Pops Fernandez remains the undisputed PH Concert Queen

January 11 ------ For the record, there has yet to be a female artist to inherit the title of Philippine Concert Queen from OPM icon Pops Fernandez. First to be crowned so for being among the pioneering recording artists in the 1980s to fill up ginormous stadiums like the former Ultra in Pasig City as concert headliners, this "Queen" remains to this day the GOAT who set the bar for ensuing singing superstars Regine Velasquez and Sarah Geronimo (or even multi-media personalities Anne Curtis and Vice Ganda) in mounting high-powered live performances that leave audiences in awe. For throughout the years, even without the aid of the day's unbelievable digital advancements, a Pops Fernandez concert guaranteed not only her giant hits come to life on stage but a spectacle of top-notch choreography, blazing lights, set design, and more.

As Pops now steps into her incredible 40 years in local music and showbiz as a whole her music and celebrity never once fading from public consciousness The Manila Times Entertainment had to ask the beloved and be-dimpled beauty how she feels about her undisputed title. With her gracious ways just as unwavering, Pops sweetly replied, "Nakaka-touch na doon nga ako na-identify, being the 'Concert Queen' hanggang ngayon. [It's so touching that I am still identified as the Concert Queen up to now]. I know I have to live up to that title every time I perform, though. But, I think it [is] also [what] makes me work hard and want to do better every time I step on stage." Indeed, Pops has always been an artist who comes fully prepared for any performance, big or small. Be it Sunday after Sunday on ASAP or the many local and international hit ensemble concerts she has done in recent years [2022's "Four Kings and a Queen" with Hajji Alejandro, Marco Sison, Nonoy Zuniga, and Rey Valera; 2023's "Three Divas" with Kuh Ledesma and Jaya,] the Queen always delivers a hundred percent, never forgetting a word from the hundreds of lyrics she's had to sing nor the tiniest step of her most complicated dance routines. Always appropriately and stylishly dressed, too, she is, for all intents and purposes, the OG when it comes to the total package of a concert performer. She sings, dances and regales the crowd as a concert queen should. With that, there should be no doubt that Pop's fans — not only from the '80s and '90s but also from generations of ABS-CBN's "ASAP Natin 'To" followers since the 2000s onwards — are in for an unforgettable night with the one and only Philippine Concert Queen when she mounts her 40th-anniversary concert "Always Loved" at The Theatre at Solaire on February 9 and 10.

Truly idolized by her peers, she shared more touching turn of events regarding her concert. "As soon as I announced I was putting together this anniversary concert, so many people from the industry wanted to be part of it," Pops elaborated. "They'd call me to say they'll do it for free just so they can be part of this special occasion for me." OG Pops fans should, therefore, expect a reunion of sorts onstage, backstage and all around for "Always Loved." Wistfully recalling her first major concert, "Folks Meet Pops," at the Folk Arts Theater in 1983 and her last solo headliner 12 years ago, "Pops in Fashion," at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Pops chatted, "We're actually working with people I already worked with. First of all, Rowell Santiago is returning as my director a friend who knows me inside out as a person and an artist, and my musical director, of course, will be Homer Flores again, whom I really consider my first love team [partner] since I recorded my very first single with him. "So there will be many flashbacks throughout the show as we bring back highlights from my past concerts," Pops continued. Of course, her greatest hits like "Points of View," "Don't Say Goodbye," all the way to "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang" will take center stage, but The T-Zone reckons that Pop's newest single, "Get Poppin'," will be her show stopper. A very now-sounding dance-pop self-love anthem that has been making waves on radio and streaming platforms since dropping in the last quarter of 2023, the fresh and catchy ditty, after all, is all the proof one needs to understand why four decades and counting, Pops Fernandez now 57 and a brand new grandmother by the way still reigns supreme as the sole Philippine Concert Queen.

Source: manilatimes.net