SA loob ng pitong taon, napakarami na ring napagdaanan sa mundo ng showbiz ang Kapamilya young singer-actor na si Darren Espanto.
Ayon sa binata, pagkatapos niyang sumali noon at matalo sa “The Voice Kids” sa edad 13, ang plano raw talaga niya ay bumalik na lang sa Canada. Ngunit may iba palang nakatadhana sa kanya.
“In the industry, I’ve learned to be yourself and be unique kasi if you’re trying to give this front to people and it’s not authentic, it’ll be worse for you and the people who are trying to support you din not just in showbiz but in life as well.
“And I guess you have to just keep on pushing for your dreams kasi hindi naman ako yung nanalo sa The Voice Kids and I was really planning on just going back to Canada and continue my life there but that’s not how it turned out,” pahayag ni Darren sa isang panayam.
Aniya pa, “Seven years and I’m still here, very grateful and very blessed to still be working and doing what I love which is performing and making music.”
Sey pa ng 20-year-old singer, sa pitong taon niya sa entertainment industry, may mga challenges din siyang hinarap at napagtagumpayan.
“There are decisions that you may sometimes regret doing but it helps later on kasi everything is a learning lesson din, eh. Kasi lahat naman tayo, we’re still trying to figure out what we want to do in life.
“I’m still figuring out this whole showbiz thing. If you think about seven years, you think it’s a long time but for me, especially my family and I we’re still kind of adjusting to different things kasi even until now we’re still in the learning phase.
“I’m very happy that my parents are always there. Tutok sila sa akin and it really helps having that kind of support system especially in this industry where you never know what people are going to say about you and you never know what’s going to happen as well.
“Everything’s unpredictable but I’m very happy to have the Darrenatics din. I appreciate you guys. Aside from the support of my family and friends, I really wouldn’t have survived this whole industry if it wasn’t for them as well.
“It’s a really big change going from this 13 year old kid moving from Canada to the Philippines without his parents and being alone and stuff like that. So dahil sa inyo, na-survive ko yung adjusting phase na yun,” tuluy-tuloy pa niyang pahayag.
Samantala, promise ni Darren sa kanyang fans, kakaririn na rin daw niya ngayon ang pagsasayaw na mapapanood nga sa nalalapit niyang digital show na “Darren Home Run: The Comeback Concert.”
“Kasi a year without performing and dancing that much, I was really thinking, ‘oh no I’m going to be out of breath by this time.’ But when we started rehearsing back in March I was really surprised because I wouldn’t have to vocalize to sing the songs especially to reach the high notes and I didn’t really have to train my stamina for rehearsing again.
“Napansin ng musical director ko, sabi niya, ‘I wish I had the same endurance as you when I was 20.’ Even direk Paolo (Valenciano) said, ‘Darren’s more confident now when he’s dancing and when he’s singing. I haven’t seen him perform like this before.’
“In my previous concerts I was still in my puberty stage so my voice wasn’t as stable yet. I wasn’t as confident in my dancing as well. Pero yun nga yung weird sa akin. I was in Canada for a year. I didn’t get to perform like this. I really didn’t do much dancing especially.
“So I would expect myself to be a bit rusty on some parts especially in my voice and my dancing. But yun yung napansin nila sa akin,” aniya pa.
“Napansin nila na mas confident ako, mas prepared ako, mas present sa concert na ‘to. Parang nagtaka lang ako and I was asking, ‘That’s so weird. I wonder why.’ Pero siguro nga I guess that’s how much I miss performing.
“So I guess that’s what happened with me. And one year na hindi ginamit ng ganito yung vocal cords ko, I guess I don’t have to vocalize as much anymore because my vocal cords were kind of resting for a year so now it’s getting back to where it was before and I’m just so excited to go back to rehearsals as well,” dagdag pang chika ng binata.
Mapapanood na ang “Darren Home Run: The Comeback Concert” sa June 19, 8 p.m. (with a special run on June 20). Available ang ticket sa KTX.ph, iWant TFC at TFC IPTV.