Jaya: If You Leave Me Now

-

Filipino Freestyle Friday

"The Philippines' Soul Diva" Jaya's hits US single "If You Leave Me Now" from her first album JAYA (1989) entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in October 1989 and eventually peaked at #44 in February 1990 and remained in the Top 100 pop singles chart for 26 weeks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Hi! Thank you for dropping by. Please leave us a comment. Sige na!

Popular posts from this blog

Balikbayan: Chesca vs. Rambutan, 2012 vs. 2026

-
Image
Valencia, Bukidnon • August 2026. Balikbayan: Chesca vs. Rambutan, 2012 vs. 2026. balikbayan, chesca perseveranda, valencia bukidnon, mama helen, garcia family, rambutan, tagalog, fil-am, filipino american, philippines Valencia, Bukidnon • August 2026 Balikbayan: Chesca vs. Rambutan, 2012 vs. 2026 Fourteen years apart, same rambutan, same house in Valencia, Bukidnon — and a text thread, half English, half hard-won Tagalog, that made a father's whole week. Chesca in July 2012, back at Mama Helen's house in Valencia, Bukidnon — her first visit was 2004-2005. I woke up before the sun rose per usual, and got her text around 6 a.m. in the 707 from my bunso. It was 9 p.m. in the Philippines, and Chesca had just gone back to Valencia, Bukidnon — back to Mama Helen's house from the farm, the house where her mommy grew up — and done something nobody asked her to do. She'd found the same spot, picked up a rambutan, and recreated a photo of he...
Read more

The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning

-
Image
Hiddenbrooke, CA • March 2026. The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning. forgotten island dreamworks, filipino mythology animation, H.E.R. liza soberano, lea salonga manananggal, nakali island, filipino american diaspora, pinoy pride, fil-am identity, filipino folklore, dreamworks animation 2026, joel crawford januel mercado, filipino culture film. FILM & IDENTITY • MARCH 2026 The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning The first major animated film rooted in Philippine folklore asks the question every immigrant carries: What do you lose when you leave? A PinoyBuilt analysis of the most important Filipino cultural moment in animation history. DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island features a voice cast led by H.E.R., Liza Soberano, and Lea Salonga in a story root...
Read more

Join Pinoybuilt.com: a Filipino-American Community online

-
Image
What is Pinoybuilt.com? Pinoybuilt is a website built on "off-the-shelf" Google technology. I initially conceived of this site prior to the birth of Facebook, back when Friendster was a thing. Then life and Facebook happened. In 2011, while on vacation with family in Hawaii, I found out that they didn't sell "Filipino Strength" t-shirts as they did in Honolulu. My buddy Tony referred me to the local Maui Built apparel. I thought of a Filipino Built brand along the same line. My tita said that it was too long and suggested Pinoy Built. I bought the domain pinoybuilt.com. I worked with a couple of graphic designers in creating a logo, apparel ideas, but nothing really took hold. Eventually, I turned this back to the original concept of a community site. Marketing Tool Currently, all blog entries auto-posts to the Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/pinoybuilt and posts a tweet to  https://x.com/PinoyBuilt  (formerly Twitter ). The @Pinoybuilt Twitter account ...
Read more

Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry. hiraya manawari meaning, ancient tagalog phrase, filipino manifestation, reach your dreams filipino, baybayin tattoo hiraya, decolonize filipino identity, pre-colonial philippines language, hiraya manawari tv show abs-cbn, filipino words of power, fil-am cultural reclamation. DECOLONIZE • MARCH 2026 Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry How an archaic Tagalog phrase meaning "may the visions of your heart come to pass" survived colonialism, powered a beloved 90s TV show, and is now reclaiming Filipino identity — one tattoo, one graduation caption, and one whispered prayer at a time. There are words in every language that carry more weight than their syllables suggest. In English, we have "freedom." In Japanese, ikigai . In ...
Read more

'Madonna of the Slums' by Vicente Manansala

-
Image
Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila. Vicente Manansala, Transparent Cubism, Filipino modernism, post-war Manila, National Artist Philippines, Thirteen Moderns, heritage, art history, diaspora identity. Art History & Heritage • March 2026 Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila Vicente Manansala's 1950 masterpiece reimagined the sacred Madonna as a Brown Filipino mother in the wreckage of post-war Manila — and in doing so, changed Philippine art forever. Seventy-five years later, it still speaks directly to us. Madonna of the Slums (1950) by Vicente Silva Manansala. Oil on Masonite, 86.5 cm × 61 cm. National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila. A cornerstone of Filipino Modernism. There is a particular kind of gravity that settles over you when you stand before a painting that refuses to look away. Vicente Manansala's Madonna of the Slums , complete...
Read more

Learn Tagalog: "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting

-
Image
Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Learn Tagalog: Hindi Kita Malilimutan — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting. basil valdez, hindi kita malilimutan, learn tagalog, opm, filipino values, fil-am, tagalog lessons, filipino music, diaspora, remembrance, pinoy pride, language learning. LEARN FILIPINO • MARCH 2026 Learn Tagalog: "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting Master 50 Tagalog words, Filipino grammar, and the cultural depth of remembrance through the song that became the emotional anthem of the Filipino diaspora. PinoyBuilt "Learn Filipino" series — exploring the Tagalog language through OPM classics that shaped the Filipino soul. There are songs that belong to a moment, and then there are songs that belong to a people. Basil Valdez's " Hindi Kita Malilimutan " — I Will Not Forget You — is the latter. Written by a Jesuit teenager named Manoling Francisco wh...
Read more

California's Filipino Power Map: Where 1.7 Million Filipinos Live, Work, and Build Community

-
Image
California • March 2026. California's Filipino Power Map: Where 1.7 Million Filipinos Live, Work, and Build Community. filipino americans california, fil-am california, filipinos in california, daly city filipinos, vallejo filipinos, los angeles filipinos, san diego filipinos, bay area filipinos, california filipino population, philippine diaspora california. CALIFORNIA • MARCH 2026 California's Filipino Power Map: Where 1.7 Million Filipinos Live, Work, and Build Community From Historic Filipinotown in LA to the Navy-rooted streets of Vallejo — this is the definitive breakdown of where Filipino America lives, and why California is the center of the diaspora story. If you want to understand Filipino America, you start with California. Roughly 1.7 million Filipinos live in the state — about 38% of the entire U.S. Filipino population . That's not just a statistic. It's a living, breathing network of familie...
Read more