MANILA, Philippines – Three talented singer-contestants of RisingStars Philippines took the big stage at the recently concluded major solo concert, “DOS”, of teen heartthrob Daniel Padilla. Aerone Mendoza, Ross Zarandin, and Christian David Amata sang “She Will Be Loved”, as the show’s pre-show opening number, and experienced this once-in-a-lifetime and dream-come-true experience of singing before a massive crowd in a major concert event and at a venue like the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Aerone, who is said to be a look-a-like of Xian Lim, Ross’ cool-dude attitude, and Christian’s boy-next-door charm simply brought the house down. Their song number was enthusiastically received by the audience and they got their own share of screaming fans from the KathNiel crowd.
“Masaya po na may konting kaba kasi maraming tao talaga, pero super excited…once in a lifetime experience talaga!” (I felt happy inspite of some nerves, but I was super excited…it was a once-in-a-lifetime-experience indeed!), says Ross Zarandin.
Christian David Amata, who came all the way from Roxas City, Capiz, still feels overwhelmed by the experience. “Bago kami sumampa ng stage, nagdasal muna ako na sana maging maganda ang performance namin…Nung kumakanta na kami sa stage, sinabi ko sa sarili ko na eto na, eto na ang simula ng katuparan ng pangarap ko…” (Before we went onstage, I said a little prayer, hoping that we deliver a good performance…As we sang onstage, I said to myself, this is it, this is the beginning of the fulfilment of my dreams…”)
The Daniel Padilla singing contest was launched by RisingStars Philippines online via https://risingstars.inquirer.net/, and at the same time, RisingStars singing booths were set up in major malls in different parts of Metro Manila, to gather a pool of contestants. Preliminary rounds were held, and finalists were chosen from the online and on-ground entries by RisingStars’ online jurors and voters. The finalists were brought together in a live singing battle, where the top 3 winners were chosen to get that most coveted opportunity to sing at the Daniel Padilla concert.
Apart from the singing contest, one of the finalists was also given a memorable moment – a meet-and-greet session with Daniel Padilla. Francesca “Chichay” Balagtas, who is actually a dead-ringer of Daniel’s love team, Kathyrn Bernardo, won a backstage pass where she met and had her picture taken with her idol. Chichay garnered the most number of votes from RisingStars’ users.
Seventy tickets were given away by RisingStars — for those who joined and won in the preliminary rounds, to the top voters, and the lucky ones drawn from the live audience.