A video of thousands of Filipinos singing Ariana Grande's 2014 hit Break Free at a political rally on Sunday has gone viral and caught the attention of the pop star herself.
"I could not believe this was real," Grande shared on her Instagram stories, along with the video, which showed Emerald Avenue in Pasig City, east of Metro Manila in the Philippines, filled with a sea of pink, the official colour of 2022 presidential hopeful Leni Robredo.
"I love you more than words," Grande said, as she posted more videos from the rally, showing attendees dancing to her song.
Campaigning for presidential election of the Philippines began last month, ahead of the May 9 polls, with Robredo, who's currently the country's vice president, set for a showdown with Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, son of the Philippines' former dictator.
Marcos Jr, whose namesake father was overthrown in a 1986 army-backed uprising, was narrowly defeated by Robredo in the 2016 vice presidential race.
Robredo, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs, joined the race for president in October last year, promising to usher in a government that cares for the people, not personal interests.
Sunday's rally was an impressive show of strength for the lawyer and social activist, with the Pasig City police estimating that a crowd of 137,000 were in attendance, according to the Philippines' Daily Guardian.
Robredo was accompanied at the event, dubbed PasigLaban, by her vice presidential candidate senator Kiko Pangilinan, which also featured a number of live performances by Filipino artists. Acclaimed group Ben&Ben, who took the stage at Expo 2020 Dubai last week, were one of the performers.
Grande's song Break Free was released in July 2014 as part of her record-breaking second studio album My Everything. Produced by Zedd, who also co-wrote the song with Savan Kotecha and Max Martin, the EDM track peaked at No 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It entered that chart the same week as Grande's other singles, Bang Bang and Problem, making her only the second female artist to have three songs in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 in the same week. Adele is the only other female artist to achieve that feat.
An accompanying music video, featuring an intergalactic theme, was released in August 2014. The video has now been viewed more than a billion times.
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