Unique Zayas has admitted that he was nervous when time came for him to record the hit record “Wherever You Are” with Charice last year.
Speaking in an interview from a laptop, which was recorded and uploaded on YouTube, Unique told a detailed story of how his collaboration came about, what his first impression of Charice was and how nervous he felt performing with her in studio and as her guest on her recent tour of Japan.
“I was nervous ’cause I’m like, ‘this girl sings really really good.’ I mean, I sing too but I don’t think that I’m a singer like Charice,” he states, referring to the day when they recorded the Japan chart-topping song in Los Angeles.
Charice and Unique recording "Wherever You Are"
Unique also admits that he knew nothing about Charice until he decided to tag along with song-writer and friend Claude Kelly – the writer of “In This Song” – who was on his way to one of Charice’s rehearsals.
“I was in LA , we were working and he happened to be going to a rehearsal for this girl named Charice. I didn’t know who she was at the time.,” he says.
“We get to the rehearsal and this little girl, who’s like this tall (gestures short), she’s singing like a black girl, but (with) like a Christina Aguilera kind of emotion.
“I walked in the room and I was like, “Ooh wow! She’s talented”. At that time, it was not an idea for us to work together. I just told her she had a beautiful voice.”
He also explains that was later, when he was wrapping up his album “From Brooklyn to You,” that Charice’s name was suggested for a collaboration, and he didn’t hesitate to take the chance. Now, he has his first No 1 hit in Japan.
“I told her the idea (for the song) and she was so sweet. She was like ‘I like it.’ We went into the booth, and she recorded and I recorded and we took turns. She taught me some things and I taught her some , and now the record is out and it’s No 1. I’ve got to thank God for that.”
Unique Zayas speaks about meeting Charice. Video courtesy of issssssla
Meanwhile, a perfect example of the vocal abilities that made Unique so nervous has made its way onto Youtube too. It shows Charice and Unique Zayas hanging out with 4 other colleagues singing in harmony the “Killing Me Softly”.
The 1971 song, written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, was a major his for Roberta Flack in 1973, but hit the charts again in 1996 thanks to The Fugees’ version that was included on their Grammy award-winning album “The Score.”
On the video, Charice is seen up close holding a cassette tape and singing, along with her five colleagues. The sound quality is excellent and, of course, the chance to see Charice up close and very informal is too good to pass up!
By Robert Sheen, Charicemania.com
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Hey guys! I’m not sure if someone already posted this link here. I read a post earlier if there was a video of Unique in Club Giraffe. I found this one …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ02PqJTy5E&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
He was singing Wherever You Are. Nope, Charice didn’t sing with him at that time, but Unique acknowledge that Charice was in the club at 0:20 sec mark in the video. Enjoy!
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Slightly different view of “Killing Me Softly” taken by another member of the band. http://rutube.ru/tracks/4171568.html?v=9193263d396e2138f41aff86aa448232
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I went watching this on youtube and read all the comments about the video. Honestly, I cannot tell if the video is about the casette tape / iphone or about Charice and crew. Somehow everyone is fascinated about that gadget that it earned quite an impressive number of comments
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I like you now Unique Zayas because you respect & love Charice as much as we do.
Have a joyful day everyone. Cheers
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when you’re taht hungry and waiting for food, ‘killing me softly’ is just the right song to sing!
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he’s funny person…..
i hope i recorded the video when i talked to him, but i didn’t that’s too bad….
haahhahaha……
i hope you’re great now zayas!!!!
and you still owe me performance with charice hahaha….
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeInmPOWmEw&feature=related
for the rest of us, all we know is how it feels to be at the receiving end of her magical vocal machinery, as measured in raw terms by goosebumps, tears and incoherent screams …
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It’s like when Sunshine first sang with Rachel. Although Rachel was all up in her face and was serious, Sunshine was with her note for note but her demeanor was sweet and funloving. Man, I have to learn to separate fact from fiction.
Anyway, go Charice and always have fun.
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