Daily TribuneSB19’s success is made of their blood, sweat, tears, heartbreaks, training, luck, the fire in their spirit, passion in their hearts, the autonomy they have now, the professionalism they employ and a fiercely dedicated ATIN fandom.
SB19 — Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken and Justin — continue to inspire audiences with their story of perseverance, passion and growth, proving that grit and determination can turn dreams into reality.
Photograph courtesy of IG/SB19
Now hailed as P-pop Kings, John Pablo Nase, Josh Cullen Santos, Stell Ajero, Justin de Dios and Ken Suson are the perfect examples of what happens when you have grit, guts, talent, diligence, a tenacious attitude, luck, passion and a fandom.
Thanks to the boys love drama Gameboys, which starred Kokoy de Santos and Elijah Canlas and used SB19’s “Hanggang Sa Muli” as a theme song, people became curious about the singers of the love anthem that captured the feels between De Santos’ Gavreel and Canlas’ Cairo.
With its deeply emotional narrative of unrequited love, the intimacy and pathos felt because of the vocal harmony pulled me to the SB19 universe, and the KenTell videos that showed their unfiltered closeness on YouTube became my happy pills during the dreary and lonely pandemic.
Their first original song “Tilaluha,” which made me teary-eyed, did not move the market and this reality almost made all of them throw in the towel and bid their singing dream farewell. Then, a K-Pop fan, Lyra, on 2 September 2019, shared a clip of the rehearsal video of SB19’s “Go Up,” praising their dance precision and synchronization and catchy upbeat lyrics. It aroused the curiosity of many as they all trooped to YouTube to watch the original video of the song. Lyra was SB19’s lady luck and the fairy godmother they needed to push their Cinderella men narrative to the local and international mainstream.
The climb was not the easiest — dismissed as K-pop copycats, body-shamed, bashed, maligned and ridiculed on a personal level, they were hounded by gossip and intrigues, and a legal debacle transpired while they were on tour.
Ajero, De Dios, Nase, Santos and Suson, for all the mud and vitriol, were unperturbed. The negativity fueled their commitment to realize their dreams.
Before their naysayers could make their predictions, the milestones happened: first Southeast Asian act to top the hot trending songs with “Bazinga” making history by replacing BTS’ “Butter” on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs Chart holding the peak of a record-breaking seven weeks; first Filipino act to debut at number 1 on the Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales Chart with their single “Dam”; first Southeast Asian act to be nominated for top social artist at the Billboard Music Awards; first Filipino group to win the prestigious Best Artist Award (Singer) and Hot Trend Artist Award at Asian Artist Award; “GENTO” and “Crimzone” successfully cleared the screening process as an approved entry for the 66th Annual Awards, another first Filipino feat, and locally, “AWIT” and PMPC Star Awards sweep.
Their great phase era continues and all you need to do is to go to your favorite search engine to know about them.
The best thing about this Southeast Asian Pop Superstar Group is that their reign goes beyond music. They are the official Youth and Sentro Rizal Ambassadors of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and they were the recipient of the SUDI Awards for their immense cultural impact in shaping modern Filipino music.
SB19’s success and their inspirational story is made of their blood, sweat, tears, heartbreaks, training, luck, the fire in their spirit, passion in their hearts, the autonomy they have now, the professionalism they employ and a fiercely dedicated ATIN fandom.
Patuloy niyong iwagayway ang watawat, SB19!
