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Darren Espanto, Mitch James to open for Calum Scott in Manila

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Rick Olivares

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Calum Scott will perform at New Frontier Theatre on October 20. Handout" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/life/10/09/20221009-calum-darren.jpg"/><figcaption>Calum Scott will perform at New Frontier Theatre on October 20. Handout</figcaption></figure></div>Singer-songwriter Mitch James who hit the charts five years ago with his song, “No Fixed Home”, and his platinum-selling self-titled debut album, will open for Brit-nominated singer-songwriter Calum Scott during his Manila show this coming October 20, 2022 at New Frontier Theatre. Also making an appearance is 21-year old Filipino-Canadian Darren Espanto who aside from being a singer and songwriter is also an actor and television personality who rose to prominence after joining the first season of “The Voice Kids Philippines” and ABS-CBN’s Star Magic. Espanto’s recent singles “Pagbigyan Muli” and “Duyan” hit the Top Five of iTunes Philippines hours after their release.Both Scott and James are currently on tour to promote their sophomore albums. For Scott, “Bridges” follows his widely acclaimed debut, Human. That features the hit singles “Heaven” (co-written with Hayley Warner who’s also penned songs for artists like Katy Perry and Tori Kelly); “If You Ever Change Your Mind” (a bittersweet but empowered piece produced by Greg Kurstin, an eight-time GRAMMY Award winner known for his work with Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Adele); “Rise”(a wildly soaring track whose video features a captivating performance from British actor Georgia Hirst); and “Biblical”(a heart-on-sleeve ballad Scott later followed with an American Sign Language version made in collaboration with the Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre).As for New Zealand native James, his second offering, patience, will be out this coming November 4. But that hasn’t stopped him from releasing his singles that have hit the charts.“The album’s first single, ‘motions’ is basically about being lost on the way to finding yourself,” James explains. “I wanted to say, ‘Hey, I’m very lost and this is very hard,’ but not like a negative way of looking at it. I still have the drive and want to get out of the situation.” “Motions” represents the degree to which James has injected himself into the songs on patience. The bulk of the album was written and recorded in early 2022, after James travelled to Los Angeles and met up with writer, producer and former Tonight Alive guitarist, Whakaio Taahi.James and Taahi struck up a creatively stimulating rapport, which allowed James to access new creative territory and fully embrace his position as a pop front person. Crucially, Taahi gave James the freedom to be himself. “I’m a bit of an over-sharer,” James says. “That’s who I am and that’s who my fans want me to be.” To date James has more than 200 million streams globally, 6 million TikTok views and more than 3 million video views and the release of “motions” and his upcoming album patience is set to only increase these impressive numbers.Promoted by AEG Presents Asia and Ovation Productions, tickets for the show have been on sale since June 15 at 10am local via ticketnet.com.ph Scott will kick off the Asia tour in Tokyo, on October 18 before performing in Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.