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| Christian Bautista |
Christian Bautista came into the scene via the singing competition Star in a Million and since then, his recording career has soared not only in here but also in neighboring countries as well particularly in Indonesia. Aside from recording albums that include the 4x Platinum selling Romance Revisited: The Love Songs of Jose Mari Chan, he has also dabbled into theater with West Side Story, into film with A Special Symphony and very recently, into television with the first Pan-Asian musical TV series The Kitchen Musical. He branches out once again, but this time musically as he embarks on a new sound with Outbound, his latest album under Universal Records.
This
new album, geared towards penetrating more territories at the international
market features collaborations with Grammy-nominated songwriter Jim Brickman,
Korean R&B trio One Way, Japanese artist Baby M and songwriters Tat Tong
from Singapore Indonesia
In
line with spreading the word regarding Outbound, a Bloggers’ Conference was
held at the Universal Records office wherein chosen bloggers got the chance to
interact with Christian Bautista. I was very much amused when I noticed that
some of the female bloggers in attendance really got dressed and made up for
this event. And their giddiness made the event more laidback, relaxed and less
stiff which was helped by Christian who was very much in high spirits right
from the moment he entered the room.
During
the conference, Christian proudly showed to us a recent recognition given to
him by the National Youth Commission as an achiever for the entertainment and
the arts. This led him to recall that it was the song The Way You Look at Me
that paved the way for him to penetrate the ASEAN market especially Indonesia
With
all these changes and new experiences, he felt that it was the right time to
take more risks with his music. He hopes that his continued exposure abroad will
spark more interest with his music thus creating the need to come up with an
album that appeals to a wider audience. Yet, he doesn’t want to alienate his
long time listeners by abandoning the ballads altogether. He points out that
ballads will always be part of his repertoire but he wants to add more variety
especially during live performances. And speaking of live performances, he
hinted of a major concert set to happen next year. And a minor concert of sorts
did happen as Christian performed one of the tracks from the album, I’m Already
King that was also featured in the film A Special Symphony.
Now on
to the album Outbound, my initial reaction was that of surprise upon hearing
Christian doing mid-tempo songs accompanied by drum machines (All That’s Left,
Unphotographable, Faith and Wrong Number). But after a few spins, these songs
no longer felt alien. They felt like they belong to Christian’s repertoire just
like the ballads in the album (What Can I Do, Never Far Away
and Sakura). It was exactly like he said during the conference that the songs
didn’t feel forced and that they still have the melodic flow that utilized his
vocal range. I think that it was a good decision to stick with mid-tempo songs
than going up-tempo which might’ve been difficult to take in. My minor gripe
with the album was that its running time of just about 33 minutes is a bit too
short. I wish that they’ve also included a Filipino song in the album that
could’ve served the international market their first taste of our local music.
Christian
Bautista’s Bloggers’ Conference was made possible by Universal
Records in cooperation with Pinoy Magazine and official online
partner Orange Magazine TV with special thanks to Ever Bilena Blackwater.
Outbound
Tracks:
1. All
That’s Left
2.
Unphotographable
3.
Faith
4.
I’m Already King
5.
What Can I Do
6.
Never Far Away
7.
Wrong Number
8.
Sakura
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