Juris Bloggers' Meet Up

Juris

Juris has been always known in the Philippine music industry as a singer with one of the most pleasant sounding voices. Her stint with her former band M.Y.M.P. brought her to the spotlight but their albums featured tracks mostly made up of cover songs. Juris then went on to pursue a solo singing career and this was when she started to explore her music horizons. Her platinum selling debut album Now Playing contained a lot more original songs and only just a couple of covers. Now, enjoying married life and her second and latest album entitled Forevermore, I had an opportunity to have a laidback, casual and somewhat intimate chat with Juris herself during a bloggers’ meet up that was held at The Kitchen of Cakes and Coffee in Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

My first impression of Juris as she arrived at the venue was that she is a very shy woman. She did admit that she was indeed shy as she recalled her days as she was starting out as a reluctant singer who didn’t like performing at all. She never imagined herself ending up as a singer in the first place but now, she has grown more comfortable with her career as time went on. But she said that she wants the support of her backing band rather than be alone on stage. But she did manage to perform for the bloggers a portion of her latest single. She said that one thing that changed with her throughout the years was that she has become more vocal. And indeed she was very vocal in expressing her desire to meet and collaborate with Bono of U2.

Forevermore which is released by Star Records contains 13 tracks, two of which were already released digitally in Korea. The first single from this album that recently turned gold is Kahit Di Mo Sabihin that was written by Jonathan Manalo. I do think that the second single will further boost sales of this album towards platinum certification. Produced by Aiza Seguerra and written by former Sugarfree vocalist Ebe Dancel, Magkaibang Mundo is a beautiful and yet haunting song that juxtaposes Juris’ soothing vocals with Ria Osorio’s sublime arrangement. This track indeed stands out among the rest in this album and Juris can’t contain her joy of having one of her idols compose a song for her.

Also coming in the horizon for Juris is her foray towards penetrating the Asian market. An all English album produced by Singapore company S2S is set for release very soon (recording has already wrapped up last year) that will hopefully expand her base of listeners. She already had some tracks released digitally in the Korean market. And with this upcoming album set for international release, hopes are high for Juris as she prepares to make herself known as the Soothing Voice of Asia.

Forevermore

Tracks:

1. Dreaming Away

2. Forevermore

3. I Believe in You

4. Don’t Say Goodbye

5. Bliss

6. Magkaibang Mundo

7. Sabihin Mo Lang

8. Minsan Lang Kitang Iibigin

9. Kahit Di Mo Sabihin

10. Not Like You

11. If You and Me

12. Wishes

13. Kahit Di Mo Sabihin (full length)