FOR someone who has been performing since she was eight years old, singer-actress Rachel Alejandro is simply hard to slow down. While it is true the pandemic prevented her from performing live onstage, Rachel did not stop recording songs and lining up activities in her schedule.

In 2022, she released a new single, ‘Takipsilim,’ produced by Rebel Records Philippines. The song was penned by Rain Santana and produced by Alejandro’s cousin, Niño Alejandro.

‘Takipsilim’ was Rachel’s first original recording since the duet songs with Ebe Dancel and Joanna Ampil, which were contemporary pop songs that were part of the Ang Larawan album in 2017.

“Since then, I signed up with Star Music and released The Great OPM Songbook Volume 1, which is available on music platforms. “I’m hoping to record a new album perhaps this year.”

Rachel has done concerts, films, TV shows, theater plays through the years. “I’ve been in show business for over 30 years now, depending when you started counting,” she said. “I was already doing theater when I was only eight years old.”

“It feels really, really good to be able to sing for people in person, to see and hear their reactions live and share my music with them again. My favorite part is when my audiences jump to their feet and start dancing.

“Giving people that chance to unwind and let loose as they reminisce their younger, more carefree years, is a blessing I will never take for granted.”

Rachel signed up with a New York/Los Angeles-based talent agency called Prestigious Powerhouse. She is auditioning for various US-based film and TV projects.

“The TV movie, ‘Sinister Cover-Up,’ I filmed in March 2022, was shown on a popular cable TV channel late that year,” she offered.

She played a Filipina defense lawyer who was trying to overturn a murder conviction. It was produced by Dawn’s Light Media.

“I also had an appearance last year in ‘Asian Persuasion,’ a film directed and produced by multi-awarded Filipino Broadway producer, Jhett Tolentino and starred KC Concepcion as the female lead.”

Rachel finished filming ‘Song of the Fireflies’ in 2020. It didn’t make it to last December’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), that’s why they have yet to wait for an ideal playdate of the film.

A teaser trailer of “Song of the Fireflies” is already on YouTube, featuring Rachel and her co-star Morissette Amon. https://youtu.be/aua1ammUuiA

The recent pandemic allowed Rachel to spend more time with her journalist-husband Carlos Santamaria, who is based in New York. “I believe that if there was one positive thing that COVID-19 brought to my life is that it made my marriage stronger,” she attested.

“My husband and I lived apart for the most part since he moved to New York in 2017. Even before that, I was always so busy flying to do jobs here and there that it was not out of the ordinary for us to spend many months apart.

“It wasn’t until the pandemic that we actually spent many, uninterrupted months together. That really only happened because I had no work at the time. My husband Carlos is my rock.

“It helped that he was also working from home so he was able to provide the emotional support that I needed.”