#BoBrey in concert

How heartening to find out that budding diva Rita Daniela will be topbilling a concert along with her TV romantic leading man, Ken Chan. They are known as #BoBrey. The show is titled My Special Love — #BoBreyinConcert and it is set for tomorrow, Saturday, May 11, 7 p.m. at the Music Museum in Greenhills.  

The BoBrey hashtag harks back to the characters that Rita and Ken played in the well-received drama series My Special Tatay on GMA 7. The concert is their way of saying thank you to all of the fans who supported them during the run of their show.

Nice of the pair to do that. Nicer, too to finally see Rita as the star of a concert. Note that before she ventured into acting, Rita was primarily a singer and songwriter. It is great for her career that she is able to do demanding dramatic and comedy roles. She appeared in series like Impostora, Let The Love Begin, Villa Quintana and others. But I have always believed that Rita has the kind of voice that should be showcased more often.

The son of the late disc jockey Red Valdez and the granddaughter of the famous comedian Teroy de Guzman, Rita started showing off her vocal chops at a very young age. She was one of the talented discoveries of QTV’s Popstar Kids, that later gave her the chance to be the soloist of the offshoot group, the Sugarpop Kids.  This became her launching pad for her career in showbiz.

Over the ensuing years, Rita grew up pretty and sexy in a sultry way and more talented. She acted on TV and the movies and continued with her recording. She often did theme songs for TV series like Mapagkunwari for Impostora or Kahit Man Lang sa Pangarap for My Special Tatay. On some occasions she would sing her own compositions like the Awit-nominated Di Lang Ikaw. Her team-up with Ken brought her success but I really believed she should do more singing.

This was proven by her stint as Mark Bautista’s leading lady in the acclaimed theater presentation Eto Na! MusikalnAPO. Rita glowed with star quality on stage and the chance to sing the love songs from the APO Hiking Society catalogue gave her voice a chance to shine. Needless to say, I felt again that she should be heard more.

And now, here is her chance in the My Special Love concert, plus there is also news of the release of a new single. The song is titled Florita and it was composed by Rita together with Randy Salvador. The recording is now available on several digital platforms. Next on tap for her will be a well-deserved concert tour.

And now, here is a look at the Top 40 music videos seen on the YouTube Channel, which I am glad to say is dominated by Pinoy artists, most notably by No. 1 seller Kahit Ayaw Mo Na by This Band. The list:

Kahit Ayaw Mo Na by This Band; Buwan by JK Labajo; Dalaga by Allmo$t; Pauwi Na Ko by QC Dawgs ft. Yuri Dope and Flow G; Boy With Luv by BTS ft. Halsey; Kill This Love by Blackpink; A No No by Mariah Carey; Sucker by the Jonas Brothers; Sunflower (from the Spiderverse) by Post Malone and Swae Lee; Kung Di Rin Lang Ikaw by December Avenue and Moira dela Torre.

Sana by I Belong To The Zoo; 7 Rings by Ariana Grande; Pauwi Na Ko, the Nakakikilabot Cover; Kakayanin Kaya by Maymay Entrata; I’m So Tired by Lauv and Troye Sivan; Missing You Crazy by Russ; Hindi Na Nga by This Band; Who Do You Love by the Chainsmokers ft. 5 Seconds of Summer; bad guy by Billie Eillish; Please Me by Cardi B and Bruno Mars.

Thick And Thin by LANY; Ikaw At Ako by Moira dela Torre and Jason Hernandez; Dalagang Pilipina (Yeah!) Filipina Girl (Yeah!) cover; Kathang Isip by Ben&Ben; Here With Me by Marshmello ft. CHVRCHES; Without Me by Halsey; Close To Me by Ellie Goulding, Diplo and Swae Lee; Bulong by December Avenue; comethru by Jeremy Zucker; Talk by Khalid.

Love Someone by Lukas Graham; Maybe The Night by Ben&Ben; Sa Ngalan Ng Pag-ibig by December Avenue; FANCY by TWICE; Wow by Post Malone; Dancing With A Stranger by Sam Smith & Normani; Old Town Road by Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus; Two Of Us by Louis Tomlinson; All The Lies by Alok, Felix Jaehn & The Vamps; Summer by James Reid and Nadine Lustre.