Charice is now a self-assured young lady of 18, poised to conquer the world with more fanfare that any “gifted little girl from halfway around the world” has ever gotten in recent pop music history. On May 11, a day after her birthday, the launch of Charice’s self-titled international debut finally happened on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," no less.
Performing the Billboard chart-topping dance single “Pyramid” with singer/rapper Iyaz and the legendary David Foster on piano, Charice’s command of the stage and her stunning delivery shows that she is slowly maturing into a performer to truly watch out for.
On the episode titled “The World’s Most Talented Kids” (which also had Justin Bieber as guest), Oprah introduced Charice by calling her “one of the most talented young people we’ve ever had on this show.” In a video clip, Oprah recalled Charice’s first appearance on the show in 2008, where she sang “I Have Nothing.” It was, said Oprah, “the performance that sent shivers up my spine.”
In the same video, Charice talked about her sad past, mentioning a memory at three year old of her father brandishing a shotgun at her mother and, by age seven, joining “a hundred” singing contests to put food on the table. It was just the perfect back story to make her success all the more compelling.
Greeted with a warm hug by the show’s inimitable host, a slightly breathless Charice said, “I can’t believe this, it’s amazing.”
“I'm really, really excited because this is actually my first ever Pop/R&B album because I'd been singing, you know, Whitney Houston's songs and Celine Dion's songs… And now, I can't believe that these are my own songs,” she told Oprah.
Foster, who was seated with the audience that time, turned a little emotional as well when Oprah asked him about Charice, where he also revealed that he’d agreed to be her godfather. Later, the smile on Foster’s face when Charice hit her big note on “Pyramid” just reflected pure pride.
Today, Charice has put her troubled past behind her and, according to the video, is now just “singing for pure joy.” And why not, when in a span of just two years she’s belted the big ballads and wowed the crowd alongside her idol Celine Dion and Foster himself, appeared on several American TV shows, performed at venues like the Madison Square Garden, and had many other amazing opportunities any fellow Filipino with dreams of living the American Dream would die for.
Talking with Oprah, Charice also shared that she gave her mom a house for Mother’s Day, saying, “It’s the best feeling I [ever] felt.”
Clearly, Charice has not forgotten where she’s come from. Before closing the show with a co-written piece with Foster titled “In This Song,” Charice told Oprah, “I just want to dedicate this song to you, Oprah. Thank you for believing in me from the beginning and I love you. And what’s more special about this song is this is actually the story of my life.”
With another video montage of her life playing in the background, Charice delivered the emotional song, whose lyrics, “I’m never far from home if I give my heart, my song, my all… in this song,” also underscored how at home she was on any stage in the world.
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