00:53.2
What made you decide to sign up with Star Magic?
00:57.5
Well, my management really is Genesis, Manila Genesis Entertainment.
01:05.2
But we felt that it's the culminating, this is the big concert, which is Pure Energy, one last time.
01:12.6
It's the culminating event of my 40th year.
01:15.7
And we just thought, hey, why not? Let's try something new.
01:21.3
And Star Magic has...
01:22.9
always supported me, even if I'm not, I was not a part of, officially, you know, of Star Magic.
01:30.1
So, when Angeli came up to me and said, hey, are you willing?
01:34.9
And I said, wait, wait a minute.
01:36.2
And the first question, to be honest with you, MJ, is, the first question I asked the higher-ups of Star Magic was,
01:44.5
talaga bang may lugar ako sa Star Magic?
01:47.6
Kasi I've been around for 40 years, you know, and Star Magic is really, I mean,
01:52.9
the younger artists and the younger actors and actresses and singers, fabulous.
01:59.4
So, I said, what role will I play?
02:01.4
And I received such a comforting, encouraging word from Direk Loren and Ms. Corrie Vidanes,
02:12.8
saying that it is something that they feel would benefit even the younger ones if I was a part of it.
02:20.1
And for me, at least now I can have more of my...
02:22.9
wife with me, you know, so she doesn't have to worry about, okay, what direction I'm going to take.
02:27.9
Although it is, it's still a marrying of both, you know, Manila Genesis Entertainment and Star Magic.
02:35.3
I can look at Angeli and go, hey, you know, let's do things that we haven't been able to do
02:42.7
because, you know, we've always been focused on Gary Valenciano and his career.
02:46.5
And now, we have people that we can entrust this to, you know, to take me to other places.
02:52.9
Projects that may not necessarily have to pertain just to music.
02:57.7
So, when I said my doors are open, which is, I mentioned this before in a press conference,
03:04.3
my doors are open to many other things, musicals, theater, movies, you know,
03:09.3
all of these things I'm kind of opening up to, you know, now again.
03:13.1
So, may possibility na mag-acting ulit?
03:15.6
Yeah, I'd love, I don't mind, I don't mind acting.
03:18.5
When was the last time?
03:22.9
It was I Doobie Doobie Doo that I did with Ogie Alcacid and Sam Concepcion and P.P. Dos Santos.
03:30.7
It was, I miss doing that also.
03:34.6
Right, right. That will be refreshing.
03:37.4
Oopsie-daisy, especially for the new generation to see you act again.
03:42.7
Yeah, I'm not sure if any of them, I think many of the younger generation today, if at all,
03:48.2
they've seen me in theater.
03:50.1
Like when I did Joseph the Dreamer, you know.
03:52.9
that's a, that's a very small market as compared to what people might see in the movies, you know.
03:58.0
And I'm not, I don't need like a big lead role or anything.
04:02.2
But, just to scratch that itch ba, kasi nami-miss ko talaga eh.
04:07.2
No, I wanna see the Hataw na, remember that movie?
04:11.2
You know, if we had a part two of that, now, with the way dance has become so much a part of young people's lives,
04:18.4
I think something can definitely be done.
04:20.3
I mean, before they did Step Up in Hollywood, we did that.
04:23.8
That's actually a movie that was ahead of its time, which was Dayanara Torres, but it was my first movie with, uh, with Star Cinema, you know.
04:35.2
Another milestone is your upcoming concert.
04:37.9
After Energy won last time.
04:40.4
Before we started this interview, Kuya Gary has been whispering to me that, uh, this is something that we should not miss.
04:49.1
Yeah, I think so.
04:52.8
I think this is one concert where, sana I could divide myself into two, so I could actually see the performance itself.
05:03.5
It's going to be a huge production.
05:06.0
And it's not just a huge production, but it's a huge production comprised of yung mga tao na nasalo nila yung dahilan.
05:13.5
They, they captured the vision of the concert.
05:16.0
Is it my last concert?
05:17.6
It is not my last concert.
05:19.3
It is my last big solo.
05:22.1
I'm very Valenciano.
05:23.3
Hataw na ating, you know.
05:24.8
Of course I'm still going to dance.
05:26.1
I'm still going to move.
05:27.9
But there is a calling in my life.
05:29.8
There's a direction that I'm going to take.
05:32.3
And it's, I don't know what lies out there, but it's been revealed to me na kasi MJ.
05:37.6
But that's all gonna be explained in the concert.
05:40.2
Um, but we rehearsed and we have been rehearsing.
05:44.9
First band rehearsal, you know, when we're doing the band rehearsal, I could see the reactions of some of the musicians going, wow, you know.
05:53.0
And then when we did the dance rehearsals, the dancers were like, oh, it's gonna be, it's huge.
05:58.9
It's huge, not just physically where people are going to see something big.
06:03.0
But I think people are going to, people will understand why it's called One Last Time.
06:11.5
And people will take home that message with them, you know.
06:15.4
And that's my main objective.
06:17.3
For three full nights.
06:20.1
For three full nights.
06:21.3
Because we added one.
06:22.2
We have an extension.
06:23.8
It is not a repeat, no.
06:25.1
It is an extension because people have been looking for tickets.
06:28.0
And I want to thank all of those who have already bought tickets.
06:31.8
Magagalit pag walang extended ride.
06:35.1
De, tsaka kailangan kong sabihin na dun sa dance rehearsal namin, may mga platform kami eh.
06:40.4
Kung saan nakikita namin yung sa iba't ibang angulo, yung sayaw.
06:46.1
Kahit bumili kayo ng Gen-Ad, you will enjoy the show.
06:49.9
It's a different experience.
06:50.7
It's a different experience.
06:50.9
It's a different, and it's massive eh.
06:53.1
So, it's, first, dahil ang laki ng production, parang hindi ka malayo.
06:57.9
Kahit malayo ang upo nyo, because ang laki eh.
07:01.0
But it looks, it looks, it looks magnificent actually.
07:05.2
And I'm cautious lang to say these things, because I never say these things about my concerts.
07:09.4
I always just tell people, come, come.
07:11.6
But there's something about this, you know.
07:14.7
To see people habang nagre-rehearse kami, you know, and then you see people going, I'm like, what are they seeing?
07:20.8
Nafi-feel ko lang kung anong nakikita nila, kasi ako yung nasa entablado eh.
07:24.8
So, sana, sana yun din ang ma-feel ng tao.
07:27.7
I can already sense the excitement.
07:29.2
I can already sense that you are 100% emotionally, physically, and mentally ready for this.
07:35.3
I am. I really am.
07:37.1
We follow the different schedule for this.
07:41.0
There is a chart kasi that I follow.
07:42.8
It's called the GANT chart.
07:45.7
Okay, now, this is a tip for some of you out there, no, if you want to use this, no.
07:50.1
Usually, we plan, okay, ito yung meeting natin, anong gagawin natin dito?
07:54.0
So, we'll rehearse here, we'll finish the musical arrangements here, we'll go here, then here, then here, then the end product.
08:00.2
What we did with the GANT chart is the opposite.
08:02.6
It's, here, we are with the final, the show.
08:06.3
What do we do a week before?
08:08.1
Then we go backwards.
08:09.7
We are on schedule.
08:11.5
And so, physically, you know, a week before the concert, basically, we have 10 days to go.
08:18.0
A week before, we're, no more, no more rehearsals.
08:23.1
Only rehearsal will be the day before the concert where we actually go in and rehearse.
08:29.2
And feel the place.
08:30.4
The stage, we are already feeling because I am rehearsing in a place where we set up
08:35.7
We have the stage set up and the lights are going to be there today and tomorrow and the
08:39.3
band is going to be there with the dancers and all.
08:41.9
So we're basically running the whole concert now.
08:44.4
We are working now.
08:45.6
By the time we get to the concert, we're just enjoying the fruit of our labor.
08:50.1
So that's always been my hope that I could do in every concert.
08:54.6
But it doesn't end up that way.
08:56.0
But for this big one, we followed that chart and I'm so thankful to my team that we're
09:01.2
actually on schedule.
09:02.2
There was this one post of yours on Paolo, who's directing your concert.
09:07.8
And then I think you just finished a rehearsal during that time and then he said, end of
09:13.1
What does that mean to you?
09:14.1
Because, you know, I don't know.
09:21.3
The world has changed so much.
09:24.5
When I started 40 years ago, there was no Internet, there was no social media.
09:29.8
Now that is what dictates.
09:31.9
In fact, what you're holding in your hand is much bigger.
09:34.6
It's a much bigger stage than the stage I'm going to have, which is 64 feet by 60 feet.
09:40.0
I mean, it's a big stage.
09:42.0
But your phone, anybody's cell phone, is a bigger stage.
09:48.5
So, this one will be, he said era, maybe because he also knows where I'm going to head toward.
09:58.6
And the word inspiration, which has always been a part of my life, that's really what I'm going to be focusing more on.
10:05.2
It's reaching people at the point of their needs.
10:07.4
Some people say, yeah, but you've been doing that already.
10:09.8
But now, I think that is really what I'm called to do.
10:14.6
That would be my priority now.
10:16.8
Because I've had experiences of speaking even to young people, Gen Z.
10:23.0
I remember, that school.
10:24.7
One school that you went to.
10:25.9
I went to 58 schools already, universities, high schools, and I'm going to continue doing that.
10:30.8
But that's not the only thing I'm going to do.
10:32.5
I'm going to open up my door to offices, businesses, companies.
10:35.7
If they want me to be there, of course I'm going to sing.
10:39.2
But there needs to be something more than just people watching me hataw.
10:44.8
Because it's the only time it may happen.
10:46.8
Between me and my audience, so you give them more than what they came to see.
10:50.7
You give them something that they can take home with them, that later on, they may apply into their lives, and it may bear fruit somehow.
10:58.2
Nakata-excite, this new chapter that you're about to enter.
11:03.5
I'm going to play a little game.
11:05.3
Okay, so it's one last time, right?
11:07.1
No, no, Kuya Garg. This is mine.
11:09.2
I'm just going to play around with the word, the phrase, one last time.
11:13.1
And you know, top of mind, what comes to your mind lang?
11:15.7
Like the one last time.
11:16.7
The one last time you had a really, crazy, good laugh.
11:22.8
The one last time I had a really, crazy, good laugh, I must say, it was when my family was together sometime in Christmas.
11:33.2
I have three children.
11:35.8
Paulo, who you see directing, is also very crazy.
11:39.1
If you see his posts, you'll see him laugh.
11:41.0
See, I just mentioned it, you're laughing na.
11:45.0
Gabriel is like the...
11:47.5
I mean, I know I'm a, you know, but there is an animal called the Tasmanian devil.
11:52.9
And the character, the cartoon character is somebody who goes, that's Gabriel.
11:58.2
Kiana posted something the other day when they were about to fly to Manila.
12:03.2
And she just decided to take her Kuya coming into the lounge.
12:06.7
And when Gab saw her, he started dancing.
12:08.4
Wala siyang pakialam kung may mga nanonood sa akin.
12:12.8
So during Christmas, I think, was the last time that I had a really good laugh.
12:16.5
Plus, it really runs in the family because even Leia makes me laugh with her one-liners.
12:25.0
And it's amazing.
12:27.3
And it's, yeah, Christmas time siguro was the last time I had one.
12:31.8
Yung talagang, parang you can't even anymore.
12:36.3
And we're all like that.
12:38.2
We're all like that.
12:39.2
We have those moments, sometimes it lasts for five minutes, sometimes ilang segundo lang.
12:43.3
But that's how our family is, eh.
12:45.2
We love to laugh.
12:46.3
One last time, you cried so much.
12:53.3
That's a really good question.
12:57.9
Let me think about it.
13:02.3
It's not one time where I cried.
13:05.7
But there has been a season, and the season is now.
13:09.8
That I've shed, been shedding tears.
13:12.3
Because not many people know that I have these moments when I need to drive.
13:15.8
I need to drive out on my own.
13:19.7
And I drive to, you know, I stay up on the hills.
13:22.6
But I go on SLEX and I go all the way to the end of Star Toll.
13:26.7
I turn around near the Lipa area and I go all the way back.
13:30.0
And it's just me.
13:31.3
And in that, when I'm alone in my car, that's sometimes when I shed tears now more than ever.
13:37.0
Because, you know, MJ, I've often felt na when I was in high school and grade school, I was like, I'm not going to cry.
13:37.8
I'm not going to cry.
13:38.3
I'm not going to cry.
13:38.8
I'm not going to cry.
13:39.3
I'm not going to cry.
13:39.8
I'm not going to cry.
13:40.3
I'm not going to cry.
13:40.8
I'm not going to cry.
13:41.3
I'm not going to cry.
13:41.8
I've often felt na when I was in high school and grade school, parang I felt I didn't really amount to anything special.
13:50.3
My whole family is talented.
13:52.3
We were seven then.
13:54.3
It's two families together.
13:55.3
But when I was in elementary and high school, it's just the Valencianos.
13:59.8
Everybody had talent.
14:01.3
So when I started to sing, parang, uy, he can sing.
14:06.3
My mom was talented.
14:07.3
My dad was an excellent photographer, you know.
14:11.3
So when I'm driving and I think, it's not just one concert.
14:15.8
It's four decades of being able to do this.
14:19.8
I have fans who I have a thread with, no, online.
14:25.3
And they sent me videos just the other day, you know, saying, hey, and it's the same them.
14:31.3
And we've all aged, but their support has not.
14:34.8
You know, so those things bring tears to my eyes.
14:39.3
when I listen to some of the spiels that I'll be doing for the concert,
14:44.3
and I'm just reviewing it, I have to stop.
14:46.3
But it's not tears because I'm sad.
14:50.3
Even now, if I get emotional, it hindi dahil nakakalungkot.
14:53.3
It's just, it's beyond me to have ever imagined that I would last for five years, 10 years, 15, 20.
15:05.3
I can keep on going.
15:14.3
on the 41st year,
15:16.3
I'm signing with Star Magic.
15:19.3
Hey, you know, I mean, sino naman ang hindi magiging emotional?
15:24.3
Nakikita mo yung kabaitan, kagandahan ng Lord sa isang tao na I've often felt I'm not worthy for any of these things.
15:32.3
Hindi, mabait ka kasi marami naman mababait diyan, di ba?
15:36.3
Pero nakakamali rin ako, you know?
15:38.3
And many times, I feel, Lord, how can you bless me with this when you know that this side of me that I struggle with
15:47.3
or this is something that I did or something I thought of or how?
15:51.3
But His ways are different from mine.
15:53.3
It's because of that purpose.
15:54.3
Mayroong binigay talaga sa iyo.
15:55.3
There is a purpose.
15:56.3
And I think it was really written out with, Dear Gary, this is what I want you to do, Jesus.
16:04.3
Sign, you know, with love, with all my love, eternally yours.
16:09.3
And that's what I'm called to do.
16:11.3
And if I back out from that, then I don't fulfill my purpose.
16:18.3
Eto, this is crazy.
16:20.3
You're gonna laugh so hard.
16:21.3
One last time you had a showbiz crush before Tita Angeli.
16:27.3
Kakahiya naman sagot din yan.
16:29.3
Kasi marami yun eh.
16:31.3
Hindi naman marami.
16:32.3
But I think it's common knowledge.
16:34.3
People know that I did have a crush on Pops for a long time.
16:36.3
I did have a crush on Pops Fernandez.
16:43.3
And she knows that, you know.
16:49.3
That's just, you know.
16:50.3
That's just, that two of them lang talaga.
16:54.3
I became friends with people like Jackie Lou Blanco.
16:55.3
But Jackie Lou's like my, like a sister to me.
16:57.3
And she's one person who always makes me laugh.
17:00.3
But it was really Pops Fernandez.
17:05.3
And it was really Pops Fernandez and Sharon Cuneta that I really, parang wow, ganda
17:12.3
When I first time I saw her, I would go pick up.
17:16.3
Kinwento ko na to dati.
17:17.3
But my sister, my youngest sister, studied in St. Paul's Pasig.
17:22.3
Sharon Cuneta studied there too.
17:24.0
And me and my youngest sister, lagi kami nag-aaway niyan.
17:27.3
But I decided to be a good boy and pick her up.
17:30.3
Not because I wanted to pick her up.
17:31.3
But I wanted to make, try and catch Sharon Cuneta.
17:36.3
I was only, wala, I was only, I was entering high school pa lang yata at that time.
17:42.3
So, I got out of the car, stood by the car, baka naman sakaling makita ko.
17:49.3
And my sister came out and I go, hey, what, where is she?
17:54.3
Ah, she went home kanina pa.
17:59.3
I came in front and we started arguing pa.
18:01.3
It's not my fault.
18:02.3
I came here to pick you up.
18:03.3
It was here and then.
18:04.3
It was like that.
18:05.3
But that's Sharon Cuneta.
18:06.3
With Pops Fernandez, I always had to, I don't know why, there was just something about
18:11.3
her that it did not surprise me when Martin started to have something with her.
18:16.3
Hindi ako surprised because every person that I'd meet from my batch in school, every time
18:21.3
they'd meet me, oh Gary, kamusta?
18:22.3
It's like I want to say, kinakamusta mo lang ako dahil gusto mong malaman kung kamusta
18:26.3
si Pops Fernandez.
18:27.3
Hindi kami close ha.
18:31.3
Crazy showbiz crushes.
18:33.3
You already clarified that this is not your last concert but if it is, what will be
18:40.3
that one last song that you wanted to sing?
18:45.3
That I cannot answer.
18:49.3
That people will have to see.
18:50.3
And when they see it, they will understand why it's the last song.
18:54.3
If there will be one last performer you're gonna collaborate with, who is it?
19:04.3
One local and one international.
19:06.3
Pag international, it would be a young artist.
19:11.3
It will be Jacob Collier.
19:13.3
If you have never heard of Jacob Collier, he's been here.
19:16.3
He's a monitor engineer.
19:20.3
He's a female Filipina.
19:24.3
But he is one artist I totally look up to.
19:28.3
He's in the stable of Quincy Jones.
19:30.3
So Quincy Jones is a lot older than me.
19:32.3
But Quincy Jones likes this guy and I really, really like this guy.
19:36.3
If Quincy likes it, Gary likes it.
19:38.3
Oh, I love Jacob Collier.
19:43.3
Local, it would be hard to say one.
19:45.3
Maybe I can give one female and one male.
19:48.3
I think I would like to work with the likes of Moira.
19:53.3
Moira, we don't just share music together, but we share our faith together.
19:58.3
And she's like a daughter to me.
20:00.3
And yet, she's also like a friend.
20:02.3
And among the males, I'm working with some of them for this concert already.
20:10.3
So I have Darren with me and I'm guesting in his concert as well.
20:17.3
But among the males, I've fulfilled that night, honestly.
20:28.3
Because it's not just one male, but it's a band that I'd like to collaborate with.
20:33.3
And that's Ben and Ben.
20:35.3
Now, that's for now.
20:36.3
In the next months or the next years, it might go somewhere else.
20:44.3
I mean, just like if you ask me what my favorite song is, maybe for now it would be this one.
20:48.3
But next week, it could be another song.
20:55.3
I'm just curious.
20:57.3
You've done so many concerts in the past.
21:00.3
If there's one concert back then that you want to have an astral projection and just
21:05.3
watch yourself, anong concert yun?
21:09.3
It would be the concert in 1990 called Major Impact.
21:14.3
It was in September or October of that year, in 1990, a few months after the big earthquake
21:21.3
of 7.8 or 8 or July.
21:23.3
I think it was magnitude 8 or something like that.
21:26.3
That basically destroyed Baguio.
21:28.3
So, the reason why I'd like to see myself do that was because our main objective was
21:34.3
to touch on the major impact that that earthquake had, but to also leave an impact on people's
21:44.3
My guests were Regine Velasquez and Francis Magalona.
21:49.3
And that was a concert, MJ, na ngayon, hanggang ngayon, hindi pa ako nakakarinig.
21:55.3
Hindi pa ako nakakarinig ng sigaw ng tao na ganun kalakas.
22:00.3
It was so loud that you could actually feel the stage, you could feel the stage vibrate.
22:06.3
It's different from when people stomp their feet.
22:10.3
You could feel it.
22:12.3
And then I did a number with Francis Magalona.
22:14.3
That's the concert na sana I could just sit back and watch.
22:17.3
And watch yourself.
22:18.3
Not only the songs, but the way I was talking, the way I was communicating with people, I
22:25.3
That was six years long into the industry.
22:30.3
Defining moment was major impact.
22:33.3
Thank you, Kuya Gary.
22:34.3
You'll be part of ASAP in California?
22:37.3
I will be part of ASAP on August 3.
22:41.3
Oh, I am always excited to see our kababayans, our kapamilyas in other parts of the world
22:47.3
because they're always so supportive and they're always so excited and they always really get
22:52.3
into the moment with us.
22:54.3
They're hungry for world-class Pinoy performances.
22:59.3
And I think more than seeing world-class performers, they know that that is the cherry on the icing.
23:06.3
But it's the fact that we bring home to them.
23:10.3
We bring pieces, music, memories of home to them.
23:16.3
And you can see it when we're performing and all and they're just watching.
23:20.3
Yeah, they're raising their hands and all.
23:23.3
We'd love to see that.
23:25.3
We'd love to see that.
23:27.3
Oh, I'll be there.
23:29.3
I'll be there in California.
23:32.3
Thank you, Kuya Gary.
23:35.3
Another milestone.
