When Charice Pempengco and I last spoke a few days before her Dubai concert in 2012, she was, at 19, at the top of her game. She was in the midst of wrapping up a hugely successful world tour, she’d just completed her stint on the (then) hit TV show Glee and her first international album, Charice, was climbing up the global charts.
But even then, despite her meteoric rise from rags to riches as the little girl with the golden voice, then becoming a global internet sensation and Oprah Winfrey’s wonder girl, controversy dogged her. News of her estranged father’s murder in 2011, whom her mother had left many years earlier following an abusive marriage, haunted her. As the media relentlessly pursued every single aspect of her family life, digging up old wounds, it became evident that the fairy-tale story of the wonder girl from the Philippines who went on to wow the world, was slowly disintegrating.
Yet when Charice, as she is popularly known, took the stage in Dubai in 2012, she didn’t let it show. Yes, the same powerful voice mesmerised her fans. But the shy little girl with the long black hair was gone. In her place was a very different woman, her hair cropped shorter, her demeanour more self-assured.
What very few people knew then was that she was unravelling.
Last year in June, Charice came out to the world on the Filipino TV show The Buzz. “Now I feel free,” she told the host. “I can go out of the house without fear and certain that I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes.”
The revelation shook her fan base, and closer home. Charice and her mother fell out soon after. Her burgeoning career was effectively put on hold.
“I definitely thought about everything that could go wrong before I made the announcement,” she tells me. “I knew that my family would get hurt, some of the fans would get hurt. But I didn’t think as an artist. I tried to forget the Charice that everyone knew for a second and thought of Charice the person, who has feelings, who wants to live her life freely. I didn’t want to hurt myself anymore.”
Last month, Charice reunited with Winfrey on a segment aired on her network called ‘Where Are They Now’. She tearfully told her former mentor, who facilitated concerts with Charice’s idols Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, that her father’s death was a turning point for her. And, for the first time, discussed claims of attempted suicide.
“I definitely thought about it,” she said. “But no, I never attempted it.”
Charice’s return to the UAE on November 20, at the Yasalam Beats on the Beach, on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, will be the singer’s first public appearance following that interview.
The concert, she says, will be dedicated to all her fans who’ve stuck by her through everything.
“This is the real Charice I’ve been wanting for everyone to see,” she says. “That Oprah interview was closure for me. So, no more pretending, no more gossip, just me.
“Musically, there’s going to be a lot more dancing with this show. It will be like a party. I’m bringing my band again. There’s going to be new songs that I hope my fans will love.”
In September, Charice mended ties with her mother. She posted the news on her Instagram with a caption: “For all the people who doubted and who thought we wouldn’t be OK, now please shut up and let us live our lives as one happy family.”
I point out how it’s so easy to forget that she’s going through all of this, having just turned 21.
“I’m used to it,” she says laughing. “I am prone to hardships.”
Charice began singing on reality shows in the Philippines at the age of seven to support her single mother and brother. It was after someone posted those clips on YouTube that she was spotted, first by Ellen DeGeneres and then Oprah Winfrey, who invited her to their shows, before global fame came calling.
“Very early on, I learned to focus on what I could do best and ignore the rest. That is how I survived. So when all the challenges came, I learned to embrace them. So it’s all good.”
While the rest of the year will be spent catching up with her family and making up for lost time, Charice says she can’t wait for the new year to begin.
“I’m going to start afresh. I am currently in talks with a few new labels in the States. So hopefully a new album and new tour will happen soon.”
She did drop hints though that she might eventually give it all up for a quiet life with her partner.
“I would eventually like to settle down. I mean, I’ve been through a lot in just 21 years,” she says, reflectively. “But I love singing and performing. It’s my passion. So for now, that’s what it is.”
Don’t miss it
Charice will perform at the free Yasalam Beats on the Beach concert series on November 20 at Abu Dhabi Corniche. The three-day concert series, held on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix celebrations, will also feature Rita Ora, Jason Derulo, Miguel, rapper Juicy J, Tinashe and a host of Arab stars including Ragheb Al Ama and Sabine. Beats on the Beach is on from November 20 to 22. For the full schedule, go to yasalam.ae.
