Christian breaks new ground with int'l album Outbound

MANILA, Philippines - Asiansation Christian Bautista temporarily breaks out of the balladeer mold in his first international album Outbound, released by Universal Records.

The album’s first single All That’s Left proves that the Romantic Balladeer can also dish out upbeat tunes with a more international appeal. The music video, featuring the Queen of CosPlay Alodia Gosiengfiao, will have Christian perform a dance routine.

“This is something new. I think this is part of the acknowledgment that I have to evolve as an artist, and also my music,” says Christian. “Though the first single is upbeat, we made sure that All That’s Left and all the other upbeat tunes in the album still have that lovely melodies.”

Christian’s four-month stint in Singapore for the Pan-Asian TV series The Kitchen Musical undeniably gave him the confidence to take risks in his music and performances. He also dabbled into songwriting. He co-wrote the first single All That’s Left with international composer and record producer Tat Tong, who is responsible for more than 20 Top 10 and five No. 1’s in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and mainland China.

Tat’s songwriting, arranging and mixing work has gone platinum and won accolades from artists and critics, including the Top 20 Songs of 2011 and the Top 10 Albums of April 2011 in the Global Chinese Music Awards.

Outbound also features Tat’s three masterpieces — original songs like Unphotographable, What Can I Do and his masterful work on Christian’s cover of George Michael’s Faith, which is special for Christian because it is his first big solo in The Kitchen Musical.

Asked how he finds Christian as a singer, Tat said, “Working with Christian has been nothing but great. He is very open and professional. He is very humble and with no ego. It was a pleasure working and collaborating with him. I am looking forward to other projects that I’ll do with him.”

During Christian’s stint in The Kitchen Musical in Singapore, he was introduced to Tat by singer and friend Kewei, a Singaporean singer who had a duet with Christian in his previous album.

Aside from Christian’s collaborations with Tat, Outbound gathers his noteworthy works with Grammy-nominated multi-platinum instrumentalist Jim Brickman (Never Far Away), the K-Pop R&B trio One Way (Wrong Number), Indonesian songwriter Satrio for the hit I’m Already King, the theme of Christian’s Indonesian movie A Special Symphony, and with Avex Japan’s amazing Baby M for the lovely duet Sakura.

“Working with all these wonderful people help me improve as a performer-singer,” adds Christian. “I am just very thankful that they have selflessly guided me to present to everyone a new sound in Outbound.”

Outbound was supported by BlackBerry, Belo, Swatch, Black Water and Gold’s Gym.

Christian can still be seen in The Kitchen Musical, where he plays Chef Daniel, a confident sous chef in love with best friend and co-worker Chef Maddie (Karylle). It airs on AXN (new episodes every Monday at 9:05 p.m.) and Studio 23 (new episodes every Saturday night at 7:30).