Girls changing lanes

The last time I heard the song One Day I’ll Fly Away was in the soundtrack of the wonderful musical Moulin Rouge. Its theme fully encapsulated the message of the film which was about people trapped by circumstances and longing to be free. It was performed by Nicole Kidman. I heard it again recently in the new album by the pretty young singer Olivia. I do not know why she chose to include the song first recorded by Randy Crawford in her CD. But it turned out to be a nice surprise. Makes you want to hear more of the song and also more of Olivia.

Though she is only 22, Olivia has already built up a good reputation for herself as a jazz artist. Must be because of the influence of her mother, singer Brenda Tirona who in her heyday reigned over Dewey Boulevard’s nightclub row. Olivia’s first recorded album was titled Gentle Jazz. It was because of this that she was named Best Young Jazz Artist at the 16th Annual Asia Pacific Awards and Best Jazz Performer at the 2008 Global Excellence Awards.

However, Olivia decided on a very different tack for her next CD, The Sweetest Vice, produced by Christian de Walden of Hollywood. That is why she can be described as changing lanes. The voice is still there but no more scatting. Instead she does a line up of popular covers that show off her wide vocal range, versatility for assorted rhythms and flair for more commercial tunes. The results might disappoint fans who think of Olivia as a jazz artist but the CD opens up lots of possibilities for her as a pop star.

The Sweetest Vice is available in the local stores. The first single is the title track, first recorded by singing champion, Rachelle Ann Go. There is one original composition, Like A Wave, by Jimmy Borja and Judy Klass, a light samba tune that echoes Olivia’s Gentle Jazz days. Aside from these and One Day I’ll Fly Away, the album also includes Don’t Forget Me, Easy, This Girl’s In Love With You, Got To Let You Know, Kissing A Fool, Sometimes A Love Goes Wrong, He’s Out Of My Life, Take A Bow and How Do I Live, as a duet with Mark Bautista.

Harpist Noelle Cassandra also has a song from a musical in her new album simply titled Noelle Cassandra. It is Defying Gravity from the Broadway show Wicked. However, the song’s current popularity owes itself not to Wicked but to the sensational TV musical Glee. Many of you doubtless remember that it was the face-off song for the characters of Lea Michele and Chris Colfer. I think Leah won that one. Defying Gravity also did. That is how the song came to be chosen for Noelle’s album where it was given a laid back pop spin by producer and arranger Sunny Ilacad.

Now here is how changing lanes happened to Noelle in this CD. We all know her as a harpist from those days when she was a young girl performing occasionally while visiting from her home in Vancouver. Well, it turned out that Noelle is also a singer and she does a lot of that in this album. The harp has not been taken out of the picture. She plays it in all of the songs. But the singing now takes precedence and it is very nice to find a pretty girl who has a sweet, angelic voice and can also play the harp.

Noelle Cassandra by Noelle Cassandra is a mix of familiar titles like The Show, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Home, Defying Gravity, Vanilla, Twilight, A Little Too Not Over You, Runaway, Dance With My Father, Come Back To Me and Push The Button all pared down acoustic style. And then, it turns out this girl is not only a beauty who can sing and play the harp, Noelle can also write songs and these are included in her CD. Please pay particular attention to her compositions, Amazing, After The Rain, It Was You and Always and Forever.