Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray‘s stripped-down version of her 2018 song “We’re in This Together” made it to the second spot of the top trending video on local YouTube amid recent controversies involving her.
The 26-year-old beauty queen shared the music video of the song she previously recorded in partnership with non-profit organization Young Focus Philippines which aims to provide accessible education to the underprivileged youth.
Its 2020 version features Gray singing an acoustic version of the song with her boyfriend, actor Sam Milby, on the guitar.
He is also credited as its song producer on the video-sharing platform.
The proceeds from the streams and digital downloads of this stripped-down version will benefit the Young Focus’ “Quality Education for All” campaign that aims to raise P1 million to kickstart an online education program for the students under its wing.
Gray has been a volunteer teacher assistant of the organization since 2016. She also took the initiative to help renovate an old apartment and turn it into a preschool building through the ‘Paraiso: The Bright Beginnings Project” before her Miss Universe stint.
Meanwhile, the acoustic version of her first single earned more than two million views as of this writing.
Gray also gave a digital shoutout to Milby through the video description section.
“Special thanks to my love Sam Milby, my Young Focus Philippines family and my Cornerstone Entertainment family,” she wrote.
Gray previously said that she plans to pursue a career in music—her lifelong dream—after her reign as 2018’s Miss Universe. She holds a diploma course in Music Theory from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, U.S.A.
‘Unbothered’
Filipinos were mostly supportive of Gray’s singing ability in the video’s comments section where they expressed their amazement at her talent. They also noted that she appeared to be “unbothered” despite the recent controversies she is currently facing.“She is unbothered. She knows her priorities. And she knows which things are worthy to spend her energy on,” a Youtube user wrote. It has so far gained 3,400 likes.
“The unbothered Queen! No one could ever judge someone who gave pride and honour to our country! Salute to you Cat,” commented another online user with a heart emoji.
“She looks so happy. They look so happy. (You) have no say on who she loves, let her, leave them alone. She may be a public figure but (you) have no right to meddle with her personal life,” wrote another Filipino.
A supporter also took a swipe at Clint Bondad, Gray’s former boyfriend, who recently caught attention for his mysterious Instagram Stories that some speculated could be part of a “marketing” ploy.
“This fundraising campaign should be trending instead of those cryptic messages. It only shows the priorities of Filipinos. There is a loooong way to go for us,” the online user said.
The particular comment gained 1,100 likes.
Gray was speculated to be involved in a supposed cheating scandal when she was still in a relationship with Bondad following the latter’s surge of cryptic Instagram posts.
Last week, Bondad shared IG Stories that featured the name “Sam” which some social media users thought referred to the actor.
A Twitter account even shared a thread of some of Bondad’s messages which were speculated to be a subtle expose to Milby and Gray’s relationship since it also included a now-deleted countdown.
Selected texts from Bondad’s IG Stories to include: “Nobody can judge me I know your little dirty secrets too…” and “You don’t steal from very, very ambitious men.”
Following the posts, some Filipinos alleged that Gray “cheated” with him through Milby, who has since defended the beauty queen and called the allegations “false stories and fake news.”
“Cat and I have chosen to keep our relationship mostly private. It was only until recently that we made an exception, to lend our voices to charitable causes,” Milby said.
“But that does not mean that there is truth to any of these false stories and fake news that people are creating to fill in the blanks. In fact, these wrongful accusations and defamatory lies are dangerous,” he added.
Milby said that their silence does not imply an admission of guilt since it was his and Gray’s choice “not to dignify nor respond” to the claims.
On Tuesday, the beauty queen asked the National Bureau of Investigation to hunt down people who posted a fake topless photo of her on social media. It was also reportedly posted by a tabloid newspaper on its website.
Gray’s lawyer, Christopher Liquigan, said that the photo used in the edited fake topless video “was taken from her promotional campaign with a clothing company.”
“We want to inform the public that the photo is fake and digitally altered. We strongly denounce this vicious attempt to tarnish the good name of Ms. Gray,” Joji Alonso, Gray’s legal counsel, said. — Video from Catriona Gray via YouTube
