ABOUT A month ago, Johnmar “OhMyV33nus” Villaluna published an embarrassed photo of himself inside a recording studio, narrating a wacky exchange with a music producer.
“Okay lang ba stay ka sa octave?” asked the producer.
V33nus wrote: “Me as a singer: ‘Ano po yung octave?’”, followed by a teary emoji.
The Blacklist International superstar — currently on break from his team during their Season 9 campaign as he and partner Danerie “Wise” del Rosario focus on content creation — then related that the producer had to bring out a keyboard (a digital piano, not a PC keyboard) to demonstrate the musical note that he wanted V33nus to hit.
“LF [Looking for] VOCAL COACH ASAP,” said V33nus in his post.
That music producer is Cyril Sorongon, who’s been creating songs, scores, and commercial jingles throughout his entire career. He recalled that day inside the studio with a laugh.
“He was saying na hindi naman siya singer,” said Sorongon in an interview with Spin.ph. “But I just needed to get the performance out of him. Naglabas ako ng keyboard, tas kinakanta ko [yung note] sa kanya nang ganun.”
V33nus, of course, is not a singer. He’s a professional esports athlete. But the Blacklist International shotcaller was determined to give it his all.
“Sabi ko kay V33nus, ‘Just sing it. I just need your performance, yung bigay mo,’” said Sorongon, who has also been producing electronic music for the past two decades under the name Silverfilter. “Thankfully, nag-translate naman siya, maganda yung lumabas.”
A sparkling start to OhMyV33nus singing career
You can hear V33nus’ first salvo at a singing career in the new song “Tear It Off”, released by Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. His lines come in hot at the tune’s second verse, right after his beloved “Boss A”, Alodia Gosiengfiao. In the song’s psychedelic music video, V33nus makes his entrance in a flaming orange jacket, reinforced with a leather-belt corset.
As even V33nus himself pointed out in a behind-the-scenes vlog, his singing parts have been buttressed by the power of audio technology.
“Ang galing nung nag-Auto-Tune,” he said cheerfully.
Sorongon has seen the Auto-Tune comments on YouTube, too. “Yung iba, [sinasabi] nila, in-Auto-Tune naman yung boses niyan e. But yun na nga, it had to be done for the overall vision of the song,” he declared. “The Auto-Tune flavor talaga was intentional on my end. It was there to ‘fix’ [the vocals], pero kumbaga, it added a different flavor. Parang mga anime vocaloids.”
Joining OhMyV33nus and Alodia was Andrea Brillantes, and then, near the end, by Nexplay EVOS’ Renejay “Renejay” Barcarse, who already has a couple of songs on Spotify.
Some fans were surprised at Renejay’s limited airtime in the song.
But this was in tune with the song’s overall message, which aimed to highlight women and LGBTQ+ gamers, encouraging listeners to “tear the label” and unite as gamers.
Renejay supports the cause of gamer empowerment
“Surprise talaga [si Renejay] sa music video. The flow [of the song] is empowerment talaga. Ilalabas namin si Andrea, si Alodia, si OhMyV33, na parang, wow, sobrang powerful nila. Then biglang sasali si Renejay to support [them] sa pag-tear off ng labels,” said Alyssa Mae Calicdan, marketing executive at Moonton.
“Kung maririnig niyo yung lyrics, diniscuss na kasi ni Andrea, Alodia, and V33nus, yung mga stereotypes na binabato sa kanila. Tapos si Renejay yung parang, as a straight guy, andito siya para i-support yung tatlo.”
It’s a sentiment that Cyril Sorongon can relate to. After all, as he was writing the lyrics to “Tear It Off”, he wondered if he could truly write down lines that would encapsulate that feeling of discrimination that female and LGBTQ+ gamers often experience within the community.
But, for the sake of his daughters who are also gamers, he knew he needed to try.
Sorongon is happy that listeners are getting the message tucked inside the snappy, pulsating vibes of the chorus (which he'd fought to make more gritty and more downbeat than originally planned).
“I stressed that part, sa chorus, na ‘Tingnan mo ang sarili mo / Gamit ang iyong mga mata / Wag yung sa kanila / E sino ba sila?’ Yung self-value mo talaga kasi is [dapat] sa iyo mismo muna. You should see yourself as valuable,” he said.
“I was glad that it resonated.”
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