Kitchie Nadal, the reluctant pop star

Musically, one may be forgiven for thinking “Kitchie who?” as it has been over two years since her debut solo CD graced the record racks, and scorched like wildfire. 

If Kitchie Nadal still has strong recall, it would also be for reasons beyond music. After having her very own McDonald’s TVC and Kitchie meal, she was chosen (along with Barbie Almalbis) as a Bayo endorser, and we regularly see their billboards along EDSA. If one is looking for a CD of a new material, one will have to wait till Buwan comes out towards the last quarter of the year.

Meantime, there is a new concept EP — Drama Queen TV. There’s a preview recording of the upcoming CD’s title track (Buwan, which incidentally will be used in a Fil-Canadian indie film), and a bunch of songs either specially composed for, or selected, for TV shows.

Akin to Van Morrison’s current CD At the Movies: Soundtrack Hits, it’s a potent reminder of just how readily Kitchie’s songs lend themselves to soundtracks, as theme songs for both TV and movies.

A rundown of the tracks on the EP includes the haunting Iniibig Kita, theme of Rounin, the ever popular Huwag Na Huwag Mong Sasabihin (with a new orchestral opening) used in Lovers in Paris, the infectious mid-tempo Makulay na Buhay for I Luv NY, and the earnest, pleading Majika, for the fantasy teleserye bearing that same title.

I had a chat with Kitchie and her manager, Roca Cruz, one afternoon, and it was a refreshed and eager Kitchie I encountered. With just the submission of her school group’s dissertation, she’ll have her Psychology degree, and she had done her practicum at St. Clare’s. Seen initially as just a subject she had an affinity for, Psychology was now a field she could actually view as making some sort of future career in.

It was specifically working with the elderly that had created the most empathy for this reluctant pop star.

“Reluctant” because I remarked about how her videos often had her looking like she found them as enjoyable as a visit to the dentist. Laughing, she averred, “I have to admit shooting videos may not be my favorite aspect of the music business; but I am more comfortable with them now. And when the concept is really interesting, as with my favorite, the Fire video, I do get excited making them.”

This reluctance I also sensed when she began her solo career. It was at Dish that she’d do some of her first gigs. Back then, I would joke that Kitchie nights meant “the Statue of Liberty had landed.” In response, she challenged me to watch her present-day gigs as she’s much more relaxed, and attacks live performing with more gusto.

 “The session musicians that make up my band are great. We improvise a lot, changing verses on a whim, or producing signature changes and more uptempo versions, just to get the audience off their feet or to surprise them.”

Kitchie’s all-time musical idol is still her mother, a classical pianist. While she composes on a guitar, this classical influence can now be seen in the more developed use of major and minor chord progressions. She’s also “playing” a lot with percussion, using the “Garage Band” PC program when she composes. This will be evident in the Buwan CD. Roca gushed that initial tracks she had let others listen to had them using the word “ethereal.”

With tribute albums being all the rage last year, I played “What if,” and forced her to throw up some names of bands or artists she would like to see, if and when a Kitchie tribute album would become a reality. Interestingly enough, the first names she came up with were Drip, Jolina Magdangal and Pinikpikan. She rationalized that rather than go for acts that would do outright covers, she loved the idea of having her songs being turned inside out and given a radical re-work.

A bar tour to promote the EP is set for June, and if one wants to get the details,  log on to www.kitchienadal.net. If you can believe it, Kitchie even dances and sways when performing now. To see is to believe, and I’ll be catching one of the gigs, as she has always been one of my favorite local artists.