James Reid says JaDine fame was ‘something special,’ hopes fans will one day support his new relationship
James Reid shared that while he's grateful for the success of JaDine—his previous love team with Nadine Lustre—he hopes his fans can extend the same happiness to his relationship with Issa Pressman.
In his recent interview on Karen Davila's vlog, James looked back on his JaDine era, saying how the success of the love team was "something special."
"It was a phenomenon; it kind of reached a climax. It was definitely something special—even globally," he said. "I’m so grateful to the fans, to Nadine, to the loveteam, also to everyone who gave us projects."
However, while the love team's success opened doors for him, he cannot deny that it also had a "toxic culture."
"I think it was mentally stressful for me and Nadine, and opened up a lot of toxic kind of behavior with the audience, but I think we've learned a lot since then," he said.
On building his life with Issa Pressman
The announcement of James and Nadine's breakup in 2020 sent shockwaves through the JaDine fandom. The discontent grew when James and Issa went public with their relationship in 2023, with many fans speculating that Issa was the reason for the split—a rumor James has since shut down.
James said that the first year was a tough part of their relationship. It was a difficult adjustment, especially for Issa," he said.
"It’s difficult (for Issa) to go through public bashing and scrutiny," the singer said. "At the end of the day, it's not what matters to us. What matters to us is that we're happy. I hope one day they’ll be happy as well and find peace of mind, because we certainly have."
With regards to Nadine, he said they remain "civil" with each other.
"We are civil, there’s no problem certainly with me," he said. "I wish her all the best. She seems very happy."
Talking more about his relationship with Issa, James revealed that his girlfriend brings out the best in him and that he's ready for the next chapter.
"This is a very private part of my life, which I learned from my previous experiences. People won't see it the way I see it, I think it shows through music and songs that I write," James said, saying that Issa is his inspiration for a lot of his songs.
"She gives me a reason to want to be my best. She's one of the only people that really make me want to be better than my shortcomings, my insecurities, my fears," James said. "I think that's love."
Moving forward after the music label's ordeal
In the same vlog, James opened up about his career, both as an artist and as a founder of music label Careless. In case you didn't know, his previous business partner, Jeffrey Oh, the music label's former CEO, was terminated from the company after his arrest in July 2023 for allegedly lacking a visa and work permits.
Looking back, James lamented how it was such an "expensive lesson" considering that he lost more than 100 million. "It was never really about the money, it was really the betrayal that hurt the most."
Despite this, the Randomantic singer said that the experience helped him mature, saying it taught him life lessons.
"Going through that type of challenge really built a lot of character," he said. "It taught me so many life lessons that I don't think I would have learned any other way."
James also clarified that he holds no ill feelings toward his former talent, Liza Soberano, who left the agency to pursue a career in the US. He said he still supports her nonetheless.
“I don’t need an apology or explanation at all,” James said. “I have no ill feelings or ill will toward her. I'm very happy for her, I'm proud of everything she's achieved sa US."
The 32-year-old actor said he does not have any bitterness towards anybody. "I don't like living with bitterness. Life is much sweeter when you are positive and don't hold on to any negative feelings," he told Karen, adding that Careless has already recovered and is ready to sign new talents.
Finding himself
After stepping out of the limelight for a while, James said that the break allowed him to do the things he loves and realize the things he "took for granted" before.
"I am at my happiest time of my life. [My] music career is doing quite well, I really took a break from acting to pursue my dreams of music," he said, adding that he's grateful for the support from his fans.
"Taking time to pause to reflect and see how far you've come in life is really important, because I feel like there were a lot of things I took for granted before," James, who has been volunteering at the Bahay Aruga yearly, continued.
He also said that his "biggest" goal is to become a father one day.
“I think that's taken over my priority list as something I want to do, [and] be very good at," he said. "That's something that my relationship with Issa kinda brought out of me.”
