Zsa Zsa: Love songs done with ‘feelings’

Zsa Zsa Padilla has a new album and it is titled Mahal Kita, Walang Iba, after the Ogie Alcasid composition which is the carrier single. This is her first studio recording in more than two years. As always, she sounds great. Her sexy vibrant tones remain her very own. She also looks her best on the cover photos, which once more prove that she is indeed one of the loveliest women around.

Then there are the songs she chose to sing. Mahal Kita is what is referred to as a formula album. Many doubtless remember how Zsa Zsa, after some years away from the charts made quite a splash when she "returned" with a remake of Boz Scaggs’ We’re All Alone. The song was the local number one seller for several weeks and Zsa Zsa continues to enjoy the second crack at stardom that it brought to this day. Mahal Kita adheres to the same concept. It is made up of beautiful old songs that Zsa Zsa had always wanted to record and which she does very well.

The cuts included are the David Foster composition Too Young originally by Jack Wagner; Hindi Magbabago by Randy Santiago composed by Tats Faustino of Dadalhin Kita fame, More Than Just the Two of Us by the Sneakers; Tuloy Pa Rin by the Neocolors; If You Remember Me by Chris Thompson; Bakit Kung Sino Pa by Michael Laygo; Time in a Bottle by Jim Greece; Feelings by Morris Albert; Shadow of Time by Raymond Lauchengco from the motion picture Hotshots"; Maghihintay Sa’yo by Dingdong Avanzado; Skyline Pigeon by Elton John; Paminsan-minsan by Richard Reynoso and Why Can’t It Be? by Rannie Raymundo. A new composition by Ogie Alcasid Di Ko Na Kayang Masaktan Pa is also included as a bonus cut.

As you can see from the list, the album is made up of well-loved songs we can all listen to again and again. Another thing that Zsa Zsa also made sure of was that these hit tunes were all first recorded and popularized by male singers. This is so she can now give them her distinctive feminine touch.

I commend her for including Feelings. This song became so overly popular after it came out in 1975 that there came a time when a lot of people adamantly and at times even violently refused to hear Feelings again. The song has since then become the object of jokes and it looked so unlikely that anybody would dare to sing let alone record another version of Feelings, which was quite a pity because Feelings is a beautiful song. That was why it became phenomenally popular. Beautiful songs, like the rest of those in the album should be sang again and again and not be allowed to die. So let us all be glad that Zsa Zsa dared to sing Feelings.

Another sweet thing she did for her new album is the inclusion of short notes about each song. These may initially seem like a trifle but Zsa Zsa’s quotes are quite revealing. If you refer to them while listening to the songs you will find out that they serve to enhance the charms of the music and that they also provide clues about Zsa Zsa’s personal feelings. As she says in the liner notes, she is also hopeful that these will "make us think and feel excited to listen to the music."

Take note of some of them. For Too Young, "Too much passion but too young, When will I ever learn? Hopefully before we run out of choices." For Mahal Kita, Walang Iba, "Love is truly a choice and a promise. A choice among all the other choices in our lives and a promise to keep that chance forever." For If You Remember Me, "They say that we are a sum total of all the things that we can remember, but have we made good memories with the people who matter?" For Shadow of Time, "If we are in the shadow of time, what will happen when we finally see the light?" And for Why Can’t It Be? "Why can it be? Somehow is searching for the answer, we just learn to accept and later, we shall hopefully understand."

Read the rest while you enjoy Zsa Zsa’s music in Mahal Kita, Walang Iba.