Charice Pempengco, now simply known as Charice, made the Philippines her second stop after kicking off her Asian tour in Korea.

Her second international single, "Pyramid," topped the Billboard Dance/Club chart in May 2010. Meanwhile, her 12-track international album released under Warner Music, debuted at No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard 200.

Serving as front act for Charice's local concert series was acoustic heartthrob Chris Cayzer. He recently signed up with Warner Music and is currently working on his third album, which he hopes to release this October.

Chris performed three songs: “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train, “Billionaire” by Travis McCoy and The Script’s “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved.”

The central plaza of the Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill was packed last Friday, July 16, with people hoping to catch a glimpse of the fast-rising singing sensation.

Charice opened her concert with “I Love You,” an upbeat song from her album.

Charice then followed up with “Halo” by Beyonce, a favorite song of hers.

 “Itong pong kanta na ito is para sa inyong lahat. Every time na nagpe-perform ako, sa lahat, sa buong mundo, siyempre, iba pa rin kapag sa inyo po ako nagpe-perform. Sa tingin ko ang song na ito ay i-e-explain niya yung nakikita ko sa bawat isa sa inyo,” the young singer said.

She gave the audience a sample of her lung-busting vocals in the middle of the song.

Her mom Raquel and international manager Marc Johnston (wearing white) were in awe during the performance of Charice.

Someone fixes Charice's hair and outfit before she continued with the show.

As an acknowledgement to her mentor, award-winning composer David Foster, Charice performed “In This Song” which aptly describes her life story.

Charice then did a medley of high-energy dance songs like “Just Dance” from Lady Gaga, “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus and Michael Jackson’s “Rock with You.”

Charice continued giving something the audience would enjoy: a song from Justin Bieber, her own rendition of “Baby.” She even did the rap portion done by Ludacris, much to the amazement of everyone.

The 18-year-old singer acted as if she forgot to perform a very important song. Charice asked the crowd to help her out by saying aloud the title of her single, which she performed with Iyaz.

Leading the crowd in helping her out was Charice's younger brother, Carl (wearing black).

“Pyramid! Pyramid! Pyramid!” chanted the crowd.

Charice closes the evening with the figure of a pyramid and acknowledges her fans.

 

Event host DJ Migz with a Z of 99.5 RT asked Charice how it felt to be performing that night.

A teary-eyed Charice could only say, ”From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. Ang sarap ng feeling na makita ang suporta ninyo. Maraming, maraming salamat po.”

On Day 3 of her concert series, the audience still packed the Eastwood Open Park last July 17 despite the drizzle during the early part of the evening. An estimated 3,000 people waited patiently to catch a glimpse of the international singing sensation.

Chris again opened up the program at 9 in the evening but the impatient crowd already wanted Charice performing onstage. If it had not rained, the program would have started earlier at 8:30 pm.

 

Digital cameras and cellphone cameras of all kinds were all trained on Charice as soon as she stepped onstage.

Oprah Winfrey dubbed Charice as the “The Most Talented Girl in the World.” Her appearances on talk shows such as Oprah and The Ellen DeGeneres Show paved the way for Charice to achieve international stardom.

To date, Charice has appeared on Oprah four times already.

Her fame has allowed her to perform with other great singers such as Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli and David Foster.

David Foster served as album producer and mentor of the young singer. He even refers to her as his "sixth child." 

Charice was included in the 2008 album, David Foster and Friends where she sang a medley of “I Have Nothing” and “I Will Always Love You.” 

Incidentally, David Foster will be coming to the Philippines on October 23, 2010 to perform at the Araneta Coliseum. He will be accompanied by Peter Cetera, Natali Cole, Ruben Studdard (of American Idol Season 2), the Canadian Tenors and our very own Charice.

Charice acknowledged that evening, Falsevoice or David Duenas, the man responsible for uploading the videos of her appearances on Star King (the South Korean talent show). These online videos allowed the Filipina singer to catch the attention of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Oprah.

After her stop in the Philippines, Charice went to Japan and will continue her Asian promotional trip in Thailand and Malaysia before going back to the U.S.

 

Charice is slated to do pictorials for international magazines when she returns to the United States.