Ok, I admit that jaded me initially refused to be impressed with what has been happening to Charice Pempengco. Sure, she can sing but we all know that young girls who can belt out long and loud are practically coming out of the woodwork one after the other. I know, she was in Oprah and Ellen, but big deal, those shows regularly showcase talented kids and I do not know yet of anybody among them who grew up to be another Josh Groban or Whitney Houston.
She toured with David Foster and sang with Celine Dion. Nice. But maybe they were just taken in by the novelty of this tiny, young girl from a third world country who has this big diva voice. She had millions of hits on YouTube but I know of others who have more. As for the first single, the download hit, Note To God, it was composed by Diane Warren but was first recorded by Jojo. A cover.
There was news about Foster producing her first album for Warner Music. Great, Foster has this knack for making memorable recordings and has an excellent track record. Celine, Whitney, Groban, Buble, etc. I thought then that it is only when this happens that Charice will have the right to think of herself as a true international pop star. Not that appearance in the Chipmunk movie. But then again, it was taking him a long time to finish the CD, that there were times when I thought it will never happen.
Then last week, right on schedule, Charice by Charice finally came, preceded by the successful release of the first single, the catchy Pyramid featuring Iyaz. Sold only on digital downloads, the song overtook Rihanna’s Rude Boy and made No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Club Play chart.
So I thought, the album is here and when I get to hold the CD produced by Foster, then I will shout from the housetops that Charice is now indeed a true blue pop star of the international kind recording in the US. I know it is mighty difficult getting up on the roof nowadays. It is just so hot. But I like to think of the Star as the equivalent of housetops, megaphones, MMS or SMS, whatever and it is from here I’ll be giving Charice the shoutout.
Well, I’ve listened to Charice several times. It is a great debut album and, I may have gotten biased already, it is one of Foster’s best. It has this mix of pop and R&B vibe that pleases a wide range of listeners and Charice’s vocals is distinctively hers. No attempt here to make her sound like some R&B diva. Truth to tell, she sounds more amazing than most of them. And she also raps and in Tagalog at that in the song Reset. Not as great as the Black Eyed Peas do it, but good enough. Besides I find the attempt to put some Filipino flavor in the CD commendable.
The song I had been looking forward to though was the power ballad by Foster. We Pinoys love ballads and I see this as something of an imprimatur on Foster’s part that happens only when he fully believes in the artist. And lucky Charice got what most singers only dream of in their lifetime. In This Song does not only have the makings of a hit, it is an inspiring number that mirrors her journey to stardom. Expect a lot of aspiring divas hereabouts to start doing their take on this song soon.
You will also love Note To God, the moving Diane Warren composition that she sings with so much passion. Better than Jojo, you will admit. The other cuts are Nobody’s Singin’ To Me, Thank You, I Love You, In Love So Deep, All That I Need To Survive, with lyrics by Carol Bayer Sager, Nothing, The Truth Is, Did It For You, and as a bonus track Did It For You again as a duet with Drew Ryan Scott.
All these songs segue smoothly from one to the next. Some electronic thingamajigs sometimes jar the progress but these are minor interferences and were doubtless used to cater to the younger listeners. Besides, these do fade into the background by the third round. By then all you can hear is how warm and flawless Charice’s singing is.
Source BY: Philstar.com Baby A. Gil
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1) remember before Michael died, he invited Charice to his Concert in London, to perform with him, ‘Billie Jean’
2) then here is David Foster, likened Charice to Michael Jackson, and he said, “she is truly the master of her own destiny”, “being a great singer is not enough,and she has the entire package”. Like Michael Jackson genius in his head.
3) Charice’ voice is like Michael when he was a child, with a very high notes. Charice favorite singer is Michael Jackson. She knows most of the songs of Michael, if not all.
4) And in New York Post, Charice was labeled as the New Pop Princess.
And more and more great happenings, like Charice upcoming World Tour. Oh my goodness. Thanks, Charice you conquer music world.
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if we want people to change, the change should start from us. you cant keep blaming the culture or history. if you want to turn haters to be fans, it should come from them naturally. i’ve read some comments in youtube saying they didnt like charice at first but when they saw/heard the “baby” cover song, they like her now. that’s one proof that people do change on how they see charice..just like the writer of this article. even in her twitter account, her followers are also increasing everyday by thousands.
mistreated, not appreciated, etc. so what? charice always does her best no matter what, at any place, at any given time. for me, what matters now is more people are appreciating her talent. isn’t it enough that her cds now are sold out? her fans are continually growing? sorry, maybe it’s just me that i always try to look in the positive side no matter how bad the situation is.
all singers have critics, too. does the number of haters outweigh the number of fans? i don’t think so. there are probably hundred thousands/millions of fans compared to maybe only handful of haters out there. my only point is, instead of discussing negative issues/topics why don’t we discuss something to promote charice or appraise her for what she did instead of wasting our time fighting these kind of people..lets do something positive or productive.
note: i am not a mr. (so pls don’t call me like that, thanks)
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you bring up a lot of good points ms. capofret and it’s always a great idea to focus on the positive side….but in your desire to protect Charice and to keep everything positive, you are forgetting about what makes the U.S. a great country…that is the freedom of speech…if you tell people they can’t make negative comments, then you are exercising censorship and denying freedom of speech…criticism is important in a society that wants to advance..people also need to learn that criticism can be turned to positive and so they shouldn’t get offended or upset so easily just because someone doesn’t agree…maybe that’s the reason the P.I. is slow to change, because not enough people want to stand up for what is right..nobody wants to offend anyone …filipinos hate to say “NO” just to keep everyone happy and will say “yes” to everything not realizing it really doesn’t do any good…no matter what fan site you go to there will always be negative comments…and management can read those comments to get a feel on how people respond and sometimes, not always, will make changes as a result….when people on this site criticize crabs, its because those crabs aren’t making sensible criticism, they are just plain haters and jealous people who want to bring people down..you seem to take as an insult to all filipino people when you shouldn’t…and lastly, when you say why don’t we focus on doing something positive and productive for Charice, well that has been and is being done so well on this site…by pointing out the crabs and haters, others who are not aware of this mentality and may stumble upon what crabs say or write on the web will now be informed and not be misled by those haters…..
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Most of us, like me, probably know Charice was not really appreciated in her home country. I know, too, that we have to welcome the Charice converts and be glad for that great news. After all, the more, the merrier (apologies for the cliché).
I considered capofret’s input (thanks, capofret). On the other hand, it mattered to me also to learn from commentators (thank you, pakyiowfan and arvee) the extent of how Charice was treated in the Philippines. I felt bad like crying deep inside and loved Charice all the more for being very strong. I now feel more committed to support her. In short, those comments left a positive impact on me.
Thank you all for all your comments. I always learn a lot from you. I just hope future comments are more respectful and do not contain foul/degrading language towards anyone and be proud and continue to represent the very reason we are all here for – Charice.
On a side note, I was lately getting discouraged to make comments and felt leaving this site for a long time, if not for good. But change of heart for now, maybe, like Charice, I’d be a better person by hanging on. LOL!
Wish you all the best.
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Some reviewers, like this one, only look at what they see and review from there. They see how Charice was invited in the ‘MOST TALENTED KIDS’ oprah show, then there’s a ‘BUT will she make it’ kind of mentality.
They fail to go back to history to learn that Charice won every single competition, AT LEAST 80 of them, everywhere she went around the Philippines. And if you believe that Philippines has tons of TALENTS as the author PUT it, well she beat them ALL to a point that competition started refusing her participation and complaining she’s over-qualified. Man, get that!!! Over-qualified!!! She’s too talented!!! She was TOP althroughout LBS until the final where she landed 3rd, not because of TALENT but because of popularity (you know how kids back home gets nutty with new kids in the block a.l.a justbin bieber — in the case of LBS, it was Sam who has — i don’t see talent — but more of charm to be honest). But being 3rd is a blessing in disguise for a better opportunity…. and so goes the story.
As for NOVELTY!? I doubt it. I bet you, Mr. Foster Hitman, Celine, and Oprah have more to say about other poor children around the world having participated, promoted, and donated in yearly charity events. Charice’s Talent is the STEPPING STONE, the trigger, all others – e.g. novelty – is just seasoning for the SHOW. TALENT is the very reason Oprah titled her show ‘The MOST TALENTED KIDS in the WORLD’. Get it!
And what of YOUTUBE HITS! Remember history, YOUTUBE was 2 years old then (Nov 2005 – it made its debut) when falsevoice posted her (2007). Really, that’s almost just a little over 1 year for youtube to be well known. No one, not even I bothered to use youtube around that time until my WIFE adamantly pushed me to see this Girl. 13 million hits during the early days of youtube was already alot if you correctly do the math vs ‘appreciation’ of accounts nowadays.
Anyway, …
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please dont leave this site just because of the negative comments you read. but
im with you, i don’t get it why people keep bringing up the old issues of LBS,ABS CBN,ASAP, etc. i get tired reading those kind of comments that sometimes i skip reading them. i feel it is just too much. why cant people move on..
some people don’t realize that the video (which made charice known in youtube) posted by falsevoice was from LBS (so give credit LBS for that). if we all trace back if not for that video, they wont know charice. some people don’t understand that there are many reasons why she lost that contest but those reasons are not really important (at least, for me) to know at this point in time. please leave the old issues and move on. while i was disappointed too with what happened to her in the past, i am not bitter about it maybe because i think of the positive side not the negative side of it. i believe that everything happened for a reason. she was destined to make it big. if charice can forgive them (she even thanked them in her thank you message in her CD), why cant the fans do the same?
this is just a request: stop talking about crab mentality or about crabs please…some of you don’t realize you are crabs yourselves, saying bad things about philippines especially for filipinos doing that. i know all the bad cultures of philippines but i am not hating the people or the country.
and i just don’t understand whenever a good writeup from philippines comes in some people keep commenting the bad things without even commenting the good sides of it. where’s the fair judgement?
while everyone is entitled to give their own opinion, i think we should still put some little respect and understanding.
charice is famous now not only in her country but also worldwide, let’s just be happy for it.
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mr. capofret,
very simply, you need to calm down …there are so many crabs from the philippines who continue to make negative comments about Charice and about a million other things that are the same complaints for the past maybe 50 years…so why do you now think you have the right to defend all those crabs, when they continue to make the same negative comments over and over….so people have the right and should continue to criticize them for that whenever they feel like it just as much as those crabs and you have the right to make whatever comments you feel like….and just because people are criticing crabs from the P.I., doesn’t mean they are criticizing all filipinos….besides, I hope many filipino crabs do read these comments so that they know they are destroying the reputation of filipinos all over the world…because until the country decides to make some serious changes….they deserve whatever comes to them because they are the ones hurting themselves….
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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7 yrs old and now that she’s becoming an international pop star,
they have no choice but join the bandwagon. They now realize that
Charice is not just a novelty singer that will fade in time but instead she’ll take the music world by storm.
Had a great time hanging out with Charice and brother Carl at Wango
Tango Village last Saturday. Wished her a Happy Birthday and had picture taken with her cd album. I posted “In This Song” performane under chasfan510 on you tube. Way to go Charice to the top !
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I just want to add: Let us all remain pure, simple and unaffected CHASTERS…with only CHASTE conversations taken up.
Everyday is a special day…every sunrise is unique…let’s all make it then, a memorable day of fun and joy!
CHARICE is now living in a world of her self-creation.
I’m just happy to see her grow holding persistently on her destiny.
Lolo JP
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The battle fought, hard & bitter perhaps, in the “old country” by Charice must be put to rest. It is over..done with..finito. Charice now faces a new battle in a “new world” and must be in total focus and concentration to overcome new obstacles in her quest for global stardom.
People, specifically Pinoys, fans & detractors alike, in PI or abroad, must now learn to face and accept that, destiny is calling and we…united as one.. must all strive for the pursuit of the goodness in man (and woman). The “protagonists” must now lay down their arms to face together the brave new world. Nobody was vanquished. Nobody really lost…except the pride & vanity of those who did not believe & foresaw the triumph of the spirit of a determined & talented little girl to realize her dream…against all odds. Everybody won because people felt happy, cried for joy, experienced goosebumps & chills, amazement, surprised, felt like dancing, loving, screaming, wetting themselves (ooppps).
In retrospect, nobody can deny that even the hardcore non-believer felt something…something unexplainable…but something good in mankind (womankind) when Charice performs. I say this with almost absolute certainty that, nobody in his/her right mind can say that Charice is doing something that is against what is considered good in a civilized society. In fact, Charice’s talent & story brings hope to the world we live in today…a world that is sometimes callous, mean and unforgiving. Charice is the one that brings a smile to our tired bodies…a glimmer of light to our fatigued minds & souls. So, as my Italian friends usually say, “Forget about it”…let’s all be friends. Life is short..Enjoy it!! Go Charice !!
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Btw Baby Gil is not an unknown writer. She regularly writes for the Philippine Star and I believe she have a good critique of music.Her article re: CHARICE is on a positive note. She’s a Chasters convert and we should be glad!
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purplewillow, i absolutely agree with you. that tale about charice “mistreated” in her own country is exaggerated. many cannot get over the fact that she was just third placer in the LBS contest. why, a third place finish is not bad, not to mention that the first and second placers in the said contest were not undeserving, especially the second placer. the people who voted for them through texts should not be blamed for their choices… and i’m sure it’s not only in the philippines where there are many really talented singers who are unrecognized or not easily propelled to stardom because, let’s face it, not everyone is fortunate to have his or her talent become widely appreciated. there are many talented singers in the philippines, and there are only few who become very popular. even the above-mentioned first and second placers in the said LBS contest did not really become that popular and their fans were not complaining. competition among talents is stiff but those who persevere and luckily get the big breaks (like Charice) eventually get the recognition their talents deserve… purplepillow, i agree with you that there are many people in the Philippines who love Charice. Filipinos who migrated abroad do not love her more.
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sorry, but this unknown writer seems to think she is some kind of expert in music…as if she knows more than David Foster and even mocks his accomplishments like they are no big deal…..in her attempt to finally redeem herself and jump on the Charice bandwagon by changing her tune, she doesn’t actually gain anyones support because we don’t need to act like some kind of music aficionado to know and recognize great talent when we see it…in fact, she only further confirms and reveals what a total idiot she is and doesn’t back up in any way why she should be so arrogant, when she is in fact a nobody….in fact her thinking probably represents a majority of the Philippine entertainment industry….so I hope all their stupid faces continually gets rubbed in big time, everytime Charice gains more and more success….the Philippines industry not only overlooked Charice’s talent, but more importantly her character and tremendous will and determination to succeed..its easy for them to overlook this because I believe none of them have any character, they are all so corrupt and greedy and superficial….that’s why they only look for stars with the “look” even if they have very little talent….that’s the same reason why Arnel Pineda never made it in the P.I. either…..
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For me, i bought two (2) CDs from amazon.com already.I will buy more.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkZthpOjrnk
and here she is practicing for that role: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEieJirrJDM&feature=related
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