Black Eyed Peas honors Apl.de.Ap at Manila concert

Six-time Grammy-winning trio Black Eyed Peas’ recent concert at the SM Mall of Asia Arena turned out to be a tribute to its founding member, Apl.de.Ap.

Throughout the show, members will.i.am, Taboo and J. Rey Soul honored the Filipino-American musician born in Sapangbato, Angeles City, Pampanga.

“He brought Filipino culture all around the world, so we will celebrate Apl.de.Ap all night,” will.i.am said.

Apl.de.Ap, born Allan Pineda Lindo, moved to the US at the age of 14 with his adoptive American family. He met will.i.am at a school in Los Angeles and founded a group that eventually evolved into the Black Eyed Peas.

BEP opened the show with “Let’s Get It Started” and “Boom Boom Pow.” They were later on joined by Jessica Reynoso, professionally known as J. Rey Soul, Apl de Ap’s protégé in The Voice Philippines. She officially replaced Fergie in 2018, who left the group in 2017.

“I thank Apl for believing and for finding J. Rey Soul. I am so grateful that he turned for J.Rey. He had a vision to bring her to America and record. Now she has three songs with us,” will.i.am said.

The surprise did not stop there, as Apl de Ap brought on stage Sandara Park for their collaboration song “2 Proud.”

Journey to stardom

Over the past 30 years, BEP achieved sales of 35 million albums and 120 million singles across seminal releases such as Elephunk, The E.N.D. and more.

One of the era’s biggest acts, they emerged as “the second best-selling artist/group of all-time for downloaded tracks” (Nielsen) and landed on Billboard’s “Hot 100 Artists of the Decade.” In 2011, they dazzled the world with a landmark performance at the Super Bowl XLV Halftime Show.

BEP released several chart-topping hits, including “I Gotta Feeling,” “Where is the Love?,” “Pump It,” “Boom Boom Pow,” “My Humps,” “Meet Me Halfway,” “Let’s Get It Started,” “The Time (Dirty Bit),” “Don’t Stop The Party” and more.

Their eighth studio album, Translation, achieved staggering international success after its release in 2020. Featuring major collaborations with artists such as J Balvin, Ozuna, Maluma, Shakira, Nicky Jam and Tyga, the long-player garnered eight nominations at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, including “Crossover Artist of the Year” and “Hot Latin Song of the Year” for “RITMO” and a nomination at the 2021 Latin Music Awards for “Favorite Artists — Crossover.”

The album also resulted in a series of chart-topping singles, including the massively successful “RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)” [feat. J Balvin] and “MAMACITA” [feat. Ozuna and J.Rey Soul], both of which achieved number one status on three Billboard Charts each, numerous award nominations and gold, platinum and diamond certifications globally.

The knockout album single from December 2020, “Girl Like Me” [feat. Shakira] continued this streak, achieving success on Latin and Top 40 radio, sparking a viral TikTok challenge in late 2020 and scooping the “Best Latin” award at the MTV VMAs, while 2021’s “Hit it” with Saweetie and Lele Pons racked up 5.8 million global audio streams, 1.1 million US audio streams and almost 10 million YouTube views in its first week.

The success of Translation demonstrated BEP’s ability to reinvent themselves along with the changing times, a fact reconfirmed in 2022 when the band reunited with Shakira and David Guetta for “Don’t You Worry,” the first single to drop from their 9th studio album Elevation. The hugely successful lead single was swiftly followed by the Anitta and El Alfa collaboration “Simply the Best.”

In true BEP fashion, the next single “Bailar Contigo” (with reggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee) followed by “Guarantee (Summer Mix),” opened up yet another brilliant chapter in the continuing story of the group in nothing less than international chart-topping style.