Somedaydream now on CD

Hey Daydreamer was one of the breakout hits of 2011. It was a light rocker by a new artist with the strange name of Somedaydream and the kids loved it instantly. I know that one of the reasons why they did was because Hey Daydreamer sounded “foreign.” Not nice but it cannot be helped. We are immersed every day in things American. They speak and think American and were truly surprised when they found out that Somedaydream was “local.” Too late. They already liked him too much to back out.

Hey Daydreamer was notable in a lot of ways. First off: It was a successful debut recording by Somedaydream. You do not get many of those nowadays. Somedaydream is the young, talented and attractive Rez Toledo in real life. He is a college student at the Ateneo University. Making music is what he loves to do though. Then, it was a surprise to find out that Hey Daydreamer comes from a one-man-band. That means that Rez wrote the song, arranged it, played the instruments and then recorded it on his trusty PC in his room.

Rez later got help polishing the recording for commercial release from Champ Liu Pio. You all know Champ. He was frontman of the defunct pop band Hale. He has since then gone solo successfully. He knows how to make hits. He has also decided to go into music production and talent management. He heard Rez sing at a school event and decided then to sign the kid up as the first talent under the music company that he named Mecca.

It was after this that Champ decided on something that made the success of Hey Daydreamer doubly interesting. You know the usual route for local artists. Sign up with a label and then record an album and then release the single, get it played on the radio, make a video that MYX will air and then launch the CD in a Sunday noontime show, ASAP or Party Pilipinas, whichever is available and then at a mall, hopefully SM. Champ junked all those for later. He believed that it would be best for Hey Daydreamer to be heard first online.

 And that was how it started. The song started on the web then went into radio where it topped charts one after another and then also on MYX. But still no release of the physical CD yet. Mecca made the song available only on downloads. So kids who liked the song could only buy Hey Daydreamer online. Still it became so popular, that it was tapped to become the theme for the commercial of a famous ice cream brand, sang by Somedaydream, of course.

This system continued into Somedaydream’s second single, Delivery Boys, another one-man effort. And then recently, a year after Hey Daydreamer was first heard, it was announced that Rez has been signed up by Universal Music and his first CD simply titled Someday Dream has finally reached the music stores.

At a time when music sales are not enough to offset huge production costs, it is heartening to know that an unknown artist can still make it big on his own and with just one song. Of course, it helped that Champ was around to help steer Somedaydream to the top. But just the same, the truly talented nowadays do not need a million bucks to make an album and they can get airplay for their songs on line.

So I say to all dreamers out there, take careful note of the story of Somedaydream. This should be an inspiration for all aspiring artists. Create something good and original, and then radio and TV and the major labels will not be able to ignore your work.

Somedaydream, the album makes for good listening. Hey Daydreamer is a sweet tune that comes off well even with a simpler, acoustic style arrangement. Delivery Boys with its Tagalog lyrics gets better and better. I also like it that Somedaydream now also gets cute and romantic, Do-do With You and Sing This Song.

And take a look at those pictures of shanties and flooded streets in the cover. Harsh realities but like what happened to Somedaydream, dreams can come true.