Denise Julia breaks silence on BJ Pascual shoot

Denise Julia has broken her social media detox and spoken up on the cancelled BJ Pascual shoot.

In a series of Instagram Stories posted in the wee hours of Christmas, the singer aired her side through videos and screenshots, including conversations of her manager John Vincent Salcedo, and BJ’s manager Pearl Acuesta.

Last May, Denise’s team reached out to BJ for a possible shoot for her upcoming EP. In a video, the singer said, “Despite us following up many times and not getting replies for weeks at a time—which I will be posting the screenshots of after this—we were patient and pushed back our deadlines to accommodate BJ’s schedule because we knew that he was booked and busy.”

According to Denise, she wanted to adjust her release date to be able to work with the esteemed photographer as she's also a big fan of BJ.

Denise and BJ then met twice on Zoom and several personal calls to exchange ideas. “We were both very excited for it. I still couldn’t believe at that time that I was working with him. We had a couple of things that we wanted to do for the first time which I was really excited about,” the “B.A.D.” hitmaker said.

In late June, Salcedo and Acuesta continued to set the shoot schedule because the EP comes out by the end of August and when Salcedo followed up again in July, Acuesta said that BJ and the production designer were free from July 26 to 28, which was confirmed by Salcedo.

Acuesta added that BJ wanted to do the album cover and single for “Better Than He Does.”

By July, Salcedo gave Acuesta a budget of P650,000 all in all for the photoshoot and a music video because "BJ kind of insisted that he wanted to try doing a music video for the first time, which I would not be against since even at that time it was real for me that he was down to do that.” They originally only planned to do a photoshoot she said.

But despite her manager’s follow-ups, BJ's team did not get back to them on the budget, Denise said. She explained there can't be a shoot date "without us being sure if the budget is even feasible for them."

"Because on our end, we understand if this is not something they can work with, we would’ve pulled back immediately already."

Less than two weeks before the shoot, Salcedo kept following up with Acuesta on their schedules and would confirm layouts.

In Salcedo’s last message to Acuesta, he said had been working in production for more than a decade now, and said that “No vendors I work with would do anything without a budget actually agreed upon. No production company would even lift a finger until that’s set. Too much risks involved. I think that’s where the confusion is.”

He added, “I should’ve been more straightforward with how important it was that we agreed on a number before confirming anything. I thought that’s protocol for y’all as well so I apologize for me assuming that’s the case. I didn’t expect for work to be done/costs to be incurred without a final budget set.”

"From the start, if they had only told us that this is not doable for them, that’s not the price range that they can work with. We will respect that and just move on, move past it and maybe work in the future for a different kind of thing where both of us can align,” she said.

Three weeks after Denise’s team sent their initial budget — three days before the scheduled shoot, now moved to August — BJ’s team gave them a budget of P1.2 million.

“This is why we wanted to be clear from the very start if that budget that we gave was doable or if it was feasible because if not, we really would have pulled back from the shoot out of respect also to them if that’s not their rate. And we couldn’t afford it, then we respect that to pull back from it.”

With this, Denise’s team still tried to stretch it to P800,000 because they really wanted to work on the project. They also thought of not shooting the music video anymore and only have two photoshoot layouts.

“My manager was giving out options so that none of the efforts go to waste,” she said, adding her manager "was still trying to figure out ways to make it work out of respect for BJ's team and their time and efforts."

In a video Denise said, “I know in the podcast it said that I was the one who canceled the shoot, but in reality, my manager was still trying to make it work.”

Denise said her manager tried pushing the shoot to a later date so that cancellation fees would not incur. “But ultimately at the end, BJ’s team, not us, canceled the shoot citing the differences in our production processes.”

According to Denise, BJ's team canceled the shoot "due to the differences in our production process."

“They accepted that we don’t align. We didn’t agree on the production budget. We had set our own budget way ahead of time so that we could confirm it. And they sent their own budget way too soon to the deadline of the shoot, which is why it didn’t work out.”

Denise messaged BJ “after listening to the podcast and hearing about your frustrations and experience while working with my team.”

The singer said, “I want to sincerely apologize for my shortcomings as an artist and for the unprofessionalism you've experienced.”

Denise said that much of their communication were indirect, “and I wasn't fully aware of what was happening communication-wise between our teams.”

Denise told BJ that she always admired and respected him as an artist, “which is why it's so painful to know that I let you down.”

She also said, “I only wish your frustrations had been communicated directly to me. Instead they were turned into something public for others to tear apart. As someone who is still trying to grow—not just as an artist but as a person—I truly would have appreciated the chance to address this directly with you.”

The singer added that this has been a humbling experience. “I truly didn’t realize the extent of your frustrations until now. I’m surprised by how this unfolded but also determined to learn and grow from it.”

Denise also told BJ that she would like to have an honest conversation with him and speak about her side, “and hopefully turn this into something constructive, rather than leaving it as public content that can’t address or make anything change internally.”

In the screenshots of BJ's Christmas Eve reply to Denise, he thanked the singer "for reaching out and acknowledging the disrespect, financial loss, and inconvenience experienced by my team and everyone involved, who worked tirelessly in preparation for that day."

"I hold my team in the highest regard and deeply value their dedication, effort, and respect for their work," he added.

“While a sincere apology would certainly be appreciated, I understand this is something you may still be processing. Moving forward, I hope we can all learn something from this experience and work on improving industry practices," BJ said.

In their exchange, Denise told BJ about addressing the issue “not to attack you, but to present the truth from my side.” She added that she had been out of the loop on social media and heard that there have been bashing.

BJ also agreed to have a face-to-face meeting with Denise after the holidays.

Last weekend, BJ revealed on the “Bad B*tch Bible” podcast hosted by Killa Kush that Denise was the most stressful personality he had to work with.

On the night before their scheduled shoot, BJ said Denise's manager wanted to cancel on them because their chosen hairstylist wasn't available.

The shoot ended up being canceled, with BJ’s team paying for the last-minute cancellations.

BJ also said he hadn't heard from Denise since then.

"I never heard from her, no thank you, no sorry, no anything," he said.

Following the podcast, Denise took a social media break but quickly took a pause on that for her Christmas Day message.

According to Denise, this is the first and last time she will speak about the issue.

—  Nika Roque/LA, GMA Integrated News