Nadine Lustre: From Panget to star

Big-time stardom has indeed come to Nadine Lustre. Talk Back and You’re Dead (TBYD), her second starring role opposite James Reid, is a smash hit. OK, I know the picture is formulaic. Teen melodrama based on a big-selling Wattpad novel with the same director, Andoy Ranay, and the same co-stars.

But you know how they said things go in the old days. The success of the first try, in this case the first Nadine/James team-up in Diary ng Panget can be attributed to luck. But never the second. By that time, moviegoers already know better. Yet they still came to watch the movie. And in droves. That meant this was not luck anymore and the first one was no fluke.

I had a feeling this would happen after watching the 20-year-old actress go the ugly duckling route in the motion picture, Diary ng Panget. You know the role. Pimply Cinderella turns into a beautiful princess and bags a prince. It is the kind that has launched some of the biggest movie queens to stardom in the local movie industry. Everybody from Gloria Romero to Susan Roces down to Nora Aunor to Kim Chiu has taken on the mantle. And the latest to put it on and emerge with flying colors is Nadine.

The gamble that paid off started with Panget where Nadine was cast in the much-coveted part of Eya. The over 12 million readers on the net had misgivings about her at first but later on gave their approval and made the movie a huge success. I grant that another girl could have done the role and also succeeded.

But fate gave it to Nadine and to the girl’s credit; she showed everybody that she can act. She can be funny and pathetic and sexy in a wholesome kind of way. Most important, too, is that it was found out that she has the kind of nice, unintimidating presence that local moviegoers like to see on leading ladies in the screen.

With Talk Back and You’re Dead already off and running in the box-office race, Nadine can now attend to the other part of her career. This is Nadine, the singing star, and she is celebrating a milestone with the release of very first solo album. Some of the songs included were featured in the TBYD soundtrack and Nadine is understandably excited about the positive reactions to her songs.

Note that although she is now known as an actress, Nadine was actually a singer first. Nadine was the lead singer of the Viva song-and-dance group called Pop Girls a few years ago. The girls recorded an album with new original songs like Sige Sayaw, True Love, Crazy Crazy, Crushy and covers of oldies like Urong-Sulong and Kapag Tumibok Ang Puso. Nadine’s first venture as a soloist was in the Diary ng Panget soundtrack, which gave her two big hits, No Erase (her duet with James) and her solo track Paligoy-ligoy.

The self-titled album contains five originals, Para-paraan, Bahala Na with James again, Mr. Antipatiko, Aba Bakit Hindi? and You & Me. As of this writing, the word is already out about how fans so love the single Para-paraan that it got a whopping million hits on its first day of release on the net. Not to be outdone, the James and Nadine fans have also thrown their support behind Bahala Na and the song is now also on its way to the top. Proof of the success of Nadine’s songs is in this, the latest Pinoy MYX Countdown tabulation. Both songs are in the Top 10 and Bahala Na is the No. 1, most requested video of the week.

Nadine is hardworking, talented and level-headed. If she thought being in one box-office hit after another was big, then she has a big surprise coming. A TV series, concerts and another movie with or without leading man James are but a few of the amazing things all in the offing for this lucky girl.

To close, here are the Top 20 titles in the Pinoy MYX Countdown for the week: Bahala Na by James Reid and Nadine Lustre; Ikaw by Yeng Constantino; This Love Is Like by Toni Gonzaga; Dito Na Lang by Kyla; Para-Paraan by Nadine again; +63 by Sponge Cola feat. Yeng Constantino; Out Of Control by Pupil; Sa ‘yo by Silent Sanctuary; Kapiling Kita by Karylle; NGSB by Luigi D’Avola.

Qrush On You by Jay-R, Elmo Magalona and  Q-York; Salbabida by Kyla; Asintado by Gloc-9 feat. Lirah Bermudez; Bagong Siglo by Christian Bautista, Basti Artadi and Gloc-9; Right Where You Belong by Julie Anne San Jose; Pag Napagod Na Ang Puso by Erik Santos; Torpe by Kris Lawrence; Habulan by The Dawn; and Araw-araw by Dello feat. Jaq Dionisio.