'Blessing in disguise': Nicole Scherzinger on finding love in time of pandemic
MANILA, Philippines — International pop star Nicole Scherzinger believed that the COVID-19 pandemic was a blessing in disguise for her as it was during these times that she found her love Thom Evans.
During her recent virtual conference, Nicole told Philstar.com that the pandemic gave her time to develop her new relationship and have a healthy one.
“For me, it's been a blessing in disguise. Being such as hardworking woman my whole life, I've had to really sacrifice the time with my family, my love and relationship, so I found myself at the beginning of the pandemic a new relationship and it given me time to really develop and blossom in this new relationship and have a healthy relationship,” Nicole said.
“That has been the silver lining for me. I think we've been given this time of stillness. I think in life there's a lot of distractions, a lot of things going on, so you should make a list of what you wanted to do and achieve just like Troy wanted to do. This was a dream of him, this album, but he actually had the time to do it,” she added.
The Pussycat Dolls lead singer also said that the pandemic also gave her more time for herself.
“And also, take that time for yourself. For me, I always said I would read the Bible and I never do so I've been reading the Bible, I've been doing more writing. I just writing things down, doing vision stuff,” she said.
She also advised people to work on themselves so they become whole in working out for a relationship to be better.
“Work on yourself because if you're not whole in working yourself in a relationship, you'll find yourself in a relationship and you'll be pulling from them. So it's better to have two whole people, the more whole you are, the more you can bring to the relationship that taking from the relationship. Use this time wisely to work on yourself so you could fully give back yourself,” she advised.
The Filipino-American singer and TV personality realized her dream of singing in Tagalog when she was tapped to record her own rendition of the beloved OPM ballad “Pangako” by Fil-Am musical director Troy Laureta for his “KAIBIGAN: A Troy Laureta OPM Collective Vol. 1.”
“Singing in Tagalog has always been a dream for me and I think this song is special. I know that I was singing such an iconic song so I'm really grateful to be part of this amazing project,” she said, sharing she was immediately all in when Troy asked if she could be part of the album.
Nicole added she was honored and proud to do the collaboration but also felt quite a responsibility to give justice to the song.
“I think a lot of people know me from Pussycat Dolls but they don't know in my heart how I love to sing big ballads, it's in our blood, right? We love big songs and he chose this special song. It's a classic song, it's got a lot of heart and a lot of passion,” she shared.
Meanwhile, Troy said it was a no brainer that he chose “Pangako” — composed and originally sung by Ogie Alcasid and later recorded by his wife Regine Velasquez — for Nicole as he believed she has the “heart, spirit, and voice” to bring the song to life.
“’Pangako’ is so emotional and it needed someone who could emote that and really give it not just the notes, but the little things in the voice, the emotional parts of it. I wanted to give her in the Filipino fashion, that ‘Don't Cry for Me, Argentina’ moment, or that ‘Memory,’ ‘I Will Always Love You’ moment,” he explained.
Keep streaming "KAIBIGAN: A Troy Laureta OPM Collective Vol. 1," out now on digital music streaming platforms worldwide. Its lyric videos are also up on Star Music’s YouTube channel. — Video from ABS-CBN/Star Music
RELATED: WATCH: Nicole Scherzinger sings line from 'Pangako' for boyfriend Thom Evans
