Renaldo Lapuz: instant hit in TV and internet

Who is Renaldo Lapuz?

"I wanna audition because this is a privilege to sing to the whole world, that's it". He did not aspire popularity. He just wanted to sing.

This guy, Renaldo - a Filipino from Arizona USA, auditioned in American Idol 2007. He was the last guy in the line and was wearing an extravagant white cowboy outfit. He is very nice and likeable but was gutsy.

To make this short, he did not make it to Hollywood. However, he was able to hit it off with his audition piece-composition made for American Idol judge, Simon, "We're brothers forever". The song has a very high retention rate among the audience. From his audition's airing (16 January) to date (20 January), Renaldo has a wikipedia entry, an official website with t-shirts for sale and freebies, a discussion topic in various forums, internet articles and print articles. His song has a remixed version by Rocko. If searched in google and yahoo, more than 40 pages of blogs, videos, podcasts and articles featured him. All in four days.

The newest internet sensation
Apart from the elaborate costume and the highly addictive song, Renaldo just wanted to sing to the whole world, and be an inspiration to those in despair *but according to him, in despairs. The website, renaldolapuz.com claimed that this website have been visited in 57 countries. In youtube, he is in this week's top rated video, most discussed and most favorite -- not in one youtube account but in three separate youtube accounts, totaling to more than one million views.

An instant celebrity
Elaborate costume, sincere guts, nice and cool, and a highly addictive song. Reality tv has definitely changed the television viewing landscape. Ordinary people, like Renaldo, becomes instant celebrities through reality TV. Supplemented by the internet, those we see for minutes on TV can be replayed over and over. At present, the internet - alternative to the capital driven TV entertainment.gives the audience a venue to communicate their opinion, preferences and critiques. Soon, the mass communication models will be able to measure and analyze methods of audience feedback through the internet.

Renaldo Lapuz had around 15 minutes of airtime in the American Idol auditions, but he was given more bandwidth by bloggers and entertainment writers through the net. Just his web presence alone is phenomenal -- making him and his song, an instant hit.

Here is a video clip of his audition in American Idol


LYRICS
We're Brothers Forever by Renaldo Lapuz
"I am your brother
Your best friend forever
Singing the songs
The music that you like
We're brothers til the end of time
Together forever til the end of time
I am your brother
Your best friend forever
Singing the songs
The music that you like
We're brothers til the end of time
Together or not, you're always in my heart
Your hurting feelings
Will reign no more."