MANILA, Philippines – A 17-year-old female contestant will represent the Philippines in the K-pop World Festival 2011 in South Korea in December after winning the Pinoy K-pop Star contest held in the country recently.
Karla Maye Carreon bested 12 other Filipinos to emerge as the grand prize winner in the contest sponsored by the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines (KCC), a unit under the Korean Embassy in the country.
KCC officials headed by Director Seong Un Hwang led in awarding Carreon, who won a trophy, gift packs and a free trip to South Korea.
This is Carreon’s second major win in a singing contest this year. She competed last July in the World Championships of the Performing Arts (WCOPA) in Los Angeles, California where she won four silver medals.
Carreon finished high school last March in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where her family is based. Her parents are working in Jeddah and she has a younger sister.
She is now staying at her aunt’s house in the Philippines and says she will be staying here for good.
“I will be settling here for good but my family plans to have me back in Jeddah every once in a while. I sure do miss the lifestyle there,” she said.
Karla describes herself as a singer, dancer and guitarist.
She told Bulletin Entertainment that she started learning how to sing when she was just three years old.
“I started singing when I was three years old, when my mom was listening to Michael Jackson and Bee Gees. She heard me singing their songs in gibberish but surprisingly in tune and that’s when she and my family decided to let me take up basic vocal lessons. It was heavy for a three-year-old, but I had fun,” she said.
To qualify for the Pinoy K-pop Star, contestants had to sing a Korean song and Carreon chose 2NE1 member Park Bom’s song “You and I” as her entry.
“I am an avid fan of 2NE1, and I love Park Bom’s vocal power. My friends were requesting for a cover of Park Bom’s ‘You and I,’ so I did a cover for them and it came in handy when I learned about the contest,” Karla said.
It was her mom who told her about the contest and this was the first time that Karla entered a Korean singing contest.
“She was Google-ing for local and international singing contests and she happened to browse the KCC website. We were so excited about the contest because it’d be my first time joining a Korean singing contest,” according to Karla.
Karla says she had fun during the Pinoy K-pop Star contest.
“After joining a lot of different singing contests, I expected to feel a little more confident and less nervous during the finals, but I wasn’t. It was my first time singing a Korean song in front of a crowd and I felt conscious about my pronunciation and diction. But I had a blast because the other finalists were so fun to be with backstage,” she said.
When her name was announced as grand prize winner, Karla cried.
“I was extremely surprised, I cried! Honestly, I didn’t expect to win the contest since the other finalists joined other KPOP contests way back and they had so much more experience in contests like this more than I do. I felt so happy that I’m going to bring home some good news to my grandparents in Pasig City and to my family in Saudi Arabia. I love making them proud,” she said.
Karla is preparing for the K-pop festival in South Korea where 17 teams from 15 countries will compete in the talent competition that will showcase singers and dancers, according to KCC Philippines.
K-pop stars will grace the event, which will be shown on KBS World.
“I feel so honored and blessed to be representing KCC Philippines in Korea this December. This will be another big shot for me; another experience to last a lifetime,” Karla told Bulletin Entertainment.
Karla has been joining singing contests in the last few years. She joined “Pop Star Kids” on channel QTV 11 in 2005-2006 and “Little Big Superstar” on ABS-CBN in 2007.
In Jeddah, she won in the Battle of the Singers 2008, Jeddah Pop Icon 2009, and Himig ng Kalayaan 2009. She had her first solo concert in Jeddah in 2009 organized by the Filipino Artist Migrant Ensemble.
When asked about the possibility of pursuing a professional singing career in the Philippines, Karla said she will go for it.
“If the opportunity comes, I will be more than glad to grab it!” she said.
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