During their auditions, the girls of BINI were trying to make their individual artista dreams happen, clueless that Direk Lauren Dyogi was forming a girl group via Star Hunt Academy. Some tried out for reality shows like Pinoy Big Brother and the rest trained for singing and dancing, until eight were chosen to make up BINI.
“Noong 5 days na boot camp, doon lang po namin nalaman na girl group ‘yung binubo. Nagulat po kami kasi sumasayaw kami, gino-group kami, ine-evaluate po kami ni Direk,” said Colet.
BINI is an exciting mix of empowered young Filipinas with different backgrounds. For instance, Gwen used to be a fashion model, Sheena a fan of dance competitions, and Jhoanna a radio broadcaster. But the shared love for performing made them solid.
The girls love to bond over loads of chats, food, movie trips, and gaming sessions. They also make it a habit to catch up at night after a busy day. And it helps to soothe the homesickness. Chasing after their dreams might have required them to live away from their families but at least they have each other. Aiah stands as the group’s ‘Ate,’ the one who loves to give lengthy but meaningful advice. Sheena, Jhonna, and Stacey were voted as the funniest in the group.
Due to their daily training, and of course safety measures, the members of BINI stay in one house. They start the day at 7am, with dance classes from 8am-12nn, followed by vocal sessions from 1-4 pm. The rest of the day is spent for livestreams and other guestings and they also have online studies every Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Their debut single “Da Coconut Nut,” an electro-pop remake of the classic composition of National Ryan Cayabyab, has made listeners go nuts with its youthful tempo. “Noong pinarinig sa amin, nakakagulat kasi possible pa pala siya malagyan ng ganung beat. We’re happy kasi po nabigyan po ulit namin ng recognition ‘yung song at si Mr. Ryan Cayabyab,” expressed Jhoanna. She added that the song has a deep meaning about the importance of coconut trees, dubbed as the tree of life, to Filipinos.
It was followed by their empowering single “Born To Win,” and a special two-part online launching event titled “The Runway” and “The Showcase.” Considered as a highlight for the first stream is BINI wearing creations by celebrated fashion designer Francis Libiran, while in the second part, they performed BoybandPH’s “We Made It.”
“Habang nasa backstage po kami, umiiyak kami pero ‘pag papasok kami sa stage, the show must go on. At si Sir Francis Libiran, ginawa niya ‘yung mga gowns na fit sa personalities namin, so thank you po,” said Colet.
On their dream collaborations, the fast-rising girl group mentioned Popstar Royalty Sarah Geronimo and Asia’s Soul Supreme KZ Tandingan. For international artists, they wish to work with K-Pop group ITZY. They would love to try acting as well.
BINI, whose group motto is “walo hanggang dulo,” hopes to go global five years now, besides every artist’s dream to perform for their fans face-to-face. “Nagwo-world tour na kami sa iba’t ibang bansa, marami na po kaming na-produce na songs at mas dumadami pa ang Blooms,” they envisioned. ‘Blooms’ is their fandom name.
With their talent and grit, the sky’s the limit for BINI, who are now bonafide Star Magic artists. Watch out for their concert with brother group BGYO and the four versions of “Born To Win” in Thai, Bahasa, Japanese, and Spanish.
To end the show, BINI showed their fun-loving sides by taking on a game called “Pop That Music.” The girls would think of a song that mentions the given word. For the first word “mahal,” they belted out “Mahal Ko o Mahal Ako” by their idol KZ Tandingan, and “Maging Sino Ka Man.”
For the second word “ikaw,” the Yeng Constantino classic popped up in their minds. Next comes a little blooper from Jhoanna, who sang the wrong lyrics in “Uptown Girl” when given the word “up.” Mikha took the spotlight as she performed “Kailan” to mention the word “bakit.”
Stacey went all out singing Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body.” For the word “leave,” the girls had a mini concert session with Bruno Mars’ “Leave The Door Open.” For “baby,” they got Justin Bieber’s hit, and their own single for “win.”
Check out BINI’s inspiring stories and fun musical challenge in this video!