PDA’s Laarni Lozada and Bugoy Drilon win international recognition

After bagging the top two slots of Pinoy Dream Academy Season 2, Laarni Lozada and Bugoy Drilon will be receiving recognition from the Asian Star Entertainment Awards as the Most Promising Female and Male Performers of 2008.

The awarding ceremony will be held Saturday, October 4, at the Mandarin Suites in Gateway, Cubao. During her contract signing with Star Records, Laarni said that she was overwhelmed with joy when she learned about it.

“Sobrang proud po ako. Salamat po talaga sa pagtitiwala. Excited na ako. Pag-iigihan ko talaga. Ibibigay ko ang best ko para mapasaya ang mga tao,” she said.

Laarni signed a one-year recording contract with Star Records last Tuesday, September 30. She will soon work on her very first album, but the line up of songs for the CD has yet to be finalized. The 22-year-old singer is looking forward to performing songs from various genres to prove her musical versatility.

“Belter, classical singer, OPM, opera, iba’t iba pa. Hangga’t maaari gusto ko pong maging versatile singer. Doon po ako nakilala ng mga tao. Kahit ano po okay lang sa akin. Gusto ko pong ipakita sa mga fans ko ‘yung versatility ko," said Laarni.

Being the first PDA scholar from her batch to get a record deal, Laarni said that she is not affected by people pitting her another academy favorite Bugoy.

“Normal lang po ‘yun, meron siyang sariling fans, ‘yung relationship namin sa loob (ng academy) hindi matatawaran. Kahit anong intriga or pagsubok ang pagdaanan namin okay pa rin ‘yung friendship namin, lahat kaming scholars," she said.

Laarni’s debut single “Manalig Ka” and Bugoy’s original ballad “Paano Na Kaya” are currently the two most requested songs in DWRR.

Now that she is about to embark on a recording career, some people can’t help but compare Laarni with Yeng Constantino, PDA Season 1 Grand Star Dreamer.

Yeng already had two hit albums and had written an array of most-requested songs like “Hawak Kamay,” “ Salamat,” “Cool Off,” and “Time In.”

“Normal lang po ‘yun (na i-compare kami) kasi siya ang Season 1 Grand Star Dreamer. Pero kasi iba po si Yeng, iba po ako. Iba po ‘yung goal ko as a singer. Nasa akin na po kung magiging successful ako. ‘Yung mga opportunities na naibibigay sa akin iniingatan ko talaga. Blessing ito kaya dapat pagtrabahuan ko ng maiigi”, said Laarni.