POPS POPS EVERYWHERE!

Manila, August 5, 2003 (MALAYA) She's in the cover of magazines, she has rejoined GMA-7, and coming soon are a soap opera with Rudy Fernandez, a telemovie and foreign concerts with Martin Nievera, a new CD, and more items in her Pipay line of fashion

BUSY as the proverbial bee-that's how Concert Queen Pops Fernandez is these days. She is, in fact, everywhere-visible not only on television-in her new home, GMA 7, that is-but also in the news (no break for her from all those rumors and intrigues about her professional and personal lives).

But then again, Pops has no time to fret about petty controversies. She is a woman who's having the time of her life. After 20 vibrant years in showbiz, Pops has finally reached the peak, the prime of her life-in all aspects.

"I think I've lasted in this business for such a long time because I never treated this as work," she elaborates on the secret of her staying power. "Even if I lacked sleep the night before, I don't mind waking up early. In fact, I look forward to everything that a new day will bring. I still get excited about my work after all these years."

She is extremely grateful for her "wonderful job."

"You're always on your toes," Pops pipes up. "You're always meeting new people. You always get to try new things. Of course, you also encounter different conflicts every day. But you also learn from them. In this business, there are a lot of ups and downs. But, I guess, as a very competitive person, that's what keeps me going."

Pops, however, is not the type to compete with other people.

"When I say competitive, I compete with myself," she reiterates. "I don't look enviously at my neighbor's house and compare myself with them. It's more about asking myself: What else can I do in my own home? I think that's why my house is always under renovation!" she laughs throatily.

Reinvention, after all, is Pops' middle name. She has even reinvented herself into a fashion mogul with her Pipay line of t-shirts (currently sold at Anonymous and soon to open its flagship stores at the fifth level of Shangri-La Plaza Mall and at the second floor of Beauty Central Shoppesville, Greenhills) and as a topnotch celebrity endorser (for Confident Sanitary Napkin and the Shangri-La Plaza Mall).

The "constant reinvention" principle applies not just to interiors, fashion and career, but to life in general.

"That's why I am not afraid to try new things in my life and in my career," she chimes in. "I believe that it's better to try and fail than not to try at all and end up telling yourself in the future that I should have done this or that."

Fearless, that's Pops, circa 2003.

"If it's your time, it's your time," Pops shares her philosophy in life. "You shouldn't stay cooped up in your house. Life is too short. You should enjoy life!"

There are concerts lined up, including a world tour of her much-talked-about SRO reunion concert with Martin Nievera.

"We have scheduled a lot of shows this year," she relates. "We'll take the Martin and Pops concert on tour. We'll take it out of the country. I'm also glad to say that my solo Canada tour was also a great success." So successful that in Pops' Vancouver concert, she went head on with international pop singer Christina Aguilera as the latter was slated to perform also in Vancouver on the same day as Pops. But Christina backed out due to slow ticket sales. To think that Pops performed in an even bigger venue than Christina's!

Meanwhile, Pops' calendar is already crammed with myriad shows in the live concert circuit, but she is also eager to start work on her latest album, her much-awaited follow-up to "The Way I Feel Inside."

"It's about 'Moving On'," She divulges. "It will be a spin-off of the same concept we had in the last album. I will still be working with the same team, with Pop Art Music, with Edith and Margot Gallardo, and Moy Ortiz."

On the TV front, Pops is looking forward to a very productive last two quarters of the year. She has a brand-new soap opera with Rudy Fernandez, as well as a musical-variety show. She is also set to star in a telemovie with Concert King Martin Nievera. Yes, the concert couple are back together in a movie for TV to be aired on GMA 7 soon.

Titled "Sabi Nya, Sabi Ko," the telemovie is hyped as a first-of-its-kind produced in Philippine television. Not only because it stars Pops and Martin (this is the first ever TV movie made by Martin) but it is the biggest musical TV movie ever produced for Philippine television.

"Sabi Nya, Sabi Ko" is a light-hearted comedy-musical TV movie about an acid-tongued radio DJ Frankie (Pops) who gives sensible advice on her top-rating radio show. Meanwhile, her rival DJ in another station, Franco (Martin) a.k.a. Whacko Franco also gives crazy and irreverent advice that is totally opposite Frankie's. The tension starts as the two DJs are forced to work together since their stations decided to make a tie-up. Is storm signal up, or will sparks fly?

The telemovie is based on a story by Pops Fernandez with Mark Reyes as director, Marc Lopez as musical director, and Jackie Castillejo, Philip Lazaro, Jan Marini, Gerard Pizarras, and Cholo Escano as co-stars and with the special participation of Troy Montero, Greg Turvey, Jeff Rodriguez, and Richard Gutierrez and Chynna Hortaleza. Pops herself is line producer. Giving terpsichorean support are the Whiplash dancers with Andy Alviz as choreographer.

Pop's big move to GMA 7 signifies a homecoming of sorts. GMA 7 is where Pops cut her hosting teeth in the '80s primetime hit, "Penthouse Live." The fist time she returned to the old studio in the GMA compound, Pops waxed nostalgic.

"It was very sentimental," Pops recounts. "It was where I started when I was 15. It was like going down memory lane." Pops is in the mood to go reminiscing these days, especially since she has just celebrated her 20th anniversary in the biz.

"Maturity," Pops singles out the biggest change in her after 20 years in the biz. "Because I grew up in the public eye, my private life was also a public life. They go hand-in-hand. So it's like I experienced instant growth. Obviously I'm not the same Pops as I was five years ago. I am stronger now."

Pops has been polished, toughened by the storms of life. "I've always been an optimistic person," she points out. "But now more than ever, I look at everything in a positive way. I've learned that the purpose of the things we go through in life is to polish us, to make us brighter, more brilliant."