Kim Chiu embraces her ‘Bawal Lumabas’ blunder, releases The Classroom song via collab
Last week, Kapamilya actress and Star Magic artist Kim Chiu took part in the ABS-CBN’s Laban Kapamilya online protest. Like other contract artists, Kim was given a chance to speak her mind and voice out her sentiments over the network’s shutdown of operations. It was through a speech on live video.
A part of Kim’s emotional statement went viral, the one where she likened the country’s laws and ABS-CBN’s situation to a classroom organization. In the said portion, Kim could be seen struggling to articulate her thoughts.
Here’s the transcript:
“Ang laging binabato samin, law is law. Paulit-paulit. ‘Hindi ka graduate ng law, huwag kang magsalita.’ Eh kayo na nagsasabi sa’min kung graduate kami ng law, graduate ka din ba ng law? May alam ka ba sa batas? May alam ka ba sa nangyayari ngayon? Napanood mo ba ‘yung Senate hearing ng ABS sa Senado. So, law, ibig sabihin batas. So, kaya ginawa ang batas sa isang democratic country na kung nasaan tayo ngayon ay para maging pantay-pantay ang lahat ng tao. Sa classroom may batas — bawal lumabas, o, bawal lumabas. Pero ‘pag sinabing ‘pag nag-comply ka, na bawal lumabas, pero may ginawa ka sa pinagbabawal nila. Inayos mo ‘yung law ng classroom n’yo at sinubmit mo ulit, ay, puwede na pala ikaw lumabas. So, kung wala ka namang nilabag na batas, bakit ka ipapasara ng isang NTC?…”
The classroom analogy eventually led to viral memes, video parodies, TikTok skits and dance challenges. “Kim Chiu” even trended on microblogging site Twitter hours after the live session.
Kim was quick to acknowledge her mistake and poke fun at herself by admitting through a retweet comment that even she got confused by her statement.
Look:
Last night, after more than a week of keeping mum about the issue, the Love Thy Woman lead star broke her silence through a vlog post on her official Youtube channel Kim Chiu PH. In the 33-minute upload, Kim opened up about her choice to remain quiet after her viral speech and admitted initially getting affected by the flak. Kim, however, shared that her perspective about the sticky situation changed after reading an open letter from a random stranger named Adrian Crisanto. The letter posted on Facebook as a status update became viral and reached the ABS-CBN executives (including the Star Magic team). The letter was forwarded to Kim and it gave the actress an idea to put a positive spin to what she was going through. A meeting with the letter sender was immediately arranged.
Here’s the open letter to Kim on Facebook by Adrian:
In her latest vlog, Kim’s full conversation with Adrian via a video call was shown and the actress repeatedly thanked her new friend for lifting her spirits at what she referred to as her “lowest point” in life. The chat was later joined in by musical arranger, DJ Squammy. He is the man behind the viral song version of Kim’s controversial statement. What I expected to be an awkward face-to-face meetup between the musician and the actress turned out to be light and fun. DJ Squammy shared that he received a text message from the Star Music team (ABS-CBN’s music arm) after his song spread on social media like wildfire.
Kim eventually revealed the reason behind the virtual gathering. She wanted to involve them in a surprise collaboration – the official Bawal Lumabas (The Classrom Song) single and music video.
“Game ba kayo na buuin natin ang kanta?,” Kim asked her virtual guests. “Mag-collab tayong tatlo. Let’s make something fun dito sa nangyaring ito. Siyempre ‘yung mga problema hindi natin tinatambayan,” she continued.
The two immediately agreed to the plan, with Adrian suggesting, “Gawin nating inspirational!” When Kim sang the line, “Sa classroom may batas,” to the tune of DJ Squammy’s viral arrangement,they all burst into laughter. 🙂
The full song presented in music video format was placed at the end of the vlog. In case you missed it, Adrian co-wrote the lyrics with Kim while DJ Squammy mixed, mastered, and produced the music. Vocal arrangement was done by Star Music’s Jonathan Manalo.
Random thought: It’s so cool how Kim was able to turn things around by facing the issue head-on and embracing her mistake instead of wallowing in self-pity. Of course, it did help that angels in disguise came her way. Who would have thought that what seemed to be a major booboo is now a source of joy and inspiration for people on lockdown?
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