All the way from different parts of the world, Jayda joined us from QC, Philippines while Darren came in from Canada! Even distance and timezones wouldn't stop these 2 from giving their fans and the Monsters their time! How are these two doing while in quarantine from different sides of the globe? Jayda has just been doing fine, staying at home here in Manila with her parents and doing a lot of self-improvements even while they're stuck at home. Darren, on the other hand has been spending a lot of quality time with his family since majority of them live in Canada and he doesn't get to be with them when he's here in Manila. Darren and his family have been doing a lot of camping and long drives!
Speaking of quarantine, what have Darren and Jayda discovered and reflected about themselves during this whole situation? Darren learned to truly appreciate the small things in life and not take anything for granted. Jayda as well! Adding to appreciate what we currently have and to grow more of her faith in God especially at a crisis like this.
In terms of music, Rico and Karla dived right in on their collaboration. The first question our DJs asked them are their reactions when they found out they'll be working on a song together. The song "Sana Tayo Na" was written by Jayda's dad, Dingdong Avanzado, 27 years ago! Jayda said that her dad has actually been looking for the perfect singers for the song since he has envisioned it as a duet. Jayda was even considered to sing the song when she was around 14 years old but didn't want to do it since she felt like she wasn't ready back then. A year ago, Jayda's mom, Jessa Zaragoza, brought up an idea of having her and Darren sing the song together. After presenting the idea to Star Magic and Star Music, the two were eventually chosen to duet this special song that was 27 years in the making!
Darren admitted that he did feel a lot of pressure on this collaboration thinking if he can do the song justice since it was written by Dingdon Avanzado! But depsite that, Jayda was there to help Darren with the recording of the song and he just felt really good and grateful as well about how it turned out! You definitely gave it justice, Darren!
But how did Darren and Jayda start their friendship that blossomed into something magical in a musical sense? Back in 2014, Jayda randomly took a photo with Darren just because the girls in her school are huge fans of him and Jayda just wants to harmlessly brag to show them that she met Darren! LOL! But their friendship really started in 2016, when Jayda had to sing a song of Darren's at the Myx Music Awards 2016 and that's how they officially met as artists, backstage on the show. Eventually they followed each other on social media until Darren just randomly DM-ed Jayda asking her about the weather! It was because Darren saw that Jayda, at the time, was in Lake Tahoe while he was in Canada and was just wondering if the weather in the US might be the same as in Canada. And that's how these two started a bond that will last a lifetime! All because of the weather!
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Talking about their friendship, what are some of their favorite moments together? Darren shared that his favorite was when they did a duet of his song for the first time at Unstoppable concert and from there, their tandem started and they've been doing a lot of duets for variety shows, corporate events ever since! For Jayda, her favorite moment was when they went to Singapore for a show! They had the chance to explore the country and do tourist-y stuff together which really gave them a time to bond and get to know each other on a deeper level.
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Jayda and Darren has been receiving an overwhelming amount of support for their song from their fans and even people who aren't as familiar with them. They're full of appreciation and seeing all the positive comments really has an impact on them as artists! Because of their song, fans may have been speculating the real deal between these two and are of course getting a lot of kilig vibes from the song and the music video, it makes them happy as well as they want their song to really strike happiness and feeling of romance for everyone, especially when all of us are going thru tough times.
Jayda shared that her dad, Dingdong Avanzado who originally wrote the song got a bit emotional because of how the song came in full circle and the song was given justice. It truly meant a lot for Jayda for giving honor her dad's work and couldn't be more proud of Darren as well for doing such an amazing job!
As all artists face during quarantine, having problems with a "work from home" setup does have its cons. Darren struggled with not having the full on equipment to record while Jayda was leaning more on the time difference of them both while doing the song. Regardless of those struggles, the song came out beautifully and they even managed to do a heartfelt music video for it. The song, as Darren described it, is truly a classic. A tale that can be told from every generation. And in Generation Z, we've got Darren and Jayda to live OPM on and continue singing the songs for the Filipinos regardless of age!
Watch the full interview of Darren Espanto and Jayda Avanzado on All Out here: