10 things to know about Isabella

MANILA, Philippines - Being Kuh Ledesma’s daughter is a fact of life she carries around like a badge of honor. But there’s no stopping Isabella Gonzales from coming into her own as an artist whom her mother, or anyone for that matter, can be proud of.

People may think that Isabella has had it easier, compared to other singers her age. “Maybe I have an upper hand because my mom is there, she’s my mentor… But the cool thing about (not having a showbiz parent) is that you have a starting point. You can blow them away and grow from there. You’re building your history. Me, I feel that I’m continuing a legacy. And there’s a big responsibility there that other people don’t have,” she says.

Isabella is featured tonight in Got Fridays @ Teatrino, an entertainment offering of Teatrino in Greenhills. This is the second show in a three-part series where she gets to share the stage with Fil-Am newcomer Kevin Cisco and fellow showbiz heir Rob Nievera. They call themselves the A-Team as all three of them are being managed by Arnold Vegafria. 

She shares how things came about: “The idea of the show was borne out of my mom always telling me in front of everybody that I needed to make pwesto, then (director) Tito Freddie Santos got wind of it and said ‘Yes, yes, she has to make pwesto. All the great artists have made pwesto.’ After he directed my mom and I in the concert My One and Only at the Music Museum last May, which was a really fun concert also, he approached my ninang Precy Tolentino, who runs Teatrino, and said that we should do something like pwesto not just for Isabella but also for upcoming artists, and she agreed. So, the whole theater is free for us to use, even for rehearsals. They are not just generous, but also very supportive of young artists.”

Isabella describes the show as not exactly a show in the strictest sense, but more of a “heightened pwesto na jam session and musical party. It’s super relaxed and the theme is that we’re going to have fun.”

The first was held last Sept. 16, and the last one will be held on Nov. 4. “I’m going to do from Justin Bieber, Adele to Barbra Streisand. Even Robin will do Adele,” she says.

Here are just 10 things we discovered about Isabella during an interview — details and surprises shared with endearing candor, as well as a natural flair for drama and humor.

1. She’s been performing since she was 10 years old. “Although for some reason, I feel I’m always starting all over again for every performance,” she says. Has she done a show sans the looming presence of her mom? “Oh, she’s always there, she’s like the Holy Spirit in my heart,” Isabella muses. “Sometimes she’s there, sometimes she’s not. But I always picture her to be there in the audience.”

2. She is not exempted from what she calls as the “Kuh Ledesma test.” “Before I perform things in front of people, I have to perform it before her,” she says. “Sometimes, I make all sorts of excuses like I’m not ready, etc., but she’ll go, ‘No, no, you have to perform before me.’ So that’s much scarier. After I passed the Kuh Ledesma test, I feel like kaya ko, because imagine she knows what to expect, she can hear every wrong and right line... So, if you wow a Kuh Ledesma, okay na.”

3. She’s an alto-soprano (her mom is alto). And hers is not just a gifted voice; it’s a well-trained one as well. “My voice is taking higher. I’ve had trainings here and abroad. I have taken acting lessons in London and L.A., after which, I came back here for shows, then back again abroad to train. It was a cycle.”

4. She’d be perfect for theater. “I once performed in a musical by my friend Marq Dollentes, titled Believe The Musical. I haven’t done any major theatrical show, although people would assume that I did because, well, I’m also dramatic. Maybe one day! There has been many offers, but they either don’t match my voice or there were problems with the schedule.” Isabella can apparently talk a mile a minute. “I guess… I was more so as a child, more hyper and more KSP (Kulang sa Pansin)… more everything! I’m a little bit more refined now, hopefully as we grow, we refine.” Will she consider a hosting job in the future? “I’d love to, anything that can allow me to talk,” she says.

5. She’s a lyrics girl. “When I choose songs, I look for positive lyrics. I’m very picky when it comes to lyrics. Genre? Any. I don’t mind doing hard rock. I just want to be that voice with a good message.”

6. She’s a self-confessed NBSB (short-speak for No Boyfriend Since Birth). “I’m proud of it. God has kept me from heartbreak. I’m really blessed as I feel the heartbreak around. I was so young back then, and I’m still quite young now, I’m really praying the Lord will mature me in a way that he will make me ready for the responsibility that a relationship is. I’m open to dating. But at the end of the day, I don’t want to go through so many guys to find the one.”

7. She paints. In fact, she studied Fine Arts for a semester at UP Diliman. “Painting was really my first love. I would always run to my painting because I didn’t want to be my mom. I wanted to be different, still an artist, but different. But I couldn’t run away from singing and actually, songwriting. Songwriting, especially, was what I did when I wasn’t painting, when I was bored, heartbroken and when I was challenged by anything. There was a time I couldn’t journal anymore, it was all songs,” she says. But it was in the middle of the semester that she started finding in herself if a career in the visual arts was really meant for her. “I fasted, prayed, read a whole bunch of books, then prayed, and I asked for a sign from God and He gave it to me. I prayed that let it be so obvious to everyone else and not to me what I’m supposed to do. I called up my friend, who was a pastor, and asked if he thinks I should be a singer, and after a short pause, he said, ‘duh?’” She also got the same reaction from friends. The rest is now history.

8. She was named after a news item. “No, I wasn’t named after the Queen of Spain. I was named by my father (Luis Gonzales) after a front page news item on the day I was born about Isabela, Cagayan Valley. But Isabela was also named after the Queen of Spain, so there’s still a connection.”

9. She is a social media baby. She maintains multiple accounts from Facebook, Twitter to Tumblr. Her public blogs are mindofisabella.tumblr.com for her favorite quotes; adventuresofiz.tumblr.com for the everyday things she’s learning and identityisabella.tumblr.com for her album and anything worthy she finds online. “I’m totally hands-on with my blogs.”

10. She doesn’t want to perform with her mom... well, at least soon. “Well, I think I’ve done enough with my mom,” she laughs. “But there will come a time, when I will be working with her again. I always want to work with my mom, and I ask that same question, ‘Can I work again with her?’ and this is what they told me, there will come a time… ha, ha, ha! It’s so easy and fun to work with her. Everything just goes smoothly.”