Yes, Rachelle, it’s for real!

She has yet to fall in love. But Rachelle Ann Go (Shin Shin to friends), 17, belts out Mariah Carey’s Through the Rain with such angst you’d think she has survived the joys and pains of love like a pro.

"I don’t think of anybody when I sing (love) songs," she admits.

Translation: it’s all inner fire. Dad must have so sheltered his colegiala (she was a freshman business student at San Beda College when she won first prize in Search For a Star) she has yet to actually feel the emotions she sings of so passionately.

But he has also given her something else: musical talent. It’s the kind that (mis)leads you into believing Rachelle has felt the pain of loving and losing, aching and rejoicing.

Dad, a band member, was the least surprised when Rachelle would hum Somewhere Out There before she even marked her first birthday. He nurtured the then budding talent when he enrolled her in voice lessons at six. Rachelle started joining singing contests at nine and even competed in Eat Bulaga’s Birit Baby.

Before bagging the P1-M prize in Search For a Star, Rachelle was part of an all-girl singing group called Simply Four.

And because the rhythm of poetry matched a similar one she’d constantly hear in her head, Rachelle gravitated toward it the way a magnet would attract a metallic paper clip.

As a student, Rachelle kept a little book of poems she herself composed. And while the verses tackled things close to a girl’s heart, like crushes, they also delved on unexplored territory for Rachelle: love.

Too bad a classmate borrowed Rachelle’s poems and has never returned it since. Why, she can turn to that little book as a rich source of material for her future albums! Better still, the poems can bring out the songwriter in her.

Rachelle’s first album, a self-titled one, will be launched nationwide on Tuesday, July 27.

Carrier single of the Viva album is Rachelle’s take on Melissa Manchester’s plaintive Don’t Cry Out Loud. Some cuts in the 13-track album are peanuts in Rachelle’s hands: love songs from Vehnee Saturno (From the Start and Stay in Love with You), South Border’s Jay Durias (Love of My Life) and others. Jimmy Antiporda brings a hip-hop touch to the album with two new works, the ballad Here I Am and the dance track Give It All.

But even a singing champion like Rachelle has to start somewhere. So if it’s an album of pop songs, so be it.

She can concentrate on more sophisticated styles she dreams of doing, like R&B and jazz (not rap, she pleads) later. That is, if Viva doesn’t decide to give her acting assignments first.

The company that turned Regine Velasquez into a talent search host and actress seems bent on doing the same to Rachelle. For starters, Rachelle regularly hosts ABS-CBN’s Sunday afternoon show ASAP Fanatic. As expected, Viva told Rachelle she’ll enter the movies someday. And acting workshops are in order.

Rachelle admits movie acting is foreign to her.

But she’s willing to learn. After all, she used to act in school plays, so the interest has always been there.

The girl is right in wanting to take it nice and slow in the acting department for now.

"I want to play roles that fit my age," she reveals. Thankfully, here is one person who won’t make any pretensions about what she can and cannot do. Those teenybopper roles will suit her fine, thank you. The heavy dramatic ones are out of the question for now.

For now, it’s one step at a time for Rachelle, who can tease with a bare shoulder and a figure-hugging powder-blue gown on her CD cover, but cringes at the thought of exposing more than that.

A bare navel just above a be-ribbonned number cut low on one side of the hip is okay. This she proved to the audience when she went on stage in Night of the Champions, which will have a repeat on Aug. 13, 8 p.m., at the same venue.

This time, Rachelle is expected to be more at home with the audience, less likely to resort to exercising backstage to chase the butterflies in her stomach away.

She has more reason to glow with confidence in the coming months as she flies to the US for a series of concert tours starting Sept. 14. The month-long series will be a first for Rachelle, not only as far as traveling and performing abroad is concerned, but also in seeing Celine Dion singing live, right before her eyes.

"Boss Vic (del Rosario of Viva) said we will watch Celine’s show in-between our weekend concerts," Rachelle reports excitedly.

"I’d also love to see Mariah Carey in the flesh!" she giggles with girlish excitement. And while there, Rachelle might just meet up with the Chicago-based producer who created her website (www.rachelleanngo.com) for fellow fans to see.

"Chicago is the last stop of our tour," Rachelle says while finishing her lunch of crabs.

Erik Santos, who will perform with Rachelle again (together with Sarah Geronimo) in their repeat show at the Big Dome, took one look at her (Rachelle) and marveled, "This girl eats a lot!"

Rachelle smiles warmly, knowing that she’s with friends, and she can be who she is, warts and all.

Will Erik be her escort if and when Viva decides to throw a big debut party for her on or before Aug. 31, when she turns 18?

Rachelle’s light mood changes and she answers soberly, "I don’t know. A simple dinner with family will be just fine."

For someone who just bagged a P1-M cash prize (courtesy of Search For a Star), a house and lot in Antipolo and other perks as well, Rachelle Ann Go has remained simple and grounded.

In fact, all she has done with her prize money so far is buy a vehicle for herself. After all, she doesn’t need that much to begin with.

The family is comfortable as it is. Dad, a half-Chinese (her paternal grandpa is pure Chinese), has a machine shop business. The family owns a house and lot in Pasig and Rachelle has yet to decide what she will do with her newly- acquired Antipolo property.

"Things have happened so fast," she admits how amazed she is at the happy turn of events. She has no more time for her old school chums, who made Rachelle gasp when they showed up in one of her concerts and asked for an autograph.

"Someday," she whispers, in a tone that reminds you of a hushed prayer, "I will go back to school."

Meantime, she’s enjoying the way showbiz has turned her into a more outgoing person, and has made her look way beyond the four walls of her comfortable home and the school campus.

All along, Rachelle has remained a schoolgirl at heart, gawking at the new sights and sounds around her, sometimes rubbing her eyes to check if they’re for real.

"If ever I have a solo concert, it should be in a small venue first. I still feel nervous about it," she admits.

But you better believe it, Rachelle. Everything that’s happening is for real, as real as the talent you have in your hands.