Pinoy pride indeed!

Filipino-American singer and Black Eyed Peas member Apl.de.ap collaborated with former 2NE1 member Sandara Park for his new music release "2 Proud."

In an roundtable interview at the Ascott Hotel in BGC, Apl shared his inspiration for the song and experience working with the "Pambansang Krungy" Sandara Park.

"I've been experimenting with my new inspiration. I love and (I am) inspired by Afrobeat right now. And it started pre-pandemic, and then the pandemic happened. And so (we) worked the song during the pandemic and you know, I’ve been wanting to collaborate with Sandara Park,” Apl said.

The two first met in 2011 when former Black Eye Peas member Will.i.am collaborated with 2NE1 with the song "Gettin Dumb". Since then, Sandara and Apl kept in touch and even bumped into each other whenever they got the chance to visit the Philippines.

"I always see her (Dara) in the Philippines. And we’ve been hanging out and wanting to collaborate. I sent it to her, and she liked it, and the song happened,” Apl said.

According to him, collaborating with Sandara was a dream, and he is happy that Sandara was open-minded about trying out a new style of music.

"It was great working with her, and I'm glad that she is open-minded about this new style. It was during the pandemic so we had to do it via the internet and Zoom. And even shooting the video, we had to be creative about it. It just made sense because I’m a big K-pop fan, and she had a history here in the Philippines,” Apl said.

Apl and Sandara kept their friendship intact as they bonded over what they loved about the Philippines: the culture and beautiful scenery on the islands.

"We love being back (in the Philippines), not me visiting but me going back home. For me, just the beauty of the Philippines and the islands, the beaches, the food, (and) nightlife. Other than music, that’s what we talked about," Apl said.

As per Sandara, she also stated that working on this song with Apl has given her pure joy and excitement.

"apl.de.ap and I have known each other for many years. We both have cherished memories of the Philippines, which we bond us. As a huge fan of his music, working on this project was filled with excitement and joy."

“Even though we had to do everything far off (each other), separately, due to the pandemic, we finally made it and the song came out super great. I hope you also enjoy our first collaboration and one day, I wish we could perform it live in front of the fans.”

Aside from Sandara, Apl plans to collaborate with other K-pop idols like BTS. As per the local artist, he is eyeing to work with rapper Flow G and singer-actress Nadine Lustre.

Coming back to his Pinoy roots, Apl mentioned that he is a big fan of Asin's song, which comes to our surprise that he even sings it in a karaoke. He also mentioned during the interview, that he's been practicing the song "Ere" by Juan Karlos Labajo.