When all white is all right

Could it be true that Stell of SB19 designed the all-white suit and pants that Ogie Alcasid wore at the 10th Wish Music Awards on Sunday night (19 January) at the Araneta Coliseum where Alcasid was honored with the KDR Icon of Music Excellence award?

Actually, Stell himself was in that event and ended up with three awards. Alcasid interrupted his acceptance speech to thank Stell for designing his outfit and invited the most renowned SB19 member to join him on stage for a moment. It was easy for Stell to do that because he was sitting in the front rows of the Big Dome, as almost all the celebrities who turned up that night were made to sit, including those assigned to perform.

When Stell was only a few meters away, Alcasid called everyone’s attention to the fact that their outfits have exactly the same design — though the SB19 member is much taller than Alcasid.

Stell didn’t say a word and instead proceeded to fix Alcasid’s suit from the hemline to the collar. Alcasid reacted by touching Stell’s face and intoned: “Salamat, anak! Ang bait mo talaga!”

Stell sweetly bowed to the audience and then walked down from the stage. The audience wildly applauded him. At that juncture of the drawn out event, Stell has already won an award for Ballad of the Year for his “Di Ko Masabi.” And before winning, he had presented a set of awards along with a female disc jockey.

Later, Stell won two more awards: Breakthrough Artist and Wisher’s Choice. A “breakthrough” award is usually given to newcomers. Stell is a newcomer as a solo performer. Last year was the time all SB19 members launched singles and a full-length album as solo artists.

Actually, that night at the Big Dome, three other SB19 members also won awards as solo performers. Pablo, who was absent, won Artist of the Year. Ken, as Felip when he goes solo, won Best Rock/Alternative Song for his “Kanako.” Ken/Felip wasn’t at the Big Dome, so an executive from SB19’s management accepted the trophy on his behalf.

Another SB19 member who took home an award is Josh Cullen whose “Get Right” was named “Hip-hop of the Year.” He was present and received his trophy himself.

SB19 as a group also won some trophies in the 10th WMA. They clinched Best Collaboration for “Kalakal” which they recorded with veteran rapper Glock 9. They brought home the trophy for Wishclusive Ballad Performance of the Year for their song “Ilaw.”

BINI also solidified its position as the top girl group in the country after winning three plums: Group of the Year, Pop Song of the Year, and Wishclusive Pop Performance of the Year for “Karera.”

All the BINIs were present during the first hours of the long awards night. They were not around anymore when their second and third awards were announced. Two energetic female executives of their recording company Star Music accepted their trophies in their behalf.

With Karylle and Christian Bautista as vibrant hosts, the 10th WMA started at about 7:30 p.m. and concluded at past 11 p.m. Some musical intermissions were rather long and cueing some performances take time, so the hosts had to talk about things and sundry to avoid dead air.

Of course, they had kilometric yarns about how Wish radio 107.5 and the WMA have been helping mightily the energy of OPM (Original Pilipino Music). By the way, when Wish radio announces its call sign, it drops the “point.” Their jingles and other plugs utter “one-ohh-seven-five” as their FM radio band.

The awards night had no live digital airing so it can afford to run as long as the producers want it. All the almost four hours duration of the event thankfully had no commercials.

Each awardee was announced to receive P25K but a charity and civic organization of their choice would be given P100k. They actually had to choose from a list, and the nominees are asked to choose their beneficiary before the awards night. When they win, the voice-over announcer stated right away their choice of beneficiary.

Ogie Alcasid was a special awardee of KDR Music House, the production and entertainment arm of Wish radio. KDR stands for Kuya Daniel Razon who actually heads the corporate entity that owns Wish radio, UNTV, and other business and civic ventures the corporation is into. All those business and civic-charity companies are a legacy from the late foremost televangelist Ely R. Soriano who was an uncle of KDR.

Another KDR awardee at the Big Dome was the world-popular Fil-American rapper apl.de.ap. He was bestowed the KDR Icon of Music and Philanthropy. He’s been maintaining a foundation that gives scholarships to Filipino youth.

We never got to find out if Razon was somewhere at the Coliseum watching the proceedings. He addressed the OPM artists and the audience through a videotaped long message. He stressed that the donations the WMA give to beneficiaries is how it differs from all other award undertakings.

We also never get to find out if Stell did design his outfit and that of Alcasid. But we do believe he is capable of doing that. He has so much talent within his androgynous personality.

Here are the awardees we have not mentioned:

•R&B: “sining” by Dionela featuring Jay R.

•Contemporary Folk: “Umaycan” by Noel Cabangon

•Contemporary R&B: “Segundo, Siguro” by Arthur Nery

•R&B Performance of the Year: “Guiding Star” by Jay R

•Rock/Alternative Performance of the Year: “Orasa” by Dilaw

•Wishclusive R&B Performance of the Year: “Guiding Star” by Jay R

•Wishclusive Rock/Alternative Performance of the Year: “Orasa” by Dilaw

•Wishclusive Hip-hop Performance of the Year: “Tugmang Preso” by Loonie

•Wishclusive Contemporary Folk Performance of the Year: “Ikaw Pa Rin Ang Pipiliin Ko” by Cup of Joe

•Wishclusive Contemporary R&B Performance of the Year: “Babala” by Yeng Constantino

•Wishclusive Collaboration of the Year: “Gusto” by Zack Tabudlo and Al James

•Spotify Kalye Song of the Year: “Babaero” by gins&melodies (featuring rapper Hev Abi)

The 10th Music Awards was a long night--but we enjoyed the musical intermissions performed by Regine Velasquez, Dionella and Jay R, TJ Monterde, KS Tandingan, the rappers that include Heb Avi (who has the highest digital views in the country in 2024), and the production number of G22.

The rising singer (with movie star looks) performed several songs of Ogie Alcasid before Alcasid went up the stage to receive his award and delivered an entertaining acceptance speech that took about 15 minutes. Deniel is a much improved performer now than when we first saw him as a featured artist in a group concert.