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words: LOU ALBANO
photos: RYAN ONG
January 24, 2019
“WAIT, WHAT IS THIS AGAIN?” Julie Anne San Jose clarifies.
We were congratulating her for her winning streak that week. She bagged two Wish Awards and renewed her contract with Universal Records, and her rendition of “Your Song” hit a ridiculous seven million streams on Spotify.
It had been a mighty good week for all intents and purposes, and yet Julie Anne San Jose seemed oblivious. Inside the frantic dressing room of Sunday Pinasaya, Julie pauses, confused. It takes her a moment to realize what all the congratulations were for. “Ah yeah, yeah, yeah,” she smiles, nodding as we remind her all the good things that have come her way.
“I wasn’t really expecting anything,” she says. “I’m really just grateful for everything that’s happened to me. Sunod-sunod din.”
It’s only the third week of January but Julie has already claimed it: 2019 is going to be great. “I’m going to focus on music,” she says in a tone laced with quiet determination.
She laid down the plans: two upcoming regional concerts with fellow Kapuso singer Christian Bautista, a planned series of international concerts in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Canada, and Dubai, and a new album, “hopefully within the year.”
She sounds particularly excited about the album. It will feature a lot of collaborations and she’ll be writing songs for it, too.
“As much as possible, I want to have my own songs na sinulat ko [in my albums],” says the 24-year-old star. Her songwriting process does not strictly follow any particular set of routine, but Julie prefers finishing a song in one sitting, when she’s riding high on emotions.
When writing songs, it hardly matters whether her sentiments are positive or negative – “super giddy or super sad.”
“‘Pag nasa streak ng emotions ko, mas doon ako nakakapagsulat nang maayos,” she says. “I guess kasi when you’re writing, you have to pour your heart into it. There is a goal na you have to touch the heart of the listener.”
Julie Anne San Jose on ending a relationship: “It needed to happen for me to be able to realize… minsan kasi, may mangyayari at mangyayari sa buhay natin na hindi kagandahan. It’s just how we cope with it.”
Photo: GMA ARTIST CENTER
IF EMOTIONS ARE THE FUEL for Julie’s songwriting, then 2018 just might have given her a deep reservoir from which she could draw.
The past year turned out to be quite a ride for Julie. Less than a month into the new year, she speaks with plenty of perspective over the events of 2018.
“A lot happened. Some good things, some bad things. There were events in my life na parang, oh. It became a turning point — and hindi lang sa work, but as person. As an individual,” she says.
In her year-in-review post on Instagram, Julie characterized 2018 as a “roller coaster year…it was about staying afloat.”
“Just grateful for the moments that gave me gentle lessons; humbled by the times that rattled my bones,” she wrote.
Without saying too much, a rewind: Early this month, she finally confirmed that she was single again after a two-year relationship with actor Benjamin Alves.
She refers to the breakup as “the event,” and while she acknowledges that fact, she isn’t going to dwell on it, bash anyone, or turn bitter.
She’s over it, Julie says, adding, “it was a necessary end.” She is now at the stage of gladly realizing the lessons “the event” taught her.
“It needed to happen for me to be able to realize… minsan kasi, may mangyayari at mangyayari sa buhay natin na hindi kagandahan. It’s just how we cope with it,” she says. “Ako, I was able to cope quickly kasi may outlet ako: I have my music, busy ako sa work, I have my family, my friends, my supporters with me.”
Videos of Julie Anne San Jose’s performances routinely go viral online. Her medley with Rayver Cruz of the songs “Kung ‘Di Rin Lang Ikaw” and “Mundo,” has nearly 700,000 views on YouTube.
Video: STUDIO 7
JULIE IS BUSY ENOUGH as it is these days – in addition to her concerts and recording projects, she is a regular on two musical show, Sunday Pinasaya and Studio 7 – but she would have been even busier if plans to take up a master’s degree had pushed through.
A consistent dean’s lister in college, Julie graduated with honors in 2016 from Angelicum College, earning a degree in Communication Arts.
She thought for a second about joining a master’s program, but ultimately felt it wasn’t quite the right time.
“I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to study. I was half-hearted about it… and I didn’t want to do it half-heartedly. I didn’t want to do it just because I have free time, or just to fill the void,” she says.
But steadfastness and patience have always been hallmarks for the Kapuso artist. She has let go of some opportunities in the past, just because she didn’t want to do anything where she doesn’t go all-out.
She recalls a chance to break into the American music scene in 2015, when music producer Sidney Brown, more popularly known as Omen, who lists the likes of Beyonce and Drake in his professional rap sheet, saw Julie’s videos.
“Some people think nag-audition ako but I didn’t,” Julie says. “I was given the opportunity to do a demo and submit.”
But after recording a demo, Julie realized it was not yet time to take that plunge.
“I was graduating. I didn’t want to leave school,” she says. “I didn’t want to leave my family. I had to relocate. Ako lang mag-isa. Hindi ako ready. I got scared.”
She adds, “I didn’t want to do it because I was half-hearted about it, and I never want to do things I’m half-hearted about.”
Calling it “a good opportunity,” the American dream will have had Asia’s Pop Sweetheart transitioning from her usual pop and ballad repertoire to R&B, singing material she calls “too ahead of its time.”
And though the project did not push through, the experience was a light bulb moment for Julie. “When I recorded those tracks in the US, nakita ko: puwede pala!” she says.
Four years later — and with a diploma in hand and surrounded by her family and friends — Julie is exploring those sounds, and much, much more.
She released “Breakthrough” in 2018, a seven-song album that had her demonstrating her prowess in R&B. She made into her own the Parokya ni Edgar hit, “Your Song,” displayed her suave style in “Down For Me,” and showcased her soaring vocals in “Nothing Left.”
Julie Anne San Jose graduated with a degree in Communication Arts from Angelicum College in 2016
Instagram: MYJAPS
Julie Anne San Jose started out in the GMA talent show “Popstar Kids,” which led into her inclusion in the singing group Sugarpop.
DESPITE HER STARDOM, it’s interesting how Julie Anne had never really planned out her career moves — not even for the audition for the GMA talent show “Popstar Kids,” which led to her entry into show business.
“Ang agenda lang namin that day was to go to the mall,” Julie recalls.
“I was 11 and sabi ni Mama, may auditions. So I auditioned for ‘Popstar Kids.’ Kailangan ng 1x1 picture? Sa isang photo booth lang kami pumunta,” she says.
Throughout her 12-year career, Julie has just done what she wants, and stops when she’s no longer as passionate about what she’s doing.
There came a point, however, early in her career, when she almost quit showbiz, when her run with the kids’ singing group Sugarpop came to an end.
“Our group got disbanded and na-dishearten ako. Parang: Paano na? Wala na akong ka-group? Ano nang mangyayari sa ‘kin?”
But her fear soon proved to be unfounded. “Nagkaroon ako ng opportunity. I was given the chance to sing the theme song for ‘Dyesebel.’ Sabi ko sige,” she says of what she calls her “biggest break.”
Since then, Julie Anne has taken each and every opportunity in a slow but sure manner, thinking things through, gauging her risks, feeling what’s in her heart, and growing as a person and as an artist.
“I’m a patient person. I’m not really in a rush. Wala akong timeline and I’m really just enjoying whatever’s happening now,” she says.
At 24 and after more than a decade in show business, life is how she imagined it to be — sort of.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this is all I want to do. There are a lot more: I want to travel, I want to learn a new instrument (saxophone). I want to take up my master’s,” she says.
“I want to try theater,” she adds.
Julie actually had a slot for the Miss Saigon audition a few years ago, “but I fell ill, as in paos na paos ako, so I didn’t go.”
“I took it as a sign,” she laughs. “Hindi naman ako nagmamadali.”
AND THAT BRINGS US HERE, TODAY: Julie recovering beautifully from a “medyo hassle” 2018, riding the crest of her wave, and standing on her own as she is thrust into the limelight as the premiere songstress of GMA.
But Julie is quick to say: “Wala akong kailangan i-fill na shoes. Hindi ko kailangang i-fill in ‘yong responsibility na iyon. I am happy doing what I’m doing.”
She loves being able to geek out and apply the things she’s learned in college into her work: determining the angles and lighting that she learned in her photography elective whenever she has a shoot, realizing which communication theory was at play whenever “24 Oras” asks her to fill in for the Chika Minute segment, and recognizing all the TV and radio prod lessons she’s learned in the shows she headlines.
“I just strive to be better at my craft,” she says. “In my 12 years in the industry, I never thought that I need to be this, or I have to be that. Ito ako, and I’m transparent that way.”
Julie Anne is never in a hurry. But somehow, she’s always on time. And here she is, ready to stake her claim.
