Controversial, explosive Chris Brown
Different moods of Brown: Exuberant in thanking his supporters in Manila…
Onstage at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Tuesday night, Chris Brown—sweaty and bare-chested—expressed his gratitude to the hordes of party-hungry fans in front of him: “I want to thank y’all for giving me the opportunity to be here.”
But as appreciative as he said he was to be in Manila, staying here for more than a day was surely not part of his plans. Unluckily for the 26-year-old American star called Breezy, the events following his show were anything but.
Brown was holed up in a luxury hotel in Parañaque City, after being barred from flying out of the Philippines over a dispute with the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), which filed an estafa case against him. The issue stemmed from the R&B and hip-hop artist’s last-minute cancellation of his appearance in a New Year’s Eve gig at the INC-owned Philippine Arena last year.
Included in the complaint is the founder-managing director of media consultancy Pinnacle Live Concepts, John Michael Pio Roda, who struck a deal with the INC to bring Brown for the said event. According to reports, Roda and Brown allegedly had already received $780,000 before the singer bailed out.
With Roda and the promoters remaining elusive, the only window to the controversial recording artist’s status and sentiments was through his personal Instagram account. Based on his posts, it seemed that—while waiting for a clearance to leave—Brown spent time venting and goofing around.
…Rowdy in coaxing the audience to dance and holler with him…
In video clips he uploaded and subsequently deleted, an agitated and frustrated Brown was shown in his hotel room dancing and tumbling; cussing and ranting that he was “confused” and “didn’t do nothing wrong”; and kneeling and pleading, “Please, please, let us leave! Please!”
(At press time, he was allowed to leave the country.)
Interestingly, these were some of the very same things that he did during his show—which, all things considered, was a success. For starters, Brown actually showed up.
The evening’s marching order was to turn the arena into a massive dance club, and Brown duly took charge. He burst with energy from the get-go, jumping and running around as he unleashed his first salvo of songs—“X,” “Came to Do,” “Love More,” “Wall to Wall” and “Run It.”
“All the ladies make some noise one time! All the fellows make some noise one time,” he bellowed, prompting the stoked, booze-chugging audience to chant, “Breezy! Breezy!”
…And highly emotional in belting out a song on his past romantic indiscretions.
Celebrities spotted during the star-studded event were James Reid, Nadine Lustre, Liza Soberano, Enrique Gil, Julia Barretto, Lovi Poe, Rocco Nacino, Paolo Contis, LJ Reyes, Maxene Magalona, Raymond Gutierrez, Marco Gumabao, Yassi Pressman, Mark Bautista and Gerald Anderson.
Prerecorded vocals
Brown, who burst into the music scene in 2005, has ample vocal chops, and he showed them off in intermittent a cappella moments that had him belting and riffing through some of his older songs like “With You,” “Take You Down” and “Yo (Excuse Me, Miss).” But despite his undeniable ability, Brown wasn’t above using prerecorded vocals and backing tracks from time to time.
Still, the crowd didn’t seem to mind, especially since Brown infused frenetically impressive dancing into his numbers: He shimmied and thrust his hips, flailed his arms, pop-and-locked and indefatigably convulsed into a series of spastic movements. And in one lengthy showcase, he launched into a series of back handsprings, punctuated with a somersault. Bedlam.
He shimmied and thrust his hips, flailed his arms and pop-and-locked.
While the concert was dominated by his newer EDM-inspired tunes, Brown did occasionally segued into smooth, sexually suggestive R&B tunes that harkened to 1990s slow jams—“Wet the Bed” and “No Bulls***.” He also rendered an emotional performance of “Don’t Judge Me,” which many believe is an appeal for forgiveness for his past romantic indiscretions.
The show wore on and so did his clothes. And toward the end, the tattoo-covered Brown, who has seven albums under his belt, dished out some of the most hard-hitting ditties in his arsenal like “Turn Up the Music,” “Yeah 3X,” “Ayo” and “Loyal.” For the nth time, the bass rumbled. Before long, a dance circle has materialized on the floor.
Brown’s public image is far from squeaky clean, tarnished by a history of domestic violence, drug use and jail time. But that doesn’t take away the fact that he’s still one explosive performer and entertainer. And on that night, that was the Chris Brown thousands of Filipino fans saw.
