Unbound with Marion Aunor

MANILA, Philippines - On this late-afternoon setting as you bravely battle the simmering heat that felt like 50 degrees Celsius, Marion Aunor is in the middle of a video shoot in a warehouse-turned-video recording studio in Las Piñas.

Outside, the compound is guarded by two overzealous Doña Victorina types who ask you where you came from and what you came for. In this scorching heat, it is easy to lose your cool but you decide at the last minute they are not worth your time.

Inside, the lights are blinding, the music intoxicating and she gamely obeys the director’s cues as her body grinds up and down to project assorted poses that range from a sexy pout to the come-and-get-me look.

The body is wrapped in what looks like a black net that has ample openings to allow skin pores to breathe easily.

She tries more sexy steps, projects more appealing profile, asks director if what she does is what the video director has in mind.

The director is very encouraging as she tries more dance steps to the music that she herself composed.

Then she agrees to have a short break to accommodate questions from the visiting media.

For the uninformed, Marion zoomed into the showbiz circle when she won one of the top prizes in the Himig Handog songwriting competition with the contest piece, If You Ever Change Your Mind which became one of the 12 finalists out of 2,500 entries.

She easily got a Star Records contract, got more exposures while touring with stars of popular teleseryes and got one more break when her song entry Do, Do, Do was chosen as one of the 12 finalists for the second Popular Music Festival.

Recently, she lent her voice in the latest Gerald Anderson starrer, Always Be My Maybe where she sang Jonathan Manalo’s How Can I? in one of the romantic scenes in the movie.

In this short video-shooting break, she talks about the 16-track recording to be launched soon and what message she wants to send to music fans.

Said she: “My video will be called Unbound and I guess it comes from a desire to forge my own image, to discover my own voice and that some co-artists like Alex Gonzaga and Morissette Amon are sharing my goal to promote Original Pilipino Music. Of course, the way up is not easy. I like the moral support I get but I also know there are those who want to pull you down. So Unbound is a statement. It is a statement of my music and what I stand for and that I will continue working hard to reach my goals.”

Her fans gave her a good birthday present when her first album ranked No. 1 in sales in one Odyssey record store branch.

She concludes: “I have a lot to thank for and I owe a number of people and followers who made the big breaks possible. I have full trust to my creative team in my second album. What do I want to achieve as a songwriter and singer? I guess to get a degree of recognition would be one of them and to get better is another overriding goal. I know how wide the field is and how tight the competition is. But all things considered, I will continue to work hard to be one of the best.”