5 bold moves by Liza 'Hope' Soberano since joining Careless
Liza Soberano, who over the weekend reintroduced herself as Hope, has polarized Filipinos with her recent career moves after signing with James Reid's record label Careless. These included the likes of Ogie Diaz and other Kapamilya executives who have since commented on Liza's statements publicized by her vlog.
Although her latest steps might be perceived as scandalous and incendiary, Liza has clarified that she has simply "earned the right" to finally be herself and that she is not complaining about her past experiences.
Here are five power moves—personal and professional—that Liza made since taking that leap of faith with Careless.
City of Angels
In her vlog, Liza admitted being in an indefinite state of limbo during the pandemic, which changed when James offered her an opportunity at Careless. "Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided I wanted to see what this could look like for me," she said.
She ended up finding herself in the "fire-burned hills in the land of a billion lights."
Liza revealed her literal "move" to Los Angeles in a conversation with Fil-Am beauty influencer Patrick Starr: "That’s just because it’s a lot easier to build my career if I’m here because they’re always constantly looking for in-person meetings. It’s just hard to book jobs if you’re meeting people over Zoom. They can’t really tell what your personality is like or they can’t really see what you actually look like."
Under the care of Careless, Liza took vocal and acting lessons. She was more than prepared.
This would soon pay off in the form of her first Hollywood break.
Hallyu like that?
Liza and James made headlines with their visit to South Korea, a place known, if anything, for its celebrities.
Starship Entertainment chief executive officer Jeffrey Oh posted a picture with the pair at their building. The said company manages the likes of K-pop groups IVE and Monsta X.
Liza even made a surprise guest appearance in an episode of Not Hocance But Scance.
Hope is not a flower, Emily
Liza surprised everyone with her literary ability when she posted a poem titled A Flower's Dream.
"I wonder if flowers dream/Do they dream of having wings/Whispers of their flutter, their escape unseen/Imprisoned in a garden;
desire, its lock and key/A cage is a cage—even with a gilded gleam," the first of two stanzas go.
She specially thanked Careless chief executive officer Jeffrey Oh and chief operating officer Job Bernedo. At least Liza can say she loves her bosses.
The newly embraced writer received praises from the likes of Bea Alonzo, Lisa Frankenstein star Kathryn Newton, and, of course, her beau, Enrique Gil.
Her ever-supportive, eternally whipped, golden retriever boyfriend, Quen, commented, "That's my baby!"
Liza Frankenstein
"I shot my first audition in years and landed the role two days after submitting my take," Liza celebrated in her vlog.
She was referring to the role of Taffy in Lisa Frankenstein, an upcoming Hollywood horror-comedy film starring Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse.
Regardless of the upcoming movie's critical and commercial reception, this is already a huge win for the actress if only because of the genre change.
Liza explained that she has been pigeonholed for much of her career. "I'm 25 years old now and I think people forget that I've been working for 13 years now since I was 12 years old. And I've been in six feature films, over 500 episodes of teleseryes, and have only really dabbled into three main genres: romance, comedy, and drama."
"And since I was 16, I had only really worked side-by-side with one main co-star with the same production company rotating around the same three directors. And during all those years, I was never really asked for my input," she shared.
Hollywood's newest star admitted learning so much from her fellow cast members Kathryn and Cole, as well as their director, Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Academy Award-winning Robin Williams), "I now have lifelong friends in them."
Maya pays off
Liza is already working overtime as the new chief advocacy officer and brand ambassador of financial services and digital payments company, Maya.
"Now that I'm older, I want to be more intentional about the brands that I associate myself with and I want to make sure that the products that I preach for are actually products that I believe in, companies that I believe in, brands that I believe in and actually use," she previously said in her vlog.
The multihyphenate walked the talk, participating in the pre-production meetings, storyboarding, and scriptwriting of the brand's latest advertisement. With her first attempt at directing, Liza got the entire nation's attention one way or another.
"Film drop feat. me like you’ve never seen before. Fun fact: I came up with the giant mutant kittens," Liza said of the nearly two-minute ad.
The Gigil-esque video opened with Liza in a "one-woman show" spoof of her film My Ex and Whys with on-and-offscreen partner, Enrique Gil.
It featured everything from an alien invasion, a green flamethrower, giant mutant kittens, rotoscope animation, a ventriloquist magazine cover, a wig reveal, and even a zombie apocalypse.