Gerald Santos embraces courage

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“Courage” and “Hubad” are bold words that best describe singer-actor Gerald Santos these days.

“Courage” is what Gerald decided to tag his solo concert tonight at the SM North EDSA Sky Dome, while “Hubad” is the title of his latest single. The words are what were attached to him lately.

“Hubad” gives Gerald the sexy, sexual feel. Since he wants to offer something new to his fans and followers, he wants to give the public a new sound.

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“I have other songs I recorded which has the same theme,” he offered. “This is just my first in the new sound that I will offer.”

 Gerald is admittedly “courageous” in the new songs that he will also offer. “I will sing a lot of unorthodox songs in my concert that the audience doesn’t typically hear me render,” he said.

 In August last year, Gerald’s “Courage” concert was conceptualized following his earlier show, “Grateful,” that marked his 18th year in the music business after winning the grand prize in the second season of “Pinoy Pop Superstar” (2005).

Musical director for “Courage” is Jason Cabatoc, who also arranged “Hubad,” penned by Cebu-based songwriter, Feb Cabahug. Gerald’s talent manager Antonino Rommel Ramilo works at the helm of the concert.

“I’ve been wanting to offer a new song and reinvent myself,” Gerald said. “Perfect ang song na ‘Hubad’ for me. Feb was even offering to pay me just to sing the song. But I told her there was no need to do that. I believe in the song.

“Sobra akong nagandahan sa song and may potential siya to become a hit, so we collaborated with the song and co-produced it.”

 Gerald was earlier daunted with the title of his new single. He felt it was not appropriate. “But when I read the lyrics and listened to the demo sent to me, I thought otherwise. The song, ‘Hubad,’ was well-written and not bastos.”

Joining him onstage in “Courage” are Erik Santos, Sheryn Regis, Aster P-pop boy band – “the new SB19,” as described by Gerald – Elish, Aliw Award best female artist of 2024 and other surprise artists who will perform numbers with him.

Even before ABS-CBN lost its franchise in 2022, Gerald already secured a record deal with Star Music. “There had been songs with a similar theme like ‘Hubad’ at that time,” he shared. They gave me new songs. Unfortunately, the deal with Star Music did not push through. Maybe that was not meant to be at that time.”

In time with the release of “Hubad” in all digital platforms, Gerald unveiled the Courage Movement to help victims of sexual abuse and harassment.

Just when he thought that his career was at a standstill and nothing was happening, Gerald got the “Miss Saigon” United Kingdom stint in 2016 and that kept him going ever since.

After conquering the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark with his performance of Thuy in “Miss Saigon,” Gerald has decided to stay put in Manila. While he made a name for himself as a Filipino performer in a foreign stage, he even gained fans abroad since 2016.

“It’s a bit lonely to work abroad,” he granted. “Denmark came even in the pandemic. I studied the language for ‘Miss Saigon,’ but if I decided to continue and pursue a career there, I had to learn more about Danish. That’s a bit hard.”

After his stint in the UK and Denmark, Gerald visited and explored other European cities like Madrid (Spain), Paris (France) and Milan (Italy). He also decided to visit the US.

The irony, however, is that Gerald left his heart in New York, where he maintains a long distance relationship (LDR) with his non-showbiz girlfriend, Grace, of nearly two years.

Gerald spent the change of calendars in New York with Grace. Notwithstanding the change in time zones and the long distance affair, the relationship is going strong.

After flexing his acting muscles on the big screen in such early films as director Joel Lamangan’s “Deception” (2021) and “Oras de Peligro” (2023), as well as Lester Dimaranan’s “Mamasapano: Now It Can Be Told” (2022), Gerald will be seen next in writer-director Ronald Sanchez’s “Ayaw Matulog ng Gabi.”

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