Get facts straight; I don’t cancel shows—Jed Madela
“GET your facts straight.”
This was Jed Madela’s response to his detractors on the rumor that he canceled a recent mall show in Taguig City allegedly because his demands were not met.
“I’ve been in this business for a long time. I will not let this one incident destroy my name,” he told the Inquirer on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old performer, recording artist and TV host was referring to the June 1 launch of the new OFW Lounge in the Market Market mall where the singer was unable to perform due to technical problems.
Broken keyboard
Madela reportedly complained of a broken keyboard, which caused him to refuse to go onstage.
The world singing champ recalled that the event organizers informed him of the problematic keyboard at 2 p.m. They promised to look for a replacement. The show was supposed to start at 5 p.m.
“At 5:30 p.m. they came to me to say they got nothing. I thought, ‘This is impossible. They organize events but don’t they have contacts?’ Had I known they wouldn’t be able to get one, I could have called some people for help,” he said.
Madela related that he was then asked to go on and perform, accompanied instead by a minus-one disc. “I said I can’t do that because the organizers asked me to learn new songs just for the show. There’s no minus-one for them.”
At this point, Madela asked his backup musicians if it was possible to simply substitute the keyboard with a guitar. “They said it was OK, but when the crew was starting to set up, binabaklas na (the equipment was being dismantled). They were told that the event was already finished.”
Madela insisted that it was the organizers—not him—who canceled the show. “I waited until 8 p.m. until I saw that people were already leaving,” he explained. “Why is the rumor that I walked out of the show coming out now? They’re also telling everybody that I simply refused to sing with a minus-one.”
He also reacted to nasty comments on Twitter about the incident. “I read something like: ‘Save your P200,000. Do not hire Jed Madela in your corporate shows … Aartehan lang kayo. (He will just throw a tantrum).”
He countered: “These people are clearly lying to their client. I didn’t ask that much talent fee for the show. They’re overpricing. The industry is so small. People will find out what really happened.”
Talents Manila, organizer of the Market Market event, said it would soon come out with an official statement on the incident.
Another rumor
Meanwhile, Madela also clarified the rumor that there was friction between him and fellow Universal Records artist Christian Bautista.
“I don’t know why people want Christian and I to fight. This has been going on even when Christian was still with Warner Music. I guess it’s because we’re both balladeers,” Madela said. “When Christian transferred to Universal, people said he was a threat to me, that I used to be the only balladeer in Universal and now the studio is too focused on promoting Christian in Indonesia.”
Bautista first flew to Indonesia in 2004 because of that country’s phenomenal reception to his single “The Way You Look at Me.” Since then, he has returned to Indonesia to perform in concerts, endorse products and appear on TV shows.
Madela first made waves at the 2005 World Championship of the Performing Arts (WCOPA) in Hollywood, California, where he won all the major awards, including the title Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World. That same year, he joined the Sunday variety show “ASAP” on ABS-CBN. He has released seven albums since 2003.
“People are obviously trying to start a fire out of nothing,” Madela said. “Christian has made his presence felt in Indonesia with his songs. I’m slowly going out na rin, starting with Malaysia. Universal doesn’t want its artists to clash.”
He told Inquirer that he has already recorded a song, “Antara Kita” (Between Us),” with Malaysian singer Nikki Palikat and is set to fly to the former British colony in two weeks. The single is based on Ogie Alcasid’s “Kailangan Kita” and was recorded in Bahasa.
He is also set to release in Malaysia a whole album with the same title. “It’s a compilation of songs from my previous albums, those which Universal thinks will be acceptable in the Malaysian market,” he said.
The single was chosen to be the theme song of a Malaysian drama series, “Stanza Cita,” which airs this month, Madela said, adding that he’ll stay in Malaysia for a week to do mall shows, visit sponsors, promote the album and perform at a Hard Rock Cafe branch.
“The success of one artist is the success of all. A lot of successful singers are with Universal,” he pointed out, citing Regine Velasquez, Ogie Alcasid, Las Vegas-based Lani Misalucha, young singers Jay R, Billy Crawford and Nina as examples. “We help each other in many ways. Jealousy among colleagues is bad.”
