By Katherine Evangelista

MANILA, Philippines: International singing sensation Charice Pempengco has gone a long way from being a Youtube hit.

Recently, the young popstar released her first international single titled Pyramid, featuring rapper Iyaz, at Amazon and iTunes.

The song, which Pempengco said, landed on the billboard pop charts overnight, was part of her first international album named Charice: Pyramid.

In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Pempengco expressed her excitement over her first international album which she said took over a year and a half to finish.

"Nung sinabi nila sa akin na 'okay, it's done!' Sobrang tuwa ko po [When they told me, "okay, it's done!" I was so happy]" Pempengco said.

Also scheduled for release in May is the official music video for the single, she said.

Unlike her first self-titled album released under Star Records which featured mostly love songs, Pempengco promised that her international album would be "very youthful."

She also co-wrote one of the tracks, a rap with a mix of Tagalog and English lyrics.

"Kahit po sa States ang release nung album, marami rin pong Filipino dun and gusto rin nilang makarinig nang Tagalog kaya yun po sinulat ko [Even if the album is released in the US, there are a lot of Filipinos there and they would also want to listen to Tagalog that's why this is what I wrote]," Pempengco explained.

But despite her new found fame, Pempengco said her ultimate goal would be to finish her studies.

In fact, Pempengco is a scholar at a Massachusettes-based online international university where she is currently enrolled as a freshman college student taking BA Communications.

"'Yun ang hindi alam ng maraming tao kasi akala nila palipat-lipat ako, akala nila hindi ako nag-aaral, pero ang totoo talaga, nag-aaral ako at college na ako [That's what a lot of people think because they think that just because I'm mobile, they think I'm not studying. But the truth is, I am studying and I am in college]," said the talented petite singer, an endorser of Sterling notebooks and pens.

"Kahit na busy yung schedule, kahit papaano, two hours a day nakakapasok ako sa school, and nakakapag-aral ako and kahit na busy hindi ako makapaniwalang nakaabot ako ng college [Even if I have a busy schedule, I manage to spend two hours a day in school and I am able to study and despite my being busy, I couldn't believe that I was able to reach college]," she added.