SB19 hopes to inspire with first online concert

Musicians and music lovers have been using music as a form of escape from the current health crisis. Remember the videos of Italians singing from their balconies during the hard lockdown and the New York City apartment dwellers singing along to one of Beatles’ famous songs Yellow Submarine from their windows?

Here in the country, apart from dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, we, too, have to calm our worried minds caused by such calamities as volcanic eruption, earthquake and the most recent of which were Supertyphoons Rolly and Ulysses that left many Filipinos homeless, jobless and lifeless.

The boys of SB19 namely, Justin, Sejun, Josh, Stell and Ken, agreed music can have a very strong effect on people. Sejun said music is therapeutic as it helps lift people up. Music, as mentioned in a feature story that came out recently, is the world’s best antidepressant.

“For me personally, whenever I am facing problems or huge challenges, I listen to music to lighten up my mood. I just want to sing, too, because it just makes me feel better,” said Sejun and he went on to share that their family home in Cavite was submerged in floodwaters due to heavy rains brought by Typhoon Ulysses.

He added, “Through this concert, I hope the effect of music on me will be the same for those who will watch us perform.”

Sejun was referring to their first-ever online concert titled SB19 - Live from Manila today, Nov. 21, 2 p.m. “We are going to make it special through the line-up of performances that we have prepared. We’ve been practicing every day — from afternoon until midnight — to make sure that this show is better than before.”

Justin added that their main goal is to give inspiration and motivation to people who listen to their music.

Stell, on the other hand, stressed that the online concert was planned before “pero nagkataon na nangyari ‘yung pandemic this year, so we decided this is the right time to entertain the people.”

ShowBT Philippines CEO Charles Kim expressed sadness over the heartbreaking state of some areas in the Metro as well as provinces hit by the recent typhoons that affected many Filipinos.

“This year has been very, very challenging for each of us primarily due to the pandemic and the recent supertyphoons. Living here in the Philippines for more than 20 years, I consider this country my home and I can say that this is the toughest time that we have experienced. We also had plans for SB19 that were cancelled,” Charles said.

He continued, “Despite this difficulty, we collaborate with our partner in Australia, Global Live, to create new ways to entertain and inspire the fans of SB19 in the convenience and safety of their homes through the first-ever livestream concert of SB19. In addition, it has always been our primary objective to promote Filipino talent to the world and we think that this virtual concert will be able to track fans from other countries.”

In response to the current situation, Charles said that part of the proceeds of the online concert will be donated to the victims of the supertyphoons.

For those unfamiliar, SB19 is trained under Korean entertainment company ShowBT. The sing-and-dance quintet enjoys a massive following on social media. Apart from their impressive dance moves and excellent vocal tones, the K-Pop-inspired look probably makes SB19 more appealing to its fans known as the A’TINs.

Sejun assured the A’TINs will be treated to a memorable online concert. “Although there is no physical audience this time, we will still give our best. We want everyone to be safe and at the same time be entertained without going out of the house.”

(Tickets to the SB19 online concert are now available at ticketnet.com.ph)