Focus on the Philippines: Seven-times-platinum status for Alden Richards’s album Wish I May

Plus: Pia Wurtzbach meets Rodrigo Duterte to talk Miss Universe; Junior New System triumph at global dance tilt; Parokya ni Edgar to release comeback album.

Album cover of Wish I May by Alden Richards. Courtesy GMA Records
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Filipino actor and singer Alden Richards could barely contain himself on last Sunday's episode of the variety programme Sunday Pinasaya (A Happier Sunday), when it was announced that his album, Wish I May, had reached seven-times-platinum status.

The album was released in October last year, three months after Richards was catapulted to fame on the television show Eat Bulaga! (Noontime Surprise), on which he appeared as one half of supercouple AlDub, opposite Maine Mendoza. The pair continue to appear on the daily variety show.

“Thank you because you’ve always been there for me,” a teary-eyed Richards told fans on Sunday. “Even if there are so many who doubt us, there are so many of you who have not given up on me.”

Lost for words, he hid his face behind the trophy awarded to him and mumbled: “This is seven times platinum – thank you so much.”

Released on GMA Records, Wish I May features 11 tracks. It earned gold status on the day of its release, becoming the fastest-selling Filipino record last year. It reached five-times-platinum status in March, making it the best-selling record in the Philippines so far this year. It also topped the Philippine charts on iTunes.

The album also peaked at number eight on Billboard's Pacific charts, with Richards becoming only the third Filipino singer – and the first Filipino male artist – to make the international charts, after Jaya in 1990 and Charice in 2010. The 24-year-old also stars with Mendoza and Jasmine Curtis-Smith in the movie Imagine You and Me, a romantic comedy that opens in UAE cinemas on July 28.

It earned more than 21.5 million Philippine pesos (Dh1.7m) when it opened in the Philippines on July 13, making it the highest opening gross for a Filipino film this year.

Miss Universe meets Philippine president Duterte

Reigning Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach flew from New York to Manila on Monday to meet the newly elected Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, and discuss the possibility of holding this year’s pageant in the Philippines.

“I don’t think it’s a secret, I think it’s public knowledge that it is my personal dream – and I think it’s a dream of a lot of Filipinos, the majority of the Filipinos – that someday we’ll see the Miss Universe Pageant to be held here,” Wurtzbach said, without revealing any details of her conversation with Duterte. “And we’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

Wurtzbach also met Department of Tourism secretary Wanda Teo, who this month revealed that discussions were underway with the Miss Universe Foundation over hosting the pageant.

“I’m back here to work,” said Wurtzbach. “Actually, it’s always been a dream of mine to be an ambassador of the Philippines and to promote tourism, and I still continue pursuing that goal of being a great ambassador as I go throughout my reign, as I visit different countries around the world as Miss Universe.”

Wurtzbach posted on Instagram a selfie with Duterte, mentioning that they are both from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.

“What an honour it was to meet our new president, Rodrigo Duterte. First Mindanaon president and first Mindanaon Miss Universe,” she wrote.

The Philippines last hosted the Miss Universe pageant in 1994.

Junior New System triumph at global dance event

Filipino teenage dance group Junior New System won two major awards at the World Championship of Performing Arts, which was held in Long Beach, California, from July 8 to 17.

The group won the Champion Dance Group of the World award, and was also named Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World.

“We hope we have made all Filipinos proud,” the group said. “We’re now ready for the next chapter – to face new challenges and to keep us going forward.”

Junior New System formed in 2009 and are best known for their appearance on last year's international reality-TV competition Asia's Got Talent, in which they reached the finals, finishing in ninth place.

The competition was won by another Filipino group, El Gamma Penumbra.

Parokya ni Edgar’s comeback album

Parokya ni Edgar, one of the most popular Filipino music acts, have revealed that they are releasing a new studio album, their first since 2010's Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers.

“We are excited to play these new songs for you,” lead singer Chito Miranda wrote on Instagram. He also revealed that the album had taken three years to complete.

“We managed to write and record but at a very slow pace. To give you an idea, we started recording for this album back in 2013.”

Parokya ni Edgar was formed in 1993 and are known for their pop-rock songs and satirical covers of foreign and local tracks from various genres.

artslife@thenational.ae