Blue back in Manila soon

Right after Lee Ryan, Simon Webbe, Duncan James and Antony Costa, collectively known as Blue, stormed Manila with the jampacked Blue Party courtesy of EMI Music Philippines and PLDT MyMusic, the boys are coming back to Manila. This time coinciding with the release of their sophomore album titled One Love.

One Love showcases the band’s increasing talent. Songs include the hit title track which, according to Blue member Duncan is identifiable to the band. "When people hear the song on the radio, they know that it’s a Blue song," he says.

"It’s a song with a message," continues Simon. "When we end a conversation on the phone, we always say ‘one,’ meaning one love, until it became a song. So we went to Stargate (the album’s producer) and gave them the hook. We worked together on it and the song was developed. The message is intense and we want to get that message across – that one love is all we need no matter what walk of life you come from."

"It’s a feel-good track, one that puts a smile on your face," says Duncan.

The location of the music video for One Love was Los Angeles. Did they have a good time shooting it? "We really enjoyed making that video," says Lee. "I think that’s got something to do with our love for acting."

Many of the songs in One Love were co-written by Blue themselves, One of the songs is Riders. Says Antony, "It’s a feel-good track. Basically, Riders is about hanging out with your mates, going from one place to another, having a good time, seeing girls and more. The sound is more R&B. I mean there’s the drum beats and the snares."

Another Blue co-written song is She Told Me which Duncan explains "is about one of the girls who you really find attractive, whom you really like but you’ve never had the courage to approach. The lyrics are quite comical when you listen to them. They’re a little cheeky and funny. It’s the type of song with a good hook and we’re sure people are going to sing along with it."

One Love contains two revivals. First is Don’t Treat Me Like A Fool which was originally done by Angie Stone of her first album Black Diamonds. "The tune was right for us and it’s such a beautiful song," says Duncan.

The second revival is Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word which was released in 1976 by Elton John. "It was one of my favorite songs while growing up," shares Lee. Blue’s version features Elton himself. "It was weeks before recording the album when we suggested including the song in it," continues Lee. "And when an agreement was reached to record it, we told ourselves, what if we approach Elton to record it with us? So calls were made and fortunately, he agreed."

Other tracks of One Love include Flexin,’ Right Here Waiting, U Make Me Wanna, Ain’t Got You, Supersexual, Don’t Treat Me Like A Fool, Get Down, Privacy, Without You, Invitation and Like A Friend.

Blue doesn’t see themselves as one of those vocal groups who will disband because of big egos and green envy. They also admit that each of the members excels in different ways and that gives them an edge against other boy bands. "We’re four individuals, not four clones of each other," shares Simon. "You know, each person brings his individuality to the group and to the sound. You know you’ll hear different songs sound different because somebody else is singing the melody and somebody else is taking the harmony. We’re a team and we all swap parts and that’s the vibe that we get and that makes it exciting for us." Continues Lee, "We can all sort of just go into harmony together. You give us a song and give us a couple of minutes and we can come up with an acapella version."

Blue’s One Love is available in all record bars nationwide in CD and cassette formats under EMI Music Philippines. The group has been overwhelmed with the sales of their album that they have set up a competition for their fans who have brought their album. Those who have the copy, can go visit their website at www.officialblue.com and enter the competition to win one of the outfits the boys will be wearing on their forthcoming tour.

The competition is visible only to site visitors with the album. But be warned – if you use anything but the One Love album, the secret pages will not be revealed as the website uses a new technology called CDRD (compact disc rights detector) to create a digital fingerprint of the album.