Josephine "Yeng" Eusebio Constantino-Asuncion (born December 4, 1988) is a Filipino singer, songwriter, composer and guitarist. She is considered the Philippines' Pop Rock Royalty. In 2006, she earned the title "Grand Star Dreamer" in the inaugural season of Pinoy Dream Academy, the Philippine edition of Endemol's reality TV show Star Academy.
Constantino was honored with around 70 accolades and recognitions including a FAMAS Award, 7 Awit Awards, 9 Myx Music Awards and 5 PMPC Star Awards for Music. In 2020, Ikaw reached the 100 million mark on YouTube, becoming the second most viewed OPM music video by a female artist in the Philippines. In 2023, Constantino signed with Republic Records. The same year, she was named as the global ambassadress of Academy of Rock, the only music school in Singapore devoted to teaching rock and popular music.
CNN Philippines listed "Hawak Kamay" at number 12 in their list of the Best Filipino Love Songs of the last 25 years. As an actress, Constantino has starred in the film Write About Love and took home the Best Supporting Actress Award in MMFF 2019. As of May 2023, Constantino had well over 350 million career streams on Spotify, becoming one of the most streamed Filipino artists of all time.
Constantino is the youngest of five siblings. She is a second cousin of television host and Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus second big placer Robi Domingo. Her family was raised as born-again Christians.
By June 2013, Constantino began a relationship with Victor "Yan" Asuncion, a fellow musician and worship director at Victory Christian Fellowship. In March 2014 Constantino announced her engagement to Asuncion through an Instagram post. On February 14, 2015, the couple married at a resort in Tagaytay, Cavite.
2006–07: Pinoy Dream Academy, career beginnings and Hawak Kamay
On August 27, 2006, Yeng Constantino auditioned for the inaugural season of the singing competition Pinoy Dream Academy. In December, Constantino won the competition after garnering 697,648 votes (37.32%), becoming the first "Grand Star Dreamer", followed by Jay-R Siaboc as the first runner-up.
After winning, Star Music launched Constantino's debut album entitled Salamat, containing 10 songs, seven of which were original compositions by Constantino. Her album reached Gold Record status two weeks after its release and then later went Platinum after a month, followed by a "3× Platinum Record" certification several months later.
On February 28, 2008, her second album, Journey was launched. The lead single is "Ikaw Lang Talaga". The album contains 12 tracks, some of which were written by Yeng. The album reached Gold status.
Sometime in November 2008, Constantino became a member of the all-female group Y.R.S., a group composed of Constantino, Rachelle Ann Go and Sarah Geronimo that was a segment of ASAP '08 until its disbandment in March/April 2010 following Go's transfer to GMA Network.
2009–12: Lapit and Yeng Versions Live
Lapit, her third studio album, was released digitally on Star Records' official website on October 9, 2009. It was later released in physical format in music stores in the Philippines. A week after that, the album was pulled due to technical errors in the album tracklisting and was then re-released before its grand album launch on November 1, 2009.
In March 2010, Constantino began her first regular television hosting stint as co-host of Music Uplate Live, a late-night musical variety show, along with Tutti Caringal, Gee Canlas, and Martin Concio. The show aired on ABS-CBN until September 2011.
On October 5, 2011, Star Records released her first live album, entitled Yeng Versions Live, on which she sings 80s and 90s OPM hits. It achieved Platinum status.
2013: Transformation and Metamorphosis
She released her fourth studio album entitled Metamorphosis on January 28, 2013. Its first single, "B.A.B.A.Y", was released to radio stations earlier that month on January 9. The music video for the second single, "Chinito", premiered on May 24, 2013, on Myx Channel. It features Filipino actor Enchong Dee as Constantino's love interest. The third single, "Sandata", was released on July 3, 2013.
In November 2013, Yeng released her international single "Better Than Yesterday," a pop song featuring prominent drums and rap courtesy of Singaporean rapper, actor and radio personality Sheikh Haikel. The track was produced and written by Shorya Sharma.
This album reached Gold status in December 2014.