EX-Pinoy Big Brother Housemate Bailey May set for Global Stardom

"NOW UNITED" is the first ever global pop group of its kind, created by world-class producer Simon Fuller and is managed by XIX. Simon is the man behind the "Idol" franchise and he also managed the "Spice Girls" in the 90's. The selection of the pop group was carried out during the 3 month long workshop and training in a boot camp but unlike the American Idol, the selection was not covered on TV but through digital platforms and social media like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Many of the members are already well-known in their respective countries.

Four local artists were selected to represent the Philippines that include Bailey May, Ylona Garcia, AC Bonifacio and Girl Trend's Jane de Leon but  only one can be selected from each country and Bailey May eventually made it to the top 14.

The group was formally launched earlier this year and is set to go on their first promotional world tour including Manila. They recently performed at Russia's The Voice Kids, their first performance outside the United States.  Their first single is "Summer in the City"

List of the 14 band members:

Noah Urrea (USA), Any Gabrielly (Brazil), Bailey May (Philippines), Diarra Bae from (Senegal), Heyoon Jeong (South Korea), Hina Yoshihara (Japan), Joalin Loukamaa (Finland), Josh Beauchamp (Canada), Krystian Wang (China), Lamar Morris (United Kingdom), Noah Urrea (United States of America), Sabina, Hidalgo (Mexico), Shivani Paliwal (India), Sina Deinert (Germany)  and Sofya Plotnikova (Russia).  

KOBE AND ANDRE REUNITES WITH MOM JACKIE FORSTER AFTER 12 YEARS

Former actress Jackie Forster posted on her  Instagram account about her reunion with estranged sons Andre and Kobe.

Andre and Kobe are Jackie's children with actor and former basketball superstar Benjie Paras.  Jackie has remarried and is now based in Malaysia with her husband and 3 children.  Prior to the reunion, both Andre and Kobe refused to talk to their mother despite their mom's effort trying to reach out to them.

Jackie recounts her emotional reunion with her two sons on popular showbiz site pep.ph.

Kobe is now back in the country and is set to play for Gilas for their upcoming second window game against Australia for FIBA qualifying round at MOA in July.

TOP 40 MOST VIEWED FILIPINO MUSIC VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE

Top 10 Filipino Artists (clockwise):  Yeng Constantino, Inigo Pascual, Up Dharma Down, Daryll Ong, Ex-Battalion
Darren Espanto, KZ Tandingan, Charice Pempenco (AKA Jake Zyrus), KZ Tandingan and James Reid & Nadine Lusttre

NOTICE :  This post is outdated.  Please click on the link below this to view the UPDATED LIST (January 2019)

http://nextfactorph.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-post-about-top-40-most-viewed-music.html

AND

  https://nextfactorph.blogspot.com/2019/05/opm-is-here-to-stay.html

Yeng Constatino's “Ikaw” topped the list of the most viewed music videos by Filipino Artists on YouTube with 72,539,313 views,  followed closely by Inigo Pascual's "Dahil Sa'Yo" with 69,581,757 and on the third spot is "Tadhana" by Up Dharma Down with 59,516,602 views.

Recent viral hits "Hayaan Mo Sila" by Ex-Battalion (#5) and "Dying Inside To Hold You" (#6) by Darren Espanto easily climbed to the top in just a few months.  

Sam's Concepcion's two songs "Dati" (#12) and "Mahal na Mahal" (#16) are quite popular to foreigners specially Indonesians and Malaysians citing it's catchy and beautiful upbeat melody.  A foreigner fan Soraya Burrow says: "I luv this song ("Dati"), but I honestly do not know what they r saying but their voices go beautifully together." 

But the breakthrough artist could be Inigo Pascual.  His song "Dahil Sa'yo" (which he also wrote) is a monster hit and stayed no. 1 on Billboard Philippines for several months.  Several versions of the song have been uploaded on YouTube not only by local fans but from foreign fans as well. 

Charice's 2010 hit song "Pyramid ranked 8th place while her cover of Celine Dion's "All By Myself" ranked 24th.  Popular loveteam Jadine (James Reid and Nadine Lustre) have 3 songs in the Top 40 ("Hanap Hanap," "Bahala Na" and "No Erase" at no. 10, 23 and 32, respectively). while Daniel Padilla's hit song "Simpleng Tulad Mo" ranked 33rd.

Conspicuously missing on the Top 40 are music videos of the country's big name artists like Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera and Regine Velasquez, however it is understandable because most of their hit songs were during the 80's and 90's and they have no significant hits during the past decade or so.  Surprisingly, none of Sarah Geronimo's songs made it to the top 40 as well.  Her song "Kilometro" barely reach 9 million views. Ironically, a lot of new singers with very minimal exposure on TV have made it to the Top 40, namely: Jireh Lim, TJ Monteverde, Silent Sanctuary, Marc Carpio and Donnalyn Bartolome.  The new breed of young Divas like Yeng Constantino, KZ Tandingan, Morisette Amon, Jona, Moira de la Torre and Angeline Quinto are consistently doing well with one hit after another.

Listed below is the complete ranking as of April 26, 2018.  Bear in mind figures varies from time to time.  If there's any song(s) not on the list, kindly notify and we will rectify it accordingly. 

TITLE OF SONG / ARTIST No. of Views 1 "Ikaw" - Yeng Constantino  72,539,313 2 "Dahil Sa'yo" (Official Lyric Video) - Inigo Pascual 69,581,757 3 "Tadhana" - Up Dharma Down 59,516,602 4 "Stay" by Dary Ong (On the Wings of Love OST) Lyrics 50,182,135 5 "Hayaan Mo Sila" - Ex Battalion x O.C Dawgs (Official Music Video) 49,924,086 6 "Dying Inside To Hold You" - Darren Espanto 49,810,195 7  "Mahal Ko o Mahal Ako" - KZ Tandingan 49,362,786 8 "Charice" - Pyramid [featuring Iyaz] (Viral Video) 48,581,924 9  KZ Tandingan covers "Two Less Lonely People In The World"   48,190,729 10 "Hanap-Hanap" - James Reid and Nadine Lustre (Official Music Video) 46,277,669 11 Abra ft. Thyro & Jeriko Aguilar - "Gayuma"  46,189,845 12 "Dati" - Sam concepcion 44,386,537 13 "Malaya"  -  Mora de La Torre (Camp Sawi OST) 42,802,564 14 "Tuloy Pa Rin" by Neocolors 42,363,166 15 "Pasensya Ka Na"  Silent Sanctuary  Official Lyric 41,905,153 16 "Mahal Na Mahal" - Sam Concepcion 38,698,950 17 "Ikaw at Ako" - TJ Monteverde 36,756,344 18  "Pagsuko" - Jireh Lim *lyrics* 35,605,182 19 "Kahit kailan" - South border 34,942,036 20 " Magkabilang Mundo" (Official Music Video) - Jireh Lim 34,694,103 21 "Rainbow" by southborder (lyrics) 34,420,349 22  "Bahala Na" - James Reid & Nadine Lustre (Music From Talk Back and You're Dead) 34,081,354 23 "Pusong Ligaw" - Jona (Official Recording Session) 33,426,384 24 Charice Pempengco - "All By Mysel"f (That's how you sing this song) 32,727,670 25 Sue Ramirez covers "Your Love" (Alamid) LIVE on Wish 107.5 Bus 31,852,624 26 Silent Sanctuary | Sa'Yo | Official Music Video 31,704,722 27 "Kunin Mo Na Ang Lahat Sa Akin" - Angeline Quinto (Lyrics) 30,676,326 28 Moira Dela Torre - Torete "Love You To The Stars And Back" 30,190,464 29 "Need You" - Bosx1ne, JRoa, Skusta Clee, Emcee Rhenn, Flow-G, Bullet-D & Kent MNL 30,188,761 30 Callalily - "Pansamantala" (Official Music Video)  28,827,883 31  “Hiling – Mark Carpio (PBB Lucky 7 OST) Lyrics 28,338,819 32 "No Erase" - James Reid & Nadine Lustre (Diary ng Panget The Movie OST) 27,620,127 33 "Simpleng Tulad Mo" - Daniel Padilla 26,513,951 34 "Kundiman" by Silent Sanctuary 25,727,224 35 " Kakaibabe"  - Donnalyn Bartolome 25,193,539 36 Abra ft. Chito Miranda - "Diwata" (Official Music Video) 25,083,409 37 "Akin Ka Na Lang"  - Moriesette 24,790,955 38 "Wag Mo Na Sana" - Parokya ni edgar 24,547,843 39 GLOC-9 feat. Ebe Dancel -" Sirena" (Official Music Video) 23,648,646 40 "Rebound"- Silent Sanctuary 23,303,988 NOTE :  HERE'S THE LINK OF THE UNPDATED LIST FOR 2019 - http://nextfactorph.blogspot.com/2019/01/my-post-about-top-40-most-viewed-music.html

TNT KIDS KIEFER, FRANCIS AND MACKIE WOW "LITTLE BIG SHOTS UK"

TNT Kids Kiefer, Francis and Mackie have gone a long way.  

Francis Concepcion, Mackie Empuerto and Kiefer Sanchez were finalists of "Tawag ng Tanghalan Kids," a singing contest segment of popular noontime show "It's Showtime" last year.  The three young boys gained popularity after their impromptu performance of Beyonce's "Listen" on "Gandang Gabi Vice" went viral and since then they have been invited to guest on several shows and more recently, they were invited to sing at "Little Big Shots UK" and wowed the audience with their rendition of Beyonce's "Listen."

The three talented kids will soon join the lastest season of ABS-CBN's "Your Face Sounds Familiar."

UPDATE:

The young trio also appeared on the US edition of "Little Big Shots" hosted by Steve Harvey.  The are also busy taping "Your Voice Sounds Familiar" kids edition.  Watch them on youtube.

JESSY MENDIOLA SET UP A SURPRISE DINNER CELEBRATION FOR LUIS MANZANO ATTENDED BY LUIS' FAMILY INCLUDING EDU, RALPH AND VILMA

It's indeed very rare to see Edu Manzano and Senator Ralph Recto together, in fact it's my first time to see them both in one picture together.  As we all know they all have one common denominator, who else but  Star for all Seasons and Congresswoman Vilma Santos.  Edu was Ate Vi's first husband and Senator Ralph is Vilma's husband for nearly 35 years now (correct me if I am wrong). This happened during Luis' birthday celebration at Solaire Resort and Casino (April 21, 2018).  Also seen in the pictures are Ryan Christian Recto (only son of Ate Vi and Sen. Recto), Luis' girlfriend Jessy Mendiola and Jessy's mom Didith Garvida.

The surprise dinner date was arranged by Luis' girlfriend Jessy Mendiola.

Pictures posted here were taken from Instagram account of Luis Manzano and Jessy Mendiola.

PHILIPPINES HIGHLY FAVORED TO HOST MISS UNIVERSE 2018

The Philippines is reportedly favored to host Miss Universe 2018 after talks with Chinese officials failed.  Apparently China does not want to air the pageant live which the Miss Universe organization disagreed.

In an article on Manila Bulletin dated 21 April 2018, the annual prestigious beauty pageant is likely to be held in the Philippines and  could be held in the resort island of Boracay when it opens later this year.  The island is scheduled for rehab beginning next week (April 26) for a period of six months but could be cut short if the deal with Miss Universe Org. is done. 

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo was quoted saying that it was President Duterte himself who suggested the idea of holding the pageant in Boracay and would just be perfect timing to promote the island after its closure.

The Philippines hosted the pageant  in 1974, 1994 and 2017 (for MU 2016).