(upbeat techno music)
- Alright guys.
You asked for it.
I am hanging here with one of the most popular artists
on the Friday Livestream,
week in, week out.
It feels like forever he's been on this show.
I can't imagine a Friday Livestream without him.
Darren Espanto. (claps)
How are you Darren?
- I am good, thank you.
- I'm just curious, you know,
how does it feel,
knowing that you are one of the most requested artists
on the Friday Livestream?
- Well, I'm very grateful.
And it's an honor, of course.
And not every artist gets to have this chance,
and it's truly humbling as well.
So, this wouldn't be possible without the DARRENatics,
who are always so supportive in everything that I do.
- You seem to have such a positive mental attitude,
and it's so important of course,
especially in a year like we've had, right?
Which is just so unprecedented.
And it seems like there's, you know,
a roadblock here,
and a left turn we didn't expect there.
How have you been managing?
What have you been up to in 2020?
- So I've been editing vlogs for my YouTube channel,
and I've been trying to learn more about
producing my own music,
and I've been doing dance covers as well.
And of course singing.
So, I've been recording a new song.
So I hope y'all could watch out for that.
It's coming out very soon.
- You don't just edit vlogs, right?
You understand?
You edited the BTS dance cover you did as well.
- Vlogs are a different kind of editing experience.
And the BTS dance was more of like,
you know, doing your own music video.
So I got the opportunity
to kind of have my own creative spin on that.
- I really like your style of dance.
'Cause I think it's very specific and deliberate
style of dance.
Right?
You sort of make every movement mean something.
Where did you learn how to dance?
- Oh, I guess playing video games. (laughs)
But, I didn't really get into dancing
until I started doing the musical variety show,
which we have in the Philippines called ASAP.
And the first few things I did there,
was of course sing,
and then the next few weeks
they started asking me if I wanted to dance.
So I guess I just got used to it.
'Cause I do it every week.
- I know this is a pretty tight shot
we have on you right now.
Is there any sort of
maybe like an upper body favorite dance move?
- Well, I mean the wall is pretty. (laughs)
- Yeah, (laughs) see?
You can hit that from anywhere.
- Yeah, that's the only upper body movement kind of dance
I could do.
Or like--
- I used to do the sprinkler back in the day. (laughs)
- Oh yeah.
It's very popular until now.
- You're 19 now.
And you've literally, you know,
for those who don't know,
you've grown up in so many ways in the public eye, you know.
How has that made you who you are today?
- You know, it always isn't easy.
You lose your privacy,
and people are always waiting for you to make a mistake,
but you really just have to accept
that you can't always please everyone.
And you know, through the years with that knowledge,
I'd say that brought me to where I am today.
- I know a big part of who you are today,
of course, is family.
You've incorporated them into some of your work as well.
Can you tell the story of this
really great photo shoot at home,
where sort of, mom, dad, everybody pitched in.
- Yeah so,
my management and record label
asked for new PR photos,
because I've been doing so many virtual events
and virtual concerts.
And so we did that here at home,
and it was a lot of fun.
I'm always thankful that they're always willing to help
and assist me in doing all of these things.
And they're all very supportive.
- Yeah, I saw that you asked your DARRENatics recently,
what song you should cover next.
- Some of the songs that they mentioned,
I've already done in past concerts.
(laughs)
But I guess they just want like,
a studio version kind of.
But I definitely want to try and make more covers,
and try and cover Holy too, by Justin Bieber.
- I thought this was interesting.
I saw this between the last time we chatted and now,
that you accidentally deleted some of your unreleased music
off your laptop? (laughs)
I don't know if this is sort of the subject or not,
but did you happen to recover it?
Like, tell us the story here and what happened.
- I was at the end of the song,
and I zoomed out to see the whole project,
and what it looks like,
and half of it was just gone.
Like, more than half actually.
So I went on to Twitter.
I tweeted to the DARRENatics,
and the people who follow me,
if they could,
if they knew how to recover vocals or tracks
from GarageBand.
- Dude, I love that you went to social though.
'Cause I always say like,
fandoms are the best Google.
Like, "Can I microwave this?"
Like, silly questions,
I'll just ask the fandoms.
Dude, they're there like in 90 seconds, man.
They're there before you know it.
- Yeah, It's real people too.
It's not like Google,
where it's like, okay,
do I trust this person-- - Bro!
- Who just put it on to Google, you know?
- I'm so happy you feel me on this.
Because sometimes I get the tweets, like,
"You know there is Google."
- I just ended up (laughs)
re-recording the song and the vocals and stuff.
But at least this time,
like, I knew how I wanted to,
like my attack on the song,
I knew what I wanted to do with it.
- Sorry for that.
It is time for the DARRENatics to weigh on in
with some fan questions.
Let's get to @AllleTheArmy.
She asks,
"Who would you like to do a collab with?
"What music genres would you like to experiment with
"in the future?"
- You know, like, it's a far reach,
but I always say Bruno Mars.
- [Kevan] Yeah? - 'Cause, you know,
like, who knows?
I've already collaborated with a lot of
the people I look up to in the industry,
in the Philippines.
So yeah, Bruno Mars is like internationally.
- Bruno now is writing and producing for artists.
So it would almost be cool to even like,
dip your toe in the collab with him in that realm, right?
- Right, definitely.
- Well, if he writes a song for you,
and produces a song for you,
that would be really, really cool.
But just to,
Allie's second half of that question,
you know, any genres you're particularly interested
in experimenting with?
- Well, most of the songs I've released before were like,
pop and ballad soul.
I'd like to get into more like, alternative,
and also,
not really hip hop,
but something kind of like that.
- Something percussive maybe?
- Yeah, I'd say so.
'Cause it's pretty popular in the Philippines right now,
doing those types of songs.
So I'd like to, you know,
try and do a song that's kind of like that,
but of course like,
it still sounds like Darren.
- Right, right.
It's poured to the filter of you, and who you are.
- Yeah. - Yeah, absolutely.
@JananijanzY
I hope that's how I say his name.
So he said,
"Yay! Thanks Kevan.
"Since it's pandemic,
"any plans of going back to the Philippines soon?"
- Hopefully soon, yeah.
But I also look forward to spending Christmas with my family
since I'm already here.
- Yeah.
- So we'll see how it goes.
Yeah.
But I really miss the Philippines
and performing on a stage.
- @thereign17 says,
"You entered the music scene at 13 years old.
"How did you cope with the pressure and homesickness,
"working in the Philippines,
"away from your family in Canada,
"at such a young age?"
That must have been tough.
- Yeah.
Actually I didn't cope with homesickness very well. (laughs)
(laughs)
I would always be emotional
when fans would tag me in pictures of my family and I.
And I remember like,
when I would be able to do shows here in Canada,
and going back onto the plane without my family,
like, I'd be crying, (laughs)
when like on a takeoff. - Oh, at that?
- So, yeah.
I didn't handle that very well.
But you know, I got used to it over the years,
- Dude, I used to cry going to school
when I was young enough,
so I can't imagine, (laughs)
it was just like two blocks away from our house.
Like, I can't imagine flying across the world there.
- Well, yeah.
- @solidAtejoy,
"Planning on doing another dance cover?"
- Dancing isn't really my first love.
- Right.
- So, I'll have to think about another dance,
and you know, choreography for it.
But of course I want to do more dance covers
in the future soon,
just so that it's something different from
me singing all the time.
- So in other words,
@solidAtejoy,
keep streaming and viewing the BTS dance company.
- (laughs) Yeah.
- I wanna thank DARRENatics for sending in the questions.
And of course you for taking the time Darren.
I'll talk to you soon, alright?
- Oh, thank you.
Take care of you guys. Stay safe.