There’s a new P-pop group in town and they’re composed of not just four, not five, not even seven members, but twelve! Yes, ASTER, the rising P-pop group under AsterisK Entertainment, has twelve members: Kean, Charlie, Tatin, Gee, Alas, Laurence, Wayne Lloyd, Kiel, Gem, Miguel, and Cray.
It’s been more than a year since they released their debut single “BINGO,” last July 7, 2024, but now, they are releasing their full album “TALAYAG” – a mix of electronic, R&B, Afro House, and Hip Hop and most of all, Ballads.
Speaking of ballad, during their album launch, Aster showcased their voices as they sang ‘Munting Tala.’ Quite impressive for a relatively new and also big group. Watch their performance below:
Apart from ‘Munting Tala,’ the Talayag album also features ‘Isang Minuto,’ another ballad. P-pop groups doesn’t usually go with ballad songs, what made them decide to include ballad songs in their album?
“We just want people to recognize us not just as good dancers, good performers, we really want to showcase our vocal abilities. We don’t want to be put on a box na parang ito lang kami. We want to show people that we’re capable of doing this, we’re capable of doing that,” answers Aster’s sub-leader, lead dancer and lead rapper, Charlie.
There are technically eight (8) original songs in their Talayag album, twelve if we include other versions of their songs, but how involved are the Aster members in creating their music, and also in the choreography of their dances and making their music videos?
“Siguro if ire-rate from 1-10, siguro 10 talaga ang pagiging pakialamero namin,” Aster Tatin jokes.
“Totoo naman. Kasi if may something na hindi nagsi-sit right sa amin, especially may isa, importante ‘yun eh. Kailangan namin siyang i-recognize to the point na nagco-compromise kami everytime. I think through our album, makikita na Aster did a great job compromising each one of us,” Aster Tatin continues.
“Aside from that, we’re not just composers, we’re not just choreographers, we also have directors in our group and we’re also hands-on when it comes to our music videos, which is something na we’re going to discuss in the long run. I want to point out na I think it’s something you should know, gaya nung nangyari sa music video namin na Bingo, most of the ideas were from us. That is something I can proudly say na Aster is really talented not just in choreography, composing, but also in directing,” Aster main dancer and lead vocal, Cray.
Aster is also an award-winning group prior to their album launch. They are awarded as the “Top Performing Group of the Year” at the 8th PPOP Awards during their trainee days. This serves as a motivation to the group to do better and be better when their debut comes. At the 9th PPOP Music Awards, ASTER won the “New Artist of the Year” award together with New:ID. They also won awards from various award-giving bodies such as the Excellent Filipino Awards – Promising PPOP Group of the Year 2024, the Saludo Excellence Awards – Promising PPOP Group of the Year 2024, Asia’s Pinnacle Awards 2024 – Promising PPOP Male Group, and PPOP STAGE idol of the Month (November 2024).
Watch our full coverage of their TALAYAG album launch media conference below: