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.
