Her period of mourning will officially be over but she’ll continue to grieve for the late Comedy King since they lived together for 23 years. “I always talk to him. Just last night, I played his song, ‘What a Wonderful World’, umiiyak ako, tulo nang tulo ang luha ko, pero naka-smile naman ako kasi I know he’s in a happy place. I tell myself I should not hang on to him and let him go, para maging happy na rin siya roon. The last three years, mahirap talaga for us kasi labas-pasok siya sa hospital.”
Will she still sell their house fronting Manila Bay? “Yes, it’s too big for me, Zia and Nicole. Soon, aalis na rin si Zia as she’s having her own place. Si Nicole naman, I hardly see her. She works as a brand manager at maaga pa, wala na sa bahay. Then sa gabi, she’s busy with her social life. And it’s hard too maintain such a big house. My electric bill lang is already P40,000 a month. I’m just waiting for the market to go up, lalo na ngayong malapit na kami sa Solaire and more casinos will be built in the area. I want to move somewhere in Quezon City para malapit sa place of work ko.”
Why does her new album have such a long title? “Actually, ‘Palagi’ ang main title, which is also the first single. I’ve been singing for 30 years daw, since my days with the Hotdog and my original hits like ‘Hiram’ and ‘Mambobola, so ‘Palagi’ na ako sa eksena. It has eight original songs: ‘Palagi’, ‘Dito Lang’, ‘Sa Piling Mo’, ‘Di Ka Na Akin’, ‘How Can You Say’, ‘All Cried Out’, ‘I Do’ and ‘Ngayon at Magpakailanman’, written by the likes of Louie Ocampo, Keith Martin, Chito Ilagan and other talented songwriters. It also has two revivals: a duet of ‘Maging Sino Ka Man’ with Martin Nievera and ‘Without You’, originally by Joey Albert.”
She’s having the time of her life as an actress playing the Reyna ng mga Aswang in ABS-CBN’s “Juan de la Cruz”. “It’s the meanest character I’ve played so far. Lahat na lang, gusto kong ipapatay. Sobrang uhaw ako sa revenge after yung kapatid ko, napatay ni Coco Martin. Kailangan, lagi kaming asal aswang. Pag naiiba, kami ni Albert Martinez (who plays her husband), we remind each other, O, nag-aasal tao ka na naman.”
Would she like to try theatre? “Bobby Garcia of Atlantis offered me to do ‘Evita’. Sabi ko, hindi ko kaya. I’ll have to dance and I’m not a dancer. And as of now, I’m so busy with ‘Juan de la Cruz’. I got an offer to do a movie with Cinemalaya but tinanggihan ko dahil nga sa soap and I’m busy recording my album. You’d notice iba ang singing ko dito. I have to adjust my voice for the younger generation. Wala yung usual trademark headtones ko. When I recorded this, ni wala yung arrangements that used to be given in music sheets. Lahat kasi ngayon, diretso na sa computers.”
Watch out for Zsa Zsa when she launches “Palagi” in “ASAP” two Sundays from now.
