Article: Manila Standard Today ~ “The Same Old Sandara Park”

The same old Sandara Park

AHEAD of 2NE1’s May 17 concert, Sandara Park visited Manila and did some rounds of appearances on TV, including an interview in Aquino & Abunda and Gandang Gabi Vice, and a surprised visit in It’s Showtime and Pinoy Big Brother house.

Speaking in fluent Filipino, Sandara (or hugely popular in South Korea as Dara) greeted her fans warmly, “Kamusta na kayo, si Sandara po ito (How are you doing, this is Sandara).”

The 29-year-old K-Pop star holds a special place in the hearts of many Filipinos because of her natural charm and humble beginnings. Having lived in the Philippines with her family from 1994 to 2007, Sandara is very comfortable with the local culture.

She first gained popularity in 2004 when she ended runner up in a reality talent search on ABS-CBN, Star Circle Quest (SCQ). She then joined the network entertainment stable called Star Magic in the wake of her success in SCQ. With her projects ranging from commercial endorsements to television appearances, Sandara became a household name and was dubbed “Pambansang Krung Krung,” a made-up word that means funny and crazy.

In a span of three years, Sandara had appeared in more than a dozen television shows and starred in five movies with Can This Be Love being the most successful. It earned almost P100 million at the local tills (the movie also starred her fellow SCQ winner, Hero Angeles). She also ventured into music recording by coming up with three extended plays under Star Records label and made the novelty songs “In or Out,” “Walang Sabit,” and “Ang Ganda Ko” hugely popular.

Amid a string of film and TV projects, Sandara, however, decided to leave for Korea to pursue a showbiz career there. In 2009, she took on the name “Dara” as a member of the girl group 2NE1 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Still in constant communication with her local fans, Dara has engaged her Twitter followers. She updates them with the latest happening in her career. She communicates in Hangul, English, and, of course. Filipino. And because she considers the Philippines her second home and she has more than 21 ways to prove why she loves the Philippines, many Filipinos idolize and look up to her.

Credits: Manila Standard Today

News: Sandara Park says she wants to star in her own Koreanovela

Sandara Park says she wants to star in her own Koreanovela

2NE1 member and Star Circle Quest alumna Sandara Park admitted that she has been missing the Philippines. Sandara, who flew to Korea in 2007 to pursue a career in music, had since rarely visited the Philippines because of her busy schedule.

“Na-miss ko kayo sobra, ang init dito! Ang init ng weather, ang init ng pag-welcome niyo sa amin. Maraming salamat,” (I really missed you all, it’s very warm here! The weather is so hot, and your welcome for us is so warm. Thank you very much!) she said during the open presscon of 2NE1 in the country. “The Pambansang Krung-Krung ng Pilipinas” quipped, “Sana bumalik kami dito, balik kami dito every week.” (I wish we could come back here, I wish we could come back here very week.)

Among the many hit songs that the Korean girl group had produced since they released an EP (Extended Play) in 2009, Dara shared the song that she considers as her favorite. “Lahat ng songs gusto ko pero isa sa favorite ko ay ‘Good To You’ dahil nakaka-relate ako sa lyrics,” (I like all of our songs, but my favorite would have to be ‘Good To You’ since I can relate well to the lyrics) she relayed.

2NE1 broke into the Korean music industry upon releasing their single “Fire.” According to Dara (Sandara’s Korean screen name), she really liked her styling in “Fire” (Space Version) music video. “Favorite ko ‘yung concept ko sa ‘Fire’ dahil nakapang-coconut tree hair ako, ‘di ba?” (My favorite concept is the one for ‘Fire’ because at that time, I was able to wear my coconut tree hairstyle, right?) she said.

After doing a cameo appearance recently in a popular Korean series, Dara said she hopes to star in her own series. “Don sa koreanovela na ‘yun ako ay isang co-artist na dumaan sa red carpet, ‘yun lang, sobrang short lang. Sana next time may koreanovela na ako.” (For that Korean drama, I was just a co-artist who walked the red carpet, that was it, it was so short. Next time, I hope to star in a Korean drama.)

2NE1’s All Or Nothing concert in the Mall of Asia Arena last May 17 was a massive success. Sandara extended her thanks via Twitter to those who supported their concert.

“Maraming salamat sa lahat ng friends ko na pumunta sa concert namin!!! Sorry hindi tayo nagkita pero nakita ko kayo from the stage!!! :),” (Thanks to all my friends who went to our concert!!! Sorry I wasn’t able to meet you, but I saw all of you from the stage!!!) Sandara tweeted on her Twitter account @krungy21.

She added, “Sobrang happy talaga ako ngayon! Grabe!Boom panes talaga!!!And syempre sa lahat ng blackjacks na laging nandyan para samin!Mahal namin kayo!” (I’m really very happy right now! Super! Really ‘boom panes’!!!! And of course, to all the Blackjacks who are always there for us! We love you all!)

She also thanked their surprise guests during the concert. “Special thanks to our surprise guests for i love u performance tonight! #Ram from #gforce #JasonAbalos #JorossGamboa #SamMilby love u guys!” she tweeted.

Source: Push.com