Boy Abunda’s voice takes on a new melody for LGBTQIA+ advocacy

When does a celebrated TV host, whose familiar and trusted voice resonates across households nationwide, feel compelled to turn to music to amplify a message and strengthen an all-too-important plea to the public? For the Philippines’ King of Talk, Boy Abunda, it is when he continues to witness discrimination and injustice befalling individuals, groups and communities in a day and age when society likes to pride itself on becoming more open and accepting of all human beings.

More specifically, it is in instances when our beloved Kuya Boy comes across a social media post from an educated and law-abiding transsexual who writes about boarding a cab only to be insulted and harassed by the driver for dressing and looking a certain way. It is times when a newbie talent confides in the veteran manager that he’s been told he would never make it in show business because everyone can tell he’s a closeted gay. And much worse, it is when the famed interviews of this “fast talker” bring him an inconsolable father of a young LGBTQIA+ community member who suffered unwarranted violence at the hands of a macho street gang just for being real.

It is amid such ever-emerging and cruel realities like these that Kuya Boy finds the need to transcend his expert communication skills and pen the lyrics of song after song, telling the story — the plight — of the community he is very much a part of and powerfully renewing his longtime call for respect and equality for those just like him.

New full-fledged songwriter Boy Abunda with singers — and proud LGBTQIA+ members — who rendered his precious songs (from left) Anton Antenorcruz, John Mark Saga and Raven Heyres. 

“We are just like men and women after all, aren’t we?” the King of Talk rightly declared at the launch of his EP, “Say It Clear, Say It Loud,” which has just turned him into a veritable songwriter.

“But all this, of course, happened in hindsight,” he told The Manila Times Entertainment, which posed the question about his unexpected shift to music and songwriting in his longtime advocacy for LGBTQIA+ rights.

“This project started out small. Over the pandemic, I started writing these songs. I’m not a professional composer, but I know the story. I know the joys and pains of being gay. I know how it is to be discriminated. And I know how to pray. So, all I had with me while making these songs were the stories of the LGBTQIA+ community.”

Five years in the making, and now officially Kuya Boy’s first commercially released album of compositions, the reality that music is such a potent force finally dawned on one of the most — if not the most — trusted celebrities in local entertainment.

“You know, it’s really ironic because I’ve been in the entertainment industry for a long, long time. So, I am very familiar with the territory, with the industry, with the celebrity business. But only in doing this did I realize that I had never come up with the idea of using music to communicate.”

Introspecting further, Kuya Boy mused, “When I graduated with my doctoral degree in Social Development, I was a commencement speaker, and I delivered a letter to my mother about being gay.

“And for many years, I’ve always been very active with this advocacy and helped many organizations in my own little way.

“That’s why I had to ask myself why did I forget about music? Why did I when we’re so familiar with building stars and the process of making hits [for my artists] like Ariel Rivera, for example?

“What I realized in hindsight is that we are a work in progress no matter how far we’ve come. So now, what’s important is that we’re moving on with our knowledge of the music industry — its power and prevalence and its global nature — because we have something to say.”

The album launch and Q&A with Kuya Boy were fittingly held at the Rampa Drag Club in Quezon City and served as the first time OPM’s newest composer heard and witnessed six of his original tracks performed live in public. The experience brought the seasoned communicator to tears, just as it did many audience members, including she, who is emotionally churning out the words to this particular story you are reading. Listen in particular to Kuya Boy’s “Diyos Ko, Diyos Ko Po!” as sung so powerfully and poignantly by the unbelievably talented “Tawag ng Tanghalan” alumnus John Mark Saga and see for yourself why the waterworks cannot be helped.

“Ang sinasabi lamang ng kantang ito ay sana matapik ang inyong mga puso lalo na doon sa mga hindi nakakaunawa sa mga pinagdadaanan ng kumunidad na ito (The song simply speaks of the hope that people’s hearts will be touched, especially those who do not understand the struggles of this community),” Kuya Boy simply said of this immensely moving track.

Kuya Boy said the song’s title is so apt in many ways since he and the eventual team he brought together to produce the EP didn’t expect it to transform from a simple idea into a significant musical endeavor. “I didn’t have a clear road map on how to do this, so ipinagpasa-Diyos nalang talaga namin (we really entrusted it all to God).”

In choosing the artists to render his precious songs — “Bilang,” “Ideal World,” “Papa Alleluja,” “Kalbaryo” and the title track, “Say it Clear, Say it Loud” to round up the EP — Kuya Boy held stringent auditions and was only too happy that the singers who stood out and impressed him — Saga and fellow singing competition finalists Anton Antenorcruz and Raven Heyres — are all proud members of the LGBTQIA+ community whose own experiences courageously reflected the very stories he was inspired to tell in lyrics.

“Instantly, the project became deeply personal to them as it is to me. And I’m going for legacy here. As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, what have I contributed to the advocacy? We hadn’t thought of music as a tool to tell our story, and that’s what I’m doing now.”

Indeed, Boy Abunda’s foray into songwriting through “Say It Clear, Say It Loud” is more than just an artistic venture. It is a deeply personal and heartfelt contribution to the LGBTQIA+ community from one of its most dedicated members and staunchest protectors filled with love and hope through the enduring power of music. And while the King of Talk hopes and prays that the future will be kinder to all human beings — especially those who bravely embrace the freedom to express who they are and who they love without boundaries — he takes comfort today that beyond his time and privilege to communicate equality, justice and understanding, his songs will persevere in calling for what is right.

“Say It Clear, Say It Loud” is now available across leading music streaming platforms.