Monday, November 21, 2011

Christian Bautista Bloggers’ Conference

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 and Satrio from Indonesia. And these collaborations resulted in a bold, new sound for Christian whose experience with The Kitchen Musical has given him more confidence and more drive to take more risks and go out of his comfort zone.

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 where his album was certified double platinum. And he also talked about how much he has changed while doing The Kitchen Musical. He mentioned that he gained more confidence to try new things like dancing. He also got to experience the different working conditions abroad (he gets the chance to rest) compared to how show business is run in here. He also became more outspoken and opinionated yet he still prefers to keep his personal life private.


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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