Aj Raval on meeting Aljur Abrenica’s kids, being OK with Kylie Padilla

Aj Raval has been launched along with many Vivamax stars during the height of the pandemic, but it is evident that her fame trajectory is far advanced than her contemporaries.

All her films on Vivamax, including Death of a Girlfriend (2021), Paglaki Ko Gusto Ko Maging Pornstar (2021), Crush Kong Curly (2021), Hugas (2022), Taya (2021) and a couple more, headed straight to No. 1 on the platform with now more than two million subscribers worldwide. This time around, Aj is set to star in a limited series and is on a media whip for it. The project is called Iskandalo, which revolves around a young woman’s leaked sex scandal which leads to everyone’s worst nightmare.

The 10-part Vivamax Original Series, showing on April 10, follows the story of Patricia (Cindy Miranda), a detective who wants to climb the ladder to prove her late father’s innocence and Em (Aj Raval) a social media celebrity, who is bashed when her sex video with a mysterious man becomes viral.

Just like her character Em, Aj is no stranger to bashing and trending on social media. Just last weekend, she was on the top trending list because of her out-of-tune performance in Cebu. We chatted with Aj about this and it was cool to see her chill about the matter. “May bago nga iyong sa Cebu. After noong performance, parang alam ko na mag-trending ako,” she quipped.

Aj added that she became the butt of jokes among family members when she came home after the incident. “Iyong pagkanta ko naman doon, wala lang, natatawa rin ako sa sarili ko. Like itong pag-uwi ko, pinagtripan ako ng mga kapatid ko at ng tatay ko (Jeric Raval), ng family ko kasi iyon ang nagiging fun sa bahay ko,” said she. “Kakanta ako tapos wala ako sa tono and then ganon nga rin nangyari sa Cebu.”

Aj asked for understanding from fans because her nerves also got the best of her. That’s why she forgot the lyrics of Paramore’s That’s What You Get and Pussycat Dolls’ Stick With You song numbers. Aj said that she is still getting used to seeing her fans live in person after being a star at the height of the lockdowns.

“First time ko kasi sumalang sa stage, alam naman ng karamihan iyan,” shared she. “Nag-start ako mag artista pandemic, so iyong pressure ko andoon din. Marunong naman akong kumanta, pero na pressure din ako, tapos i-nenjoy ko nalang bahala na anong kalabasan.” One thing Aj can promise people is that she keeps it real all the time.

We took the time to have an update on her relationship status with Aljur Abrenica. She gave in to the request because she said she had nothing to hide.

“Una palang naman wala kaming dineny ever kaya nga kami napahamak,” said she. “Kaya kami na bash, naging open kami masyado, hindi namin tinago ngayon hindi pa naman kami officially ANJUR, pero papunta na rin kami sa ganoon. Matagal na namin kinikilala ang isa’t isa o kilala na talaga namin ang isa’t isa.” Both Aljur and Aj starred in Nerisa back in 2021 and they have been seen in public together ever since.

We can recall that Aljur’s marriage with Kylie Padilla crumbled and was highly publicized last year, but Aj said it was really the netizens who made a big fuss about it because there was no trouble in paradise for her. In fact, she already met Aljur’s kids Axel and Alas.

“Wala naman talagang naging problema sa amin, problema lang talaga mga tao, yung netizens. Oo, napakabait na mga bata sina Axel at Alas, matalino at malambing,” said she. Pushing the envelope further, Aj already established a connection with Kylie as well, revealing that the two of them already had a conversation.

“Oo, OK naman kami, wala naman talaga kaming problema,” she concluded.