MANILA, Philippines – “You’re not going to make it, you don’t have the star quality.”
This is what Rachelle Ann Go remembers being told, word for word, when she was nine years old. She had just begun joining amateur singing competitions, and there was no shortage of people ready to dissuade her. Today, not only does she have several singing championships and solo albums under her belt, her talent is also recognized across the world stage. She says, “Growing up it was in my head, ‘I can’t do this.’ And then one time I joined a competition and I won, and at that moment I told myself, “Oh, I can make it, kahit anong sabihin ng tao, I can still win.”
What followed was a confused state in which she tried to figure out what to do with the fledgling career. “I didn’t know what type of music I was going to do. I think I’ve tried almost everything: Ballad, really belting it out, rock music, I tried to dance also. I was confused with which path to take.”
Then by 2011, she was introduced to musical theater, debuting as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. It won her a Best Actress award from Broadway World Philippine Awards. It was also around that time that she first saw Miss Saigon, and she became set on pursuing theater for the long term. “I actually claimed it: ‘One day, I’m going to do that role, I’m going to do this musical.’ she recalls. “It’s important to claim things because words are very powerful and that’s what I did with my journey — just claiming it and doing something about it.” True enough, in 2015, she was selected for a major role in the West End revival of Miss Saigon, in which she won awards for her portrayal of Gigi Van Tranh. Perhaps her greatest theater achievement thus far came later in the same year: She nabbed the Fantine role for the 30th anniversary staging of Les Miserables in London, which will also be doing a tour in the Philippines this year.
“Now I’m working abroad; I do eight shows a week. I think it builds up my confidence, because it’s not just for the Filipino crowd. I feel like I’m facing the whole world every single night. I feel and I can see their response, and that’s a big thing for me as a performer. “
It’s this self-assurance that also convinced Cream Silk to ask Rachelle Ann to come on board as one of its latest endorsers for the new campaign Cream Silk Transformations: Spotlight on the #ModernFilipina.
When asked what the modern Filipina is to her, she says, “We’re brave and confident. We’re bold and fierce in terms of achieving goals. Women today are very strong and they’re not afraid to experiment and to grow. I’m saying this as an artist and as a woman — I went to conquer the world. I went out there to try something new, because I didn’t want to just stick to one thing and get bored.”