Teen singer Miguel Antonio plays love messenger

As Feb 14 draws near, local singer Miguel Antonio is taking it upon himself to be a messenger of love.

The 15-year-old is running a Valentine's Day Facebook competition, You Are My Satellite, inviting people to send in stories about the 'satellite' in their lives.

Miguel, the youngest talent to sign with BMBX Entertainment, a regional music company founded by US group Black Eyed Peas member apl.de.ap, will pick the five most heartfelt entries and record a personalised video messageto the winners' loved ones.

The videos will be posted on his Facebook page on Valentine's Day.

 

 

In a phone interview with The New Paper, Miguel - whose father is Singaporean and mother is a Filipina - said he came up with the idea as he was intrigued by satellites "pushing the boundaries of space" and "making connections" to Earth.

"Satellites are technically in space but we can still feel them when they send signals using radio waves," he said.

"To a certain extent, this metaphor is also a way of telling my fans that I'm always there for them, even if they don't see me in person.

"As V-Day is around the corner, I feel that this will be a nice time to reach out to them."

 

SPECIAL: Miguel Antonio's favourite entry for his online You Are My Satellite competition is a fan's poem (above) about her love for her dad. PHOTO COURTESY OF SAMUEL VEDANAIGAM

He stressed that his fans' chosen 'satellite' need not be their lover.

"It can be a sibling or relative, as long as he or she is the light of your life," said Miguel, the oldest of four children.

"One of my favourite entries is a fan's poem posted on (social entertainment platform) Migme.

"She wrote about her love for her dad and to go with the text, she drew a heart with wings."

Earlier this year, Miguel released a charity song, Hope Of One Voice, as part of BMBX Entertainment's fund-raising campaign for the child survivors of Tacloban, the city in the Philippines that was severely hit by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

Miguel was discovered in 2011, after winning Born To Sing Asia, a cross-continental talent search organised by US producer-songwriter David Foster.

When asked if he would be celebrating this year's Valentine's Day with a significant other, the Secondary 3 student at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) laughed.

"No, I don't have a girlfriend. I've never dated," he said.

"I spend Valentine's Day every year with my family. I think that's more important.

"I think, at this stage, it's very difficult for me to date because my three younger sisters, who are all in primary school, are very possessive of me.

"If I were to have a girlfriend, they'd get extremely jealous."

DREAM

Miguel's all-time dream girl is Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie.

"I like girls who are tall, strong, smart, pretty and kind," he said.

He admitted he receives his fair share of female attention. Girls give him presents and leave him messages on Facebook and WhatsApp.

One of his most memorable encounters was with a starstruck Filipino girl, who's about his age, in Davao City in the Philippines last year.

Miguel recalled: "She waited overnight, for hours, at the hotel lobby just to see me and pass me a wristband for my birthday.

"It was really sweet of her.

"After receiving her gift, I treated her to breakfast and we had a lovely chat about music. I remember she told me she was in the school choir and that she aspired to become a singer."

So, will he ever date a fan?

"We can never tell," said Miguel, who doesn't rule that out.