Christian.
Christian may not have been the grand winner in Star in a Million, where he placed fourth among 10 finalists. But he need not win the coveted title to become a famous singer. Through dedication and hard work, he catapulted himself to certified stardom with a string of hit songs and albums, TV shows, and movies up his sleeve.
Last year, his Christmas album received a Diamond Record Award, while his current album “Outbound”, under Universal Records will be released in different Asian countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
With all these career highlights, Christian admits that at some point it did get into his head. “There was a time that I really thought I was the Asian superstar. I want my way done, if not I won’t do it. Until my family sat me down and told me, malaki na ang ulo mo. I’m glad that somehow I was fixed. Ayoko rin naman maging ganun,” he relates.
From then on, Christian learned to appreciate his fans more. “I realized that they’re the ones who would go out of their way to be with me, to watch my shows. So I became more open, and communicating with them more. I realized too, that that’s the showbiz culture – the more you share, the more the people will connect to you,” he continues.
Christian was recently recognized as one of the 40 Inspiring Youths in Southeast Asia (under the Entertainment and Arts category) in a book that was released to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“I learned that in the Philippine music scene, some big changes have to happen to survive. Yes stick to your core but sometimes you have to make big leaps or jumps, even risks. After just really singing for about nine years, I just want to try something else and act. Gone are the days when you’re just a singer, you can survive like Gary Valenciano and Martin Nievera. Now you have to be everything,” he ends.
Karylle goes on a roadtrip
aryllestarted in the entertainment industry around the same time as good friend Christian did, 10 years ago. “And it still feels like it was just yesterday,” says Karylle, as she recalls how she opted to finish college.
“I guess it was inevitable because my mom (Zsa Zsa Padilla), the Padillas and the Ferandezs are known showbiz clans,” says Karylle, who graduated with a degree in Communications Technology Management (ComTech) from Ateneo de Manila University.
A consistent dean’s lister and a recipient of the Dean’s Award for the Arts, at that, Karylle has always valued education and the arts. As a fresh graduate, Karylle and her friends decided to put up an arts workshop for that summer.
“That was the alternate career that I thought of before, to teach kids. Aside from pursuing a singing career, I learned that it was something I could also do,” she says. Indeed, Karylle is not only an artist and an aspiring educator but also an entrepreneur. Currently, she co-owns a KTV bar and a restaurant.
When she is not busy with her hosting gig in the ABS-CBN noontime variety show “It’s Showtime”, Karylle spends most of her time either running, or writing poems, in which she hopes to release a compilation of all her works in a book very soon. She also shares her time with the less fortunate, being active in various causes such as the Makabata Foundation and White Cross Orphanage.
Also an avowed nature lover, Karylle has had a lot of headway in being involved in various causes and advocacies starting in high school, and it is this quality and her obvious immense talent in singing and acting, that a lot of young people look up to her as their role model. “It’s becoming more inspiring because my friends are also putting up their own projects knowing that they can do something. A lot of people want to get involved but they just don’t know how to put things together,” she says.
After wrapping up the first season of the hit Asian TV series “The Kitchen Musical”, Karylle hopes to go back to her other love, the theater stage. She made her theater debut in the Trumpets’ production of “Little Mermaid”. This was followed by Atlantis Production’s “Seussical” and the Stages production of “West Side Story” alongside Christian, where her performance was acclaimed by critics.
In her latest album, “Roadtrip” under PolyEast Records, she ventured out of her comfort zone and produced the album by herself. She even wrote 11 tracks which “narrate her personal journey”. She had worked on this album for the past four years, and she claims that this album represents who she is an artist, singer and songwriter.
Likewise, she shares that she got inspirations from travelling around the world the past few years, thus the album title “Roadtrip”. “This album is my own way of contributing to the challenge of OPM to come up with more original songs,” she says.
Special thanks to Students and Campuses
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