Colet wears a LOUIS VUITTON top and skirt. Photographed by Renzo Navarro for the November 2024 Issue of Vogue Philippines
BINI’s Colet Vergara doesn’t back down from a challenge. In fact, she wouldn’t be where she is if she didn’t step outside of her comfort zone.
In the early days of their career, P-pop girl group BINI were big on manifestations. “10 million Blooms are watching,” they’d write on the studio mirror. During practice, the girls performed and waved at their own reflections, imagining a vast crowd cheering them on.
“We used to edit pictures of BINI on a stage with a lot of people watching,” BINI’s Colet Vergara adds in a mix of English and Filipino. “We just didn’t expect it would really come true.”
The scene mirrors a childhood memory. In her family home in Tagbilaran, Bohol, there is a mirror right by the stairs. There, when no one was watching, she would grab a hairbrush, use it as a makeshift microphone, and sing to her heart’s content. The shower, on the other hand, was her secret dance floor, where she imagined herself performing like one of her favorite artists, Beyoncé.
In June, the group held their first solo concert, giving the members a chance to perform individually for the first time. In the spirit of nostalgia and embracing a good challenge, Colet chose to sing “Crazy In Love.” In her ending spiel, BINI’s main vocalist, lead rapper, and lead dancer leaves the crowd with a message: “This is your reminder to challenge yourself.”
“We choose to take it as a challenge, to show what the Philippines has to offer.”
Despite growing up in a musical family, Colet kept her plans to audition for Star Hunt: The Grand Audition a secret. It was an out-of-character move, as she considers herself to be a very introverted person. But this time, it felt like her calling. One morning, she woke up early to shower and get ready, and only woke her parents up when she finally needed a ride. To this day, she doesn’t know where she got all that confidence from. Throughout the auditions, she showed no signs of shyness. Eventually, she received a callback and was selected as an official trainee for Star Hunt Academy.
At first, Colet struggled to settle into the group of trainees because she didn’t speak much Tagalog. In a recent appearance on Kuan On One, a Bisaya talk show hosted by Melai Cantiveros, Colet details her experience in her native language: “Back then, I didn’t really talk. I would be in a corner, using my cell phone. I was alone and had a hard time explaining things in Tagalog.”
But, in the face of challenges, courage is a constant choice. The 23-year-old admits there were moments when everything felt bleak, and she was on the verge of giving up. However, even during the pandemic and the earlier years of their career (when their work was often overlooked), Colet felt it would be a disservice not to honor her own sacrifices.
This year, BINI is just getting started. As they break records and achieve milestones they never thought possible, the group shows that their hard work remains unwavering. Their recent US-Canada tour serves as proof: “It was a beautiful experience, but it also challenged us,” Colet shares. “We had to bring the whole concert to another country with a lot of adjustments. The stage, our performances, even the team itself wasn’t complete. We didn’t have dancers, and we actually did our own makeup. It was challenging but, at the same time, fun to do.”
For Colet, being a part of something as monumental as BINI is a responsibility. “We choose to take it as a challenge, to show what the Philippines has to offer—the talent of Filipinos, especially P-pop and OPM.”
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By BIANCA CUSTODIO. Cover Story by GABY GLORIA. Photographs by RENZO NAVARRO. Fashion Director PAM QUIÑONES. Beauty Editor JOYCE OREÑA. Fashion Editor DAVID MILAN. Makeup: Carell Garcia, Julius Cabanisas, Mark Qua, Theresa Padin. Hair: Bill Watson and Cherry Reyes of Toni &Guy. Art Director: Jann Pascua. Production Design: Justine Bumanlag. Executive Producer: Anz Hizon. Associate Producer: Bianca Zaragoza. Beauty Writer: Bianca Custodio. Nails: Extraordinail. Digital Associate Editor: Chelsea Sarabia. Digital Content Writer: Daphne Sagun. Multimedia Artist: Tinkerbell Poblete. Photographer’s Assistant: Alexis Wang, Dominic Pamatmat. Stylist’s Assistants: Neil de Guzman, Ticia Almazan. Hair Assistants: Glenda Eugenio, John Al-rey Valencia, Lindsay Agapito, Noel Muncada. Production Design Assistants: Gabrielle Mantala, Geber Cunanan, Jan Abal, Jonel Navarro, Olderico Bondoc. Shot on location at Balara Content Studio.
