The first time I was a Drag Queen

Was around six years old and draped with comforters and bed sheets as my gown, hair up held by a scrunchie and I was holding a round brush while belting out:

" And I.....e-ayyyy... will always...love you.....uuuuooooaaahhhh.... will always.... love you...whoooohoo!.."

I was performing in front my my (late) grandmother and she was applauding and laughing her heart out as I reach Whitney's highest notes in all my 6-year-old glory.


I was six. And I was fierce.


And boy, did I belt those tunes.


You see, I'm not really the kind who easily fall into bandwagons, especially the RIP bandwagons on twitter. When I learned that Whitney died, I went to look for Yahoo News right away. I did not tweet about Whitney. I was just shocked and kept on reading. I knew she became a junkie from way back and the last performance on TV that I watched was the time she was wearing white.

Source

As blogs, fashion designers and the gay community paid their respects via the social media, I sit quietly in front of the screen googling what might have happened. Is this another Amy Winehouse case scenario? I've never really considered my self as a Whitney fan because I've always been fond of Mariah Carey, but as soon as I got Whitney's Greatest Hits on my ipod, I never realized how this woman's song have been with me since childhood.

Some songs from the Greatest Hits Album:

Saving all my love for you – This is like one of my warm up songs in any videoke session that I get my self into. I fell in love with this song when I watched “Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins”.

Greatest Love of All – I remember my sisters, Achi and Apy singing a duet of this song. This song is the song of a commercial that we love when we were kids.

I Have Nothing, I will always love you , Run to you – favorite Birit songs during videoke.

Exhale (Shoop Shoop) – I love how “Chill” this song is and how it perfectly fits my current state.

Count on Me (duet with Cece Williams) – one of the warmest and nicest MTV/song about friendship. I can still remember watching this video debut on MTV.

I believe in You and Me – I’ve always been smitten by the intro of this song.

It’s not right but it’s okay – I can still remember the move of her neck in this video, I don’t know whyyyy? This is one of the girl power songs that I found my self tapping my foot to (even when I couldn't relate at that time).

I’m Every woman, I wanna dance with somebody (who loves me) and Step by Step – songs that I feel like dancing to.

I also like another song but it's not with the album:

When you believe (duet with Mariah Carey) – this is memorable for me because I sang this in highschool with Mags Miranda – who’s got one of the best voices.

I listened to her greatest hits album and I got chills down my spine. Now, I’m feeling the loss. According to news she will be laid to rest in New Jersey this Saturday. 

RIP Whitney. You will be terribly missed.