Sitti has come full circle

The career of Sitti — local music’s Bossa Nova Queen — has come full circle. When she launched her first album years ago, she touched off a trend and inspired others to follow in her musical footsteps. Then, somewhere along the way, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and try singing pop. She recorded a pop album that she now says was a “creative experimentation” that artists should try at least once in their careers.

Now, she is all ready to return to her roots, excitedly announcing her sixth studio recording since coming out with Café Bossa, her debut album in 2006. Her latest, Bossa Love, marks her return to the bossa nova genre and features her covers of pop songs given a bossa nova treatment. The album’s carrier single is Sitti’s take on the Maroon 5 hit, Sunday Morning. They started by choosing from among a list of songs, mostly from the ’90s to 2010, put their choices on a shortlist, and from there, came up with their final selections that included It Wasn’t Me (Shaggy), Back to You (John Mayer), Smooth (Santana), I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys), Yellow (Coldplay), Lost Without U (Robin Thicke), Thank You (Dido) and Waterfalls (TLC). Her first release under MCA Music, Bossa Love was formally launched via a concert last Jan. 18 at the Music Museum.

“It’s a sort of coming full circle for me,” says Sitti. “Kasi coming from an album na nag-depart ako ng konti, we go back to pop bossa nova, for the fans. Kasi marami-raming naghahanap, so this is really for them: Mga covers na may sarili kong version.”

Sitti and her team learned their lesson from that creative experimentation they did. They realized that people loved her as a bossa nova singer, and that if she wanted to continue on successfully in this business, she could not veer too far away from that. She could try different genres of music, but would have to keep going back to where it all began. She had to keep to her core as local music’s Bossa Nova Queen because her identity as a singer was wrapped up in that title. “When I did yung pop na album, du’n namin na-realize na yung brand ni Sitti as a bossa nova singer, napakalakas, and to take bossa nova out of Sitti confuses people. It doesn’t help me; it doesn’t help anyone. Yung branding kasi nawala.”

But Sitti does not consider her foray into pop a failed experiment. She’s not worried about people thinking, “Okay, she tried singing pop, and it didn’t work, so now, she’s gone back to singing bossa nova.”

For her, it was about challenging herself creatively and trying new things more than anything else. It wasn’t about selling albums or winning gold and platinum record awards. It was about being able to prove that she could also do other things. “Sa akin, hindi siya failure kasi I was able to put two of my original songs there and I think any attempt of an artist to move outside of any box should be considered a success. I just wanted to offer something new to the fans and sa akin din. Iba kasi pag original yung ginawa mo eh, talagang angkin mo yun eh.”

She has always believed that record sales, while they may sound impressive, are not always good indicators of the success of a singer. But that’s not to say that Sitti doesn’t appreciate awards: She has albums that have turned gold, platinum and double platinum before, including her two live albums Sitti Live and My Bossa Nova Live, released in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

“To me, record sales are not that reliable a measure of success,” says Sitti. “For me, as long as people get to listen to my music; people tweet me, people write posts on my Facebook saying ‘I got your album. I listen to it. I like it.’ As long as my music reaches an audience; that to me is a success.”