"I think I got what I deserved.”

This was 24-year-old (his birthday was last Feb. 4) Chad Peralta’s reply when asked to recall his experience in the first season of “Pinoy Dream Academy.” Though Yeng Constantino emerged as the winner during that season, he actually got more than what he deserved after the contest’s culmination.

After PDA, he was one of the lucky scholars to cut his own self-titled album. Adding to his achievements was his carrier single entitled “Song for You” hitting No. 1 in the local Top Hit Charts. He was also lucky to have landed a regular gig on “ASAP ’09,” the TV-concert-variety show of ABS-CBN slated every Sunday lunchtime.

So what happened to his musicality since his PDA days?

“It became richer in terms of my knowledge about Original Pilipino Music. I touched based with Pinoy music more. And I befriended a lot of bands to get ideas about the heart of OPM,” he replied.

He is proud to have become friends with the bands Spongecola, Rivermaya, Parokya ni Edgar, Sugarfree and Imago. And what has enriched him more were the gigs of the bands he mentioned that he has watched last year, as well as absorbing their styles.

As for what he discovered to be the heart of OPM, he expressed that these bands have really focused on the “bandila ng Pilipinas!”

“Maka-Pilipino talaga sila and their styles are very Filipino. Even the themes of their songs are very Filipino,” he said.

So how different is OPM from the music he grew up with in Australia?

“My musicality is very wide. I grew up listening to songs of the Beatles, Roy Orbison and Frank Sinatra to name a few. In my teen years, it was hip-hop and rap,” he described. “But now I want a fusion of hip-hop and OPM. That’s the music I want to try to make something different.”

Knowing a lot of OPM bands though didn’t influence him to put up his own band. He is more comfortable as a solo artist since he has made a name for himself as Chad Peralta. Competition is already stiff that he doesn’t want to confuse his fans with his own band!

In terms of performances, things are looking better for Chad as he has started doing gigs this year. He did a punk rock gig back home in Australia and he did a post-birthday show at Puti Bar last Feb. 19. His next show will be on March 18 in Bacolod City.

But Chad is not in showbiz only to experiment and express his own type of music. If given the opportunity, he also wants to try acting. He has in fact been given his first stint as a thespian in an episode of “Your Song” where he worked with Zanjoe Marudo and Mariel Rodriguez

“It was a good and relieving experience. Kaya ko pala...I did acting workshops before and I was into small digital camera films in the past,” he shared. Since his onset in showbiz, Chad was always drawn to trying different things for his career. And his latest is as one of the celebrity contenders in RPN 9’s celebrity boxing show entitled “Warriors.”

“I started boxing for fun when I was 18 in Australia. Then I took it more seriously by enrolling in a boxing school... I don’t want to lose and hopefully I do good because I also want to represent the Philippines in boxing,” Chad related.

By the way, what was his birthday wish?

“My birthday wish was to become a wiser and more mature person, to have a different perspective in life, to think about more positive things and to love more!”

Full of dreams and passion, Chad Peralta is an artist ON THE RISE.