Boom-tiyaya-boom: Are the Viva Hot Babes back?

By: Jeans Cequina - 4 years ago

Sultry bodies, flawless skin, silky legs, steamy aura, sensual moves as they sashayed onscreen and onstage, and they are known for their music with double entendre lyrics. They graced the covers of magazines, starred in sexy home videos, made a lot movies, and entertained us (especially at provincial fiestas) with their provocative dance moves that made many men—and even women—daydream. Now, if you are a Y2K baby, you must have heard, seen, and venerated the popular Filipino sexy girl group too, the Viva Hot Babes.

*Screenshot from the official music video of Bulaklak*

The group was founded in 2003 by movie mogul Vic del Rosario who also heads and owns Viva Entertainment and was originally composed of Maui Taylor, Katya Santos, Andrea del Rosario, Jen Rosendahl, Gwen Garci, Myles Hernandez, Kristine Jaca, Hazel Cabrera, Sheree Bautista, and Pam Sarmiento. Soon, the next batch of girls like Asia Agcaoili, Ella V, Jaycee Parker, Jenifer Lee, Anna Leah Javier, Katrina Gonzales, Alyssa Miranda, and Zara Lopez, among many others, joined in to form the second and third batches.

After the success of the 2001 Metro Manila Film Festival entry entitled Tatarin, Taylor and Jaca (who both starred in the movie) were the first two to sign the contract as “Hot Babes”, then followed by Rosendahl, Garci, Bautista, Hernandez, and Cabrera.

After years in the limelight (spiced with good times, lots of raunchy movies, and even a number of scandals—and yes, catfights, as Del Rosario would later reveal), the group disbanded in 2008; some of them went on to find other careers or got married, while others stayed in showbiz while maintaining a YouTube channel. Recently, most of their original members such as Maui Taylor, Katya Santos, Andrea del Rosario, Gwen Garci, Jaycee Parker, Sheree Bautista, and Zara Lopez recently came together for a much talked about reunion-photoshoot for AOmnl Magazine, also under VIVA Publications.

Viva Hot Babes rose to fame after they were launched in the 2003 edition of FHM, the newest men’s magazine then, and was officially introduced as “Viva Hot Babes” to the public after they were featured in the controversial magazine, Hotstuff. It was reported that in only four weeks, 765,000 copies of Hotstuff were sold. Viva had to reprint 4,000,000 more copies for the rest of the year. That catapulted their careers and earned them the moniker “Pantasya ng bayan” (Everyone’s fantasy). Their critically berated debut single “Bulaklak” propelled them to stardom because of the naughty lyrics’ with sexual undertones. Composed by the famous novelty songwriter Lito Camo, Bulaklak was almost banned but it worked to their advantage. Soon, their other hits like “Basketbol”, “Batuta ng Pulis” and “Sayaw Kikay” dominated the airwaves while fiestas and Christmas parties blasted their playlists during parlor games. Viva even produced karaoke videos, featuring these Hot Babes.

Apart from recording controversial albums and gracing the covers of glossies and men’s magazines, the girl group also starred in softcore but sexy home video, including “Viva Hot Babes Gone Wild” in 2007 and “Erotica: Lessons of the Flesh”. Most of them also garnered supporting roles in Viva movies like Torotot in 2008. Seventeen years after the all-girl group’s launch, whatever happened to the Viva Hot Babes?

Taylor, considered the most popular of them all (also regarded as the group’s biggest star) is now happily married to DJ and real estate expert Anton Sabarre, with whom she has two sons. In 2012, she starred in The Taste of Money, a Korean movie where she played as a Filipina household help who had an affair with her boss. She also joined the Ang Probinsyano family and was one of the Flower Power Girls who supported Ricardo Dalisay (a role portrayed by Coco Martin) in their missions. She also joined the YouTube bandwagon and her channel features travel, and her daily activities. Santos also became part of GMA Networks’ primetime teleseryes. Del Rosario, a member of AttaGirl before she became part of the Hot Babes, now has a baby girl. She also owns and manages Longganisa Sorpresa, a food business based in Mandaluyong, and finished her master’s degree in Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.

Garci, on the other hand, gave birth to a baby girl in 2010 and is now based in the US while Sheree has a son with Gian Magdangal. Sheree has evolved into a DJ for various club events and has released two singles of her mixed music on Spotify. She also started painting, from canvasses, handbags, to phone cases. Rosendahl is married to Jules Changco to whom she has son with. While she still does TV guesting from time to time, her focus is now his son, her marriage, and their hamburger joint located in Quezon City. Parker, who has proven herself as a worthy singer, is married to former actor-turned Pampanga politician Jericho Aguas, and is involved with three health and wellness companies.

Ex-Viva Hot Babe Jaycee Parker wins as Angeles City councilor

While they have their own individual lives now, they stay connected and still celebrate the bond they have shared over the years. A video clip of them post-pictorial for the AOmnl showed they gave Del Rosario their (still naughty) birthday wishes. Other members like Rosendahl, Hernandez, Jaca, Cabrera, and Sarmiento weren’t able to make it to the shoot.

Aside from getting together for a reunion photoshoot with AOmnl, and reminiscing their glory days, the Viva Hot Babes also danced to their very own hit song “Kikay” (a trending Tiktok video), with their signature hot choreography, from their original single. The video drew 18,000 and more than one million views.

So, are the original “kikays” actually back? We shall see. But out of the mouth of Babes, they have proven that once, these sexy up-and-coming sirens, have obviously been a pop culture phenomenon!