The accidental singer

WHEN MIGUEL Mendoza survived his latest nomination as probationary scholar in Pinoy Dream Academy II last Saturday, one of the happiest people was his real-life girlfriend and fellow ex-scholar, Bea Munoz, 17.

Bea and Miguel entered the Academy together, but Bea was expelled ahead of Miguel. People say this comes as no surprise because between the two of the two of them, it is Miguel who is considered the better singer and the one who really has his eye firmly fixed on a singing career.

He even competed in Philippine Idol, and made it to the Top 10 of that contest. Bea, meanwhile, is more an accidental singer. She can carry a tune, but never really trained to do it professionally. “I just used to sing in high school,” she explains. “Pinoy Dream Academy was my first-ever (singing) contest. In fact, I got shocked when I made it into the finals, because I’m what you would call uneducated when it comes to music.” During her stint in the Academy, Bea suffered from comparisons with the other scholars, especially those more vocally gifted than her. She didn’t experiment that much, and obviously didn’t believe enough in her own abilities, which brought on scathing comments from the judges.

She also got into an argument with Miguel, the week that they were to sing a duet of Araw Gabi.

Bea was having trouble with the tone and pitch of the song, and Miguel was getting frustrated. The two managed to get onstage during the Gala Night that followed and sing their song, but everyone believed the two had broken up over that little argument, a fact that Bea denies.

“Miguel and I are in an open relationship, which means that we have each other for support. What we have is both romantic and platonic because we acknowledge the fact that we can’t commit to each other full time because we still have dreams to chase.” Although she herself was voted out of PDA, Bea isn’t sad or depressed.

She knows that at this point, her options are still wide open. She can either go ahead and pursue her singing career, or do something else.

Anyway, says Bea, she can always take comfort in the fact that there are a lot of good singers out there who joined contests and didn’t win, but ended up having careers just the same. “I don’t have to win to be discovered,” she says.