With his current role as a country singer in the family drama Monarch, Inigo Pascual admitted he had to study country singing with the help of a dialect coach while in the US.

“Nung audition ko hindi ko ginawa yung accent. Sabi ko hindi ko kaya kasi natatawa ako. Sabi ko magmumukha lang akong ewan if I try too hard. So as soon as I moved to Atlanta, they had a dialect coach to train me before taping. And even on set, bago ka sumalang sa set mismo, pupuntahan ka ng dialect coach at kakausapin ka, you guys would throw lines with each other just so that you would feel comfortable with the lines that you’re saying during the scenes.

“But singing country music was honestly one of the biggest challenges that I had to face with this project. Ang daming beses ko na tinatanong ko sa sarili ko na, ‘Marunong ba talaga ako kumanta?’ Kasi imagine coming from a pop R&B singer and then you have to forget your knowledge about that,” he recalled.

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With their series focused on country music, Inigo revealed how he made adjustments on how to sing and act with the right accent on the show.

“It was about completely breaking that knowledge and starting a whole new genre and madaming beses na sasabihin sa ‘yo sa recording booth, ‘Can you sing this and can you make it sound like this?’ Sa utak ko, ‘Anong difference? Ano ba yung sinasabi mong mali na ginagawa ko versus ano ba yung kailangan ko gawin?’

“So madaming beses na tinatanong ko na hindi ba ako marunong kumanta? Hindi ba ako marunong makinig ng kung anong mali na ginagawa ko? So there was a lot of things that I was questioning about my beliefs and I felt that this project really helped me hear better with what I could learn,” he added.

READ: Inigo Pascual on doing his first Hollywood series ‘Monarch’: ‘Lahat parang dream come true!’

Working on his first Hollywood series, Inigo admitted he enjoyed the pampering he received as one of the stars in the show.

“Siyempre there’s a lot of things that I experienced for the first time. In a way VIP treatment, being picked up from the airport tapos naka-luxury car. A lot of things na in a way, when you experience it, parang nahihiya ka na parang bakit ako? Hindi ko in-expect. Siyempre starting from nothing, hindi ko ilalagay yung kung anong meron ako sa Pilipinas dito sa project na ‘to,” he revealed.

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As the only Filipino in the cast, Inigo shared how he was able to share his culture with his American co-workers.

“Actually one of my co-stars, Joshua Sasse, he’s been to the Philippines. He’s from England originally and he had a classmate who was Filipino who brought him to the Philippines and in one of our taping days sabi niya sa akin, ‘There’s this Filipino dish, a breakfast dish that he remembered from the Philippines.’ Sabi niya matamis daw na pork. Tocino yun. So sabi ko kay Ma, ‘Ma, lutuan mo nga ng tocilog yung isang castmate ko.’ So i brought tocilog sa set. As much as possible, I try to bring as much of the Filipino culture every time I go to set, whether off or on cam,” he admitted.

Hoping to get renewed for a second season, Inigo said he is hopeful about all the ideas he has for his role if given the chance. “I’ve spoken to the writer a couple of times and hopefully if we get season two, I’m claiming it, that I’m able to bring more of the Filipino culture and we want to explore more of the Filipino side of Ace and him wanting to discover more of his roots, of his bloodline in the second season,” he added.

Monarch is still available for streaming on the iWantTFC app (iOS and Android) and website (iwanttfc.com). The series, which is distributed by Sony Pictures Television, isavailable for free for iWantTFC subscribers in the Philippines.