Ai-Ai teams up with Ex-B on new single

Curtain-raiser:

? Hardly anybody noticed that a certain sexy actress has been away from the limelight for quite a while now. She used to be in a show that continues to make people laugh  and a perennial front-runner (usually Top 10) in a magazine’s popularity poll. A Funfare DPA knows the reason why. “A politician (with a name recall) made her an offer that she couldn’t refuse,” said the DPA. “So it’s goodbye showbiz…for the meantime or for good?” Clue? Knock on the door and you may enter.

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If the name Ai-Ai delas Alas is now the newest byword among the techie millennials, it’s thanks to the Ex-Battalion group with whom she recorded the single Walang Pinipili that was uploaded on Spotify late last year.

“Actually,” admitted Ai-Ai, “I didn’t know that the Ex-Battalion was that popular until the writer of my show (Bossing & I) told me, ‘Kung gusto mong sumikat, mag-collaborate ka sa Ex-Battalion.’ Her high school kids pala are avid fans of the group. When I asked kung ano ‘yung Ex-Battalion, she told me, ‘Mag-research ka.’ So I did.”

What Ai-Ai discovered stunned her.

“Grabe! Ang dami palang hits ng mga kanta nila na mostly covers. As of last year, more than 20 million hits. More than that na by this time.”

One of the group’s many hits on YouTube is titled Hayaan Mo (used as soundtrack for a segment in It’s Showtime), performed to the beat owned by a Russian national who demanded for a fee.

As a new Ex-B follower and friend, Ai-Ai is putting up a concert for Ex-B in June to mark the group’s sixth anniversary 

“We couldn’t afford the amount,” said Archie “Flow-G” dela Cruz, one of the four members of Ex-B (the group’s moniker) interviewed by the press at Ai-Ai’s own AiSarap restaurant. “We didn’t know about royalty and copyright infringement kaya tinanggal na lang namin sa YouTube.”

Organized in 2012, Ex-B has 13 members but only four are rapper-singers. The others are bloggers, emcees, etc. The group’s followers are mostly elementary/high school students whose parents (and others above-20) are left wondering (curious and intrigued) what Ex-B is all about. Ai-Ai’s collaboration with the guys should help educate seniors like her who the Ex-B’s are.

“We are called Ex-Battalion because our members came from different groups,” explained Flow-G.

After her Ai Love U concert tomorrow night (Feb. 14, at the Palacio de Maynila, with Piolo Pascual as special guest), Ai-Ai will guest in Ex-B’s own concert on Feb. 17. She plans to put up the Ex-B sixth-year concert in June.

“On Walang Pinipili,” said Ai-Ai, “ako ang bida at sila ang support ko. But on our next single, sila naman ang bida at ako ang support.”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)