Anne Curtis retires after overdelivering on an underpromise

It’s just as well that starlet Anne Curtis went into a self-imposed “retirement” from singing even after scoring a successful concert tour billed “AnneBisyosa” (a play on the word ambisyosa which means “ambitious”). According to Curtis, she found the whole “singer-performer lifestyle” quite tiring, saying “If they were to ask me [to record an “AnneBisyosa” album], parang hindi ko na kaya, nakaka-pagod siya. Sabi nila, o isang album, [sabi ko] ‘ayoko na po’.”

According to some reports, Curtis’s concert was more of a spectacle of eye candy than a showcase of real musical talent. Bottomline of course is that it sold tickets and continues to be a marketable proposition as evident in producers’ continued interest in the self-confessed “non-singer”. The Australian-born actress was originally better known for her looks than her voice and the title of her concert alludes to the boldness with which she conquered the music scene. The term ambisyosa is familiar to most Filipinos as a word of discouragement in the vernacular and is often used to describe someone seen to be pursuing an endeavour judged to be beyond that person’s capabilities.

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In that context, Curtis’s choice of name for her concert is sort of a self-deprecating gesture — a kind of an under-promise to the audience, perhaps to prime them to be a bit less critical of Curtis’s singing faculties.

Filipinos are of course not only very accepting of under-promises, they are also famously tolerant of under-delivery (even non-delivery in many cases). As we know now however, AnneBisyosa did not disappoint its bankrollers. Its ticket sales reportedly eclipsed concerts of “more seasoned” musicians Sharon Cuneta and Martin Nievera, prompting businesswoman Liza Valbuena to observe…

“This seems to indicate that concertgoers these days prefer novelty over musicality—which is a pity, because Sharon and Martin worked hard to come up with what they dubbed as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ show.”

Filipinos’ taste for mediocre singing and performing has long been noted as many popular variety shows have, for decades, regularly featured line-ups of the latest network recruits doing song and dance numbers despite these “artists” being visibly self-conscious of their own lack of talent while they perform.

Interestingly, the primary mode of public transport of Filipinos continues to be the jeepney — a vehicle originally constructed from surplus United States army jeeps. Perhaps Curtis in turning AnneBisyosa into a runaway success continues the renowned Filipino tradition of turning something ill-designed for a particular function into an enduring solution that delivers a level of functionality that suits the Filipino’s renowned pwede na yan standards.

15 Replies to “Anne Curtis retires after overdelivering on an underpromise”

  1. Someone once said “you should focus on your core gifts”. Good that she’s doing exactly that — she’s fine as an actress, and awesome as eye candy, she should stick to that.

  2. “According to some reports, Curtis’s concert was more of a spectacle of eye candy than a showcase of real musical talent.” What, they just realized that now? The clothes she wore in the concert weren’t a giveaway? Granted, I only heard of this concert because of this blog and watched two clips (more like the first 20 seconds and then I gave up) and the clothes she wore during the two performances showed that her body was part of the night’s performance.

    I just realized I saw on Facebook that my close friend wanted to go to this concert. I thought the concert poster was a joke back then but now that I think about it… the concert did happen. Because I read this blog. Wow. Get Real Philippines is like my only source of Philippine entertainment news. Thank God.

  3. So basically she tried singing and made the most out from it regardless of lacking singing talent? It felt like a huge slap on a face.

  4. If the media and the public here would spend 1/100th of the time they spend paying attention to these airhead, silicon-based, no-talent department store mannequins on this country’s musicians and actors with actual talent, maybe this wouldn’t be such a cultural wasteland.

  5. I for one don’t believe that they came out to watch mediocrity over musicality. I believe there are other factors such as Sharon and Martin are old, people get tired of hearing the same old rendition, they want something new, even if that meant it would be mediocre. Another thing is that Martin concerts, well theres no scarcity of it, you can watch him on ASAP every sunday.

    The Philippine music industry is really dull. The music industry is mostly comprised of Cover artists. There is hardly an artist out there with a “new album” out with new songs, just different rendition of American songs. And those that make new songs are usually not marketed as big as those who do cover. Another thing is that they do not dare to go into other genres of music and are stuck producing novelty songs or love ballads.

  6. – If you don’t like it, don’t watch.
    – If you you think you’re better than them, do something better… but, if people don’t watch or listen to you, tough!

    At the end of the day, people need an escape, whatever it may be. Don’t judge them.

    p.s. If you challenge this post, please refer to bullet # 2

  7. i would go to anne’s concert to see her perform anytime, not hear her sing, and have a good time. by right there are others who sing better than anne but their shows are soooooo boring.., and she’s not garbage at all. shame on you haters

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