Gretchen receives Awit award

MANILA, Philippines - Top winners of singing star-searches somehow have to prove the big promise that judges and audiences saw in them during the competition. Pinoy Idol winner Gretchen Espina must have taken the challenge and is proving her worth big-time.

Naming her debut album Shining Through proved prophetic for the Pinoy Idol titlist as she just won the Awit Awards’ Best New Female Recording Artist category. The victory, which Gretchen humbly noted as unexpected, likewise reiterated the message that she deserved winning the coveted title she earned upon joining GMA 7’s local take of the global hit American Idol.

“It’s surreal. I’m happy that Awit recognized my music. I couldn’t have done it without those who helped me make the album. I’m forever grateful sa mga taong tumulong,” she said in an interview.

The triumph serves as another vindication of Gretchen’s talent who back in Pinoy Idol in 2008 was in the “safe zone” all throughout the competition. With support from her management the GMA Artist Center, she is currently busy doing concerts, corporate gigs, and regional tours, as well as promoting her 12-track album released by Sony Music late last year. The album offers, apart from the carrier single Kasalanan Nga Ba?, her Pinoy Idol victory song To You. 

Recently, she appeared on GMA 7’s kantaserye Diva, playing the role of Debbie Romasanta who is bestfriend to Glaiza de Castro’s character Tiffany. She describes the acting experience as “totally different from performing on stage.” If given another chance, which is kind of likely after her passable teleserye acting debut, she’d like to do a kontrabida role with a twist — someone who is sexy and mean but has her good side.

The daughter of a congressman who plays the piano well, Gretchen has shown her musical inclination early on. As member of UP Singing Ambassadors she won first place as solo performer in an inter-collegiate competition held in Shantou University in Guangdong, China. She actually joined the Philippine Idol in 2006 but missed the finalists cut. That though did not discourage her to try again when Pinoy Idol came. As they say, winners will always find the path to victory.   

With her streak of grand wins she has this to say, “It inspires me to be better in what I do and give back all the blessings given to me.”

Two years after Pinoy Idol, she remains in contact with the rest of the finalists, not for once making anyone from them feel that she stands on a different podium being the top winner. Besides she has the music scene experts themselves, like people from Awit Awards, who know how to recognize her exceptional singing gift.     

When asked about her influences from the current crop of entertainers, she mentioned Katy Perry and Beyoncé Knowles and labeled both of them as “versatile and bold.”