If fans have been wondering about Liza Soberano traveling back and forth to South Korea, particularly this year, the actress finally revealed one of the major reasons why.
Liza had filmed a YouTube travel series, Liza in Korea, which features her as a tourist, fan girl and aspiring entrepreneur exploring one of her favorite destinations in the world — her “fun place,” as she described the country.
“Liza in Korea is really just about me going on a fun adventure in Korea, and just getting to explore Korean culture and Korean entertainment through a local’s perspective. And I get to tell that story through a Filipino’s perspective,” Liza said during a Zoom interview ahead of the series premiere.
Produced by the South Korean company JJ Global Group, the 15-episode show dropped its pilot episode yesterday night with subsequent episodes airing every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on PHH TV’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/@super_stars9 and Lacimer’s Instagram at www..instagram.com/laciemer.official/?hl=en.
Through Liza in Korea, she experienced meeting K-artists, learning K-pop choreography and studying about K-businesses and brands, such as Lacimer, as the media release stated.
Liza said, “Before we started filming, they were like what are some of the things you want to explore or discover? Or, who are the people you want to meet? And I gave them my list. Of course, not every single one of them were granted but the majority of them were. And I don’t think I would have experienced what I got to in this series without them. So, I was just super grateful to them and I learned to love each and every one of them.”
The company that tapped Liza, The STAR learned, is into manufacturing and e-commerce, as well as content creation. “They create IP (Intellectual Property). So, (JJ Global) actually has a lot of experience bringing Korean IP to different countries. For example, (the variety show) Running Man, they brought it to China years ago, so they’re pretty much experts when it comes to producing variety shows,” Liza noted.
“But aside from that, they also are an e-commerce platform… So, the series is actually a way for them to kind of integrate their products through a form of entertainment.”
Liza is the first and only Southeast Asian artist so far that the company has “reached out to, but my understanding is their goal is to really expand into the Southeast Asian market. It’s actually impressive how they were so creative about going about this because for them, of course, their ultimate goal is to be able to share all of their products with the Southeast Asian market. But the way that they plan on doing so is by creating entertaining content that people can enjoy.”
They couldn’t have chosen a more fitting Filipino celebrity than Liza, who is known to be a long-time fan of K-culture – from K-dramas to especially K-pop music.
As of presstime, the Careless-managed artist is in Korea doing other exciting stuff related to a business she’s starting, a fashion brand endorsement, and a variety show appearance (more details soon).
Meanwhile, here are more excerpts from our chat about her new project, Liza in Korea.
On Liza’s first reaction to the travel series:
“My first reaction when I was approached and offered to do this was I was really excited and surprised because I didn’t think that a Korean corporation would even know who I am or anything. I was really surprised because they approached us having a lot of knowledge about me. You could really tell that they did their research and they really tried to understand the Philippine market first before approaching me. I really appreciated that about them.”
On filming in Korea:
“I filmed this from the end of March to April for about 18 days. But then, I’ve been going back to Korea pretty often. Because after filming that, the company that hired me also started looking for endorsements for me and stuff here in Korea. So, I’ve been meeting with a lot of different people. I’ve been meeting with this one brand that they’re actually launching me as their endorser tonight (Wednesday night), too. So yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of business meetings here and just networking basically.”
On Top 3 highlights from doing the online show:
“There were so many fun moments, but a ‘pinch-me’ moment was when I got to go to the YG Plus office because I’m a huge fan of the YG company in general. A lot of my favorite K-pop artists, and also actors came from YG (like Blackpink). And I got to work with some of the top models in the country.
“Second would probably be going to Lotte World because I’ve always wanted to go there or any amusement park. I’m such a fanatic about this park. I got the full experience because I was dressed up in a schoolgirl uniform.
“It made me a little awkward because I felt too old to be wearing a school uniform. But it’s very cute. They find it very cute and very endearing. I’m so game to do these things.
“The third would be our last filming day. I was filming with them for 18 days and I didn’t realize how close we had gotten in just a short period of time. It was so funny because I was filming at a restaurant of a famous actor and comedian and they wanted me to say some closing remarks to end the series. And then, I started crying, I started bawling my eyes out because they just treated me so well all throughout the series. And the series was really created with the intention of just giving my fans something to look forward to and to see me in my most natural form, I guess, just me being me having fun and exploring Korea.”
On projects in the Korean entertainment scene:
“I’m definitely open to it. I personally consider (South Korea) to be like the next Hollywood. And so if the opportunity is given, of course, I would love to do anything here in Korea, and I genuinely just really appreciate how everyone works here and just getting to understand and know the culture even more.
“Of course, I’m not Korean. So, it’s a bit of a culture shock for me when I come here, how they do things differently, but it’s also nice to just kind of understand how their culture works and kind of see the differences and similarities to my cultures because I have two different cultures — American and Filipino. I just feel like I’m learning a lot and becoming more diverse as a human being. And yeah, I am actually actively exploring opportunities out here.”