Derek S. Lorenzo goes beyond Internet sensation status

MANILA, Philippines - The buzz around Derek Lorenzo and his Anna Banana video just refuses to die down. Perhaps, it’s the fact that no one can get over how endearing Derek’s efforts are at pulling off the perfect music video. Or possibly, everyone’s fallen in love with the story of how his Mama Berns worked so hard behind the scenes to help him achieve Internet stardom. For whatever reason, there are a lot of people singing the Anna Banana song out there — sometimes even unconsciously.

Here’s proof in a recent tweet from Mojo Jojo that he shares with his followers: “LSS talaga this new PLDT commercial about Anna Banana! I actually know an Anna Banana — one of the student DJs sa Magic.” Or this simple one from Chokoleit repeating some of Derek’s now famous lyrics: “Anna Banana I love you a lot, I love my Anna I love you a lot, Anna Banana I love you a lot, I love my Anna I love you a lot”.

If there are still lingering doubts that Derek’s name has truly made it to the public’s consciousness after that, brace yourselves for a roll call of more celebrities who have also taken notice of the plucky 13-year-old on Twitter. Mark Herras, Gretchen Fullido, Mojo Jojo, Darla Sauler, Andrew Wolfe and JM Rodriguez are just part of a longer list of personalities whose tweets probably contributed to getting Derek’s YouTube hits up to nearly a million. 

Not even the airwaves were spared from Anna Banana mania. Some of the most influential radio DJs couldn’t help talking about the newest Internet sensation — KC and Kat at Wave 89.1, BNO at 89.9, Mr. Fu at WOW 103.5, Tracey and Vince at Mellow 94.7 and even Papa Jack at Love 90.7. And now even Lolit Solis mentions Derek and his antics at one of the longest-running showbiz-oriented talk shows Startalk.

The young man has definitely come a long way from being viewed online only by his mother to now being noticed by the entire nation. But whatever comes next, he’ll always have a great support system in his mom no matter what. As tweets from other celebrities confirm, moms really do take their role of strengthening connections within the family very seriously:

“Anna Banana yeh babee…I love you a lot!!! I lovit!!! Pagmamahal talaga ng isang ina!:)” — Maritoni Fernandez

“Aww the new PLDT commercial is so true: Parents will always be ur no.1 fan.” — Xeng Zulueta

Yes, moms all across the nation will do practically anything to support their kids’ achievements. And that includes enlisting the help of PLDT myDSL to help them do so. PLDT myDSL lays down the solid groundwork to let moms create strong connections to help their kids’ go far. With a backup such as this, would you still be surprised to see more of Derek S. Lorenzo beyond his YouTube video?