Photo Courtesy of HHE
PPop idol girl idol group and AKB48's Philippine sister group, MNL48, held their
sixth-anniversary celebration event, Through the Years, at Atmosfera in Poblacion, Makati City last June 8.
Amidst the hot afternoon heat, loyal MNLoves came to the venue and waited for its gates to
open at 2 pm.
Staff letting event attendees into the venue
Several snippets from the idol group's 2019 docufilm, ICYMI: I See Me, were shown in front of the audience before the sounds of Overture and the fan chants filled the whole Atmosfera.
MNL48 then sang Party ga Hajimaru yo to start the festivities before Sheki Arzaga welcomed
the fans.
Third Generation members and Cole Somera later serenaded the fans with their renditions of Ysabelle Cuevas's I Like You So Much, You'll Know It and High School Musical's We're All in This Together. They also gave small gifts to the audience during the performance.
Members of the idol group's Second Generation also did the same, as they kept the energetic momentum inside Atmosfera with their cover of AKB48 Team B's Shounichi, JKT48's Flying High, and AKB48's Kokoro no Placard.
Meanwhile, members of the First Generation unlocked core memories as they sang Dalawang Pag-Ibig Niya and Heavy Rotation.
A Farewell for Coleen
The atmosphere inside Atmosfera later changed as the second part of the event, the mini
Graduation Concert for Coleen Trinidad, soon to begin.
The idol group showed a compilation of short videos of Trinidad on the screen before she
appeared on stage to serenade the audience with her covers of Matsubara Miki's Stay with Me and Moira dela Torre's Babalik Sa'yo.
Trinidad thanked her MNL48 "sisters" and the fans for supporting her during her six-year stay as an idol group member.
"Dito ako nagmature. Alam kong naging bitter sweet ang journey ko dito, pero nagpapasalamat ako. ..Grabe ang pagsuporta niyo sa akin," Trinidad said.
Trinidad then performed 365 Araw ng Eroplanong Papel, Palusot ko'y Maybe, and Talulot ng Sakura one last time with her fellow members before departing from MNL48.
Coleen Trinidad performing her Graduation setlist. Photos courtesy of HHE.
Surprises, surprises
The sound of sirens surrounded Atmosfera as MNL48 revealed a series of announcements
during their Through the Years event.
First, after months of searching through an audition, the idol group's 4th Generation members have arrived on stage. MNLoves warmly welcomed Chelle Abrio, Ira Panganiban, Yana Bince, and Line Antero with cheers and fan chants while performing First Rabbit.
Then, after months of delays, the idol group's eighth single, Summertime, was released digitally on June 12.
Cole Somera, the original song's Center, claimed that the idol group was meant to release the song last March.
However, it faced delays, citing unforeseen factors, such as communication issues with the
song's American producer due to different time zones.
The Quadlips member shared that the song had to be rewritten from the ground up but clarified that the title would be the same. "They recorded the song here (in the Philippines). I recorded my lines while in Thailand" Somera added.
Aside from Somera, CJ dela Cruz, Klaryle Mercado, Rachel Suazo, Klaire Presno, Amy Isidto,
Kath Apduhan, and Charm Tosoc comprise Summertime's Senbatsu.
Finally, MNL48 had a change of guard during the anniversary event, as the idol group appointed Jem Caldejon as its third Overall Captain, succeeding Sheki Arzaga who has held it for the past three years. Caldejon would be the third member to hold the Overall Captain position previously held by Arzaga and Alice De Leon.
Marking Caldejon’s appointment as the new Overall Captain, Sheki Arzaga passes an anchor keychain given to her by former Overall Captain Alice De Leon. Photo courtesy of HHE.
Caldejon expressed her desire to work with her fellow members and supporters "I want you to take me as your voice," she stated. She also encouraged people to share their ideas for the idol group online. "You know how involved I am on social media. I'll read them and take them as constructive criticism," she said.
Caldejon also said that she did not take her appointment as a ‘replacement’. She added that
even if she is now the Overall Captain, she will still consider Arzaga her captain, and look to her for advice.
She also revealed that she was initially hesitant to take on the position when Paulo Kurosawa,
MNL48’s manager, offered the position to her.
Arzaga praised Caldejon’s hard work saying, “Even during my time as Captain, she would lend a hand without asking. You know she would voluntarily help the girls and the management.”.
At the end of her speech, Caldejon requested everyone’s support for the group’s future. “I can’t do this without you, guys — MNLoves, the management, Sir Paulo (Kurosawa), and of course, the girls. I need all of your support for MNL48 to be MNL48 again.” she said.
For Arzaga, the passing of the Captain’s baton to Jem has made her reflect on her three-year
run as MNL48’s Captain since March 2021, succeeding Alice de Leon. Arzaga said the position taught her to be flexible and think more about the idol group’s welfare. She also learned to be resilient even when the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic caused uncertainty in the idol group and even wore through their morale to a degree.
“It was hard. We don’t know how to bounce back. Before, I used to enjoy this. Now, it felt like ‘I should do this. I should do that.’ But that made me decide to hold on to the group. I stayed because I love doing this. MNL48 is my passion,” she said.
Arzaga warded off fans’ worries about her graduating from the group saying that she would still guide Caldejon and her fellow members by assuring, “Even if I am far, I’m still here. Wherever I go, I’m willing to help MNL48.”
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