Asiansation Christian Bautista Makes Bolder Moves With His New Album OUTBOUND

POTATO ON THE GO (Music):

The Way You Look At Me.  Hands To Heaven.  Colour Everywhere.  So It's You.  Beautiful Girl.  Tell Me Your Name.  With those titles, I believe you already know where this post is leading to.  :)  Yes folks, it's about the Asiansation, Mr. Christan Bautista!  And the titles I just mentioned are the songs that made me admire the talent that is Christian Bautista.

Christian continued to make waves in and out of the country, may it be in film, TV or music.  He starred in his first international film A Special Symphony and he is also part of the first and hit Pan-Asian musical TV series The Kitchen Musical. He is also the only recording artist to receive a 4x Platinum Record Award for Romance Revisited: The Love Songs Of Jose Mari Chan for 2011. He worked with Grammy-nominated pianist Jim Brickman, K-Pop R&B trio One Way, and fronted for the concerts of K-Pop sensations Rain and 2NE1. He also topbilled jampacked concerts here and abroad. He also has numerous endorsements tucked under his belt coupled with billboards all over the Metro and has consistently won numerous awards and citations.

In a recent Bloggers Meet organized by Universal Records in cooperation with Pinoy Magazine and Orange Magazine TV, I together with other bloggers was able to interview Christian and get to know his insights, feelings and what's new about his latest endeavors.

“Ever since I took the very first steps in my career, I cherished all the lessons and experiences I’ve gained through all those years- the ups and downs, the highlights and the difficult moments. These helped me hone my craft and led me to doors of opportunities. Every recognition that goes my way, favorable or critical comments on my work challenge me to do better because I owe it to my audience that I utilize my full potential,” says Christian with a smile. With all these career highlights, Christian Bautista remains humble expressing and thankful for all these blessings.

Originally known for his ballads and romantic songs, Christian this time went out of his comfort zone with his newest album from Universal Records entitled OUTBOUND. OUTBOUND features Christian’s collaboration with music producers and artists he met and worked with from the United States, Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia. It is a dream of many artists and performers to collaborate with some of the most respected people in the international recording scene. But the chance of it happening is pretty slim but not to someone like Christian Bautista. “It’s the first time that we want to try and attempt to do more outside the country. [And] Yes, I’m very proud of this album,” says Christian, smiling. The album consists of eight songs which is a good mix of slow and upbeat ballads. The first single All That’s Left offers Christian’s new, bolder sound, and further proves that he is more than just a balladeer.

"They may say nagpapa-Kpop ako, trying hard but kailan pa ba.  I think now is the best time because of Kitchen Musical.  I am showcased in 19 different countries and whether they like it or not, makikita nila ako (they will see me)," Christian candidly said.  He also added that in a concert, he can't just do ballads or the audience would get bored.

“Slowly nag-build up kasi ‘yan because of The Kitchen Musical. Parang nabigyan ako ng confidence to try something na kakaiba, na mas current na contemporary. So I told myself, sige let’s try this,” says Christian. “But that doesn’t mean that I’ll turn my back on my ballads.” While taping for The Kitchen Musical, Christian never stopped to get in touch with some of the region’s movers in the music industry until he met Tat Tong, composer of the anthemic All That’s Left. In a phone interview, Christian shares, “Tat Tong kasi is a friend of Kewei [Tay]. Kewei and I did a duet for Please Be Careful With My Heart in Singapore. She later on, introduced me to Tat. And then through e-mail, I asked him: ‘Hey! I’m coming up with a new album. Do you have songs?’ So he gave us one [and] we all liked it. After that, we told him na, ‘Okay, make three more! Haha. [And] With Tat Tong kasi, steady lang kami e. We would throw ideas and stuff. And if it doesn’t work out, we would always tell na okay let’s do the thing tomorrow. We write and write and we never stop…” And write they did. The remarkable results were All That’s Left and the other song Unphotographable. Tat’s other masterpieces-original songs in Outbound include What Can I Do and his masterful arrangement on Christian’s cover of George Michael’s Faith, which is very special for Christian because it was used in his first big solo number in The Kitchen Musical.  Christian also did creative work for this album as he penned the lyrics of What Can I Do which is based from his collection of thoughts.  He also did some lines for All That's Left and the most memorable of which is "Your bring out the best in what's left of us."

Aside from Christian’s collaborations with Tat, Outbound gathers its noteworthy works with Grammy-nominated multi-platinum instrumentalist Jim Brickman for Never Far Away, the K-Pop R&B trio One Way for Wrong Number, Indonesian songwriter Satrio for the hit song I’m Already King, and with Avex Japan’s amazing Baby M for the lovely duet Sakura. Christian’s music videos always feature familiar and beautiful female celebrities: from Anne Curtis, Georgina Wilson, Solenn Heusaff, and Angel Locsin (in Beautiful Girl) to Cristine Reyes (in I Remember The Girl) to Paula Taylor (in Tell Me Your Name) to Carmen Soo (in Afraid for Love to Fade) to Angelica Panganiban (in Nakaraang Pasko) to Sarah Geronimo (in Please Be Careful With My Heart). In All That’s Left, it features CosPlay Queen Alodia Gosiengfiao. When asked what’s like working with her, Christian says, “Alodia’s beautiful, she’s talented, she stayed up with us [from] 8 PM to 8 AM. We danced all night long until 3 AM. It was fun.” And while it’s apparent that Outbound has drawn him out of his comfort zone, Christian admits that it does not mean he will stop being a balladeer. “For this album talaga kasi medyo half-half. Half experimental, half-medyo ballad pa rin naman siya. [And] Easy listening pa rin naman. Pero definitely I’m not going to drop the ballads,” he says, smiling. “Kasi siyempre, nagsimula ako sa ballads and du’n naman talaga ako kumportable. So hindi ko p’wedeng iwanan talaga ‘yun.”

Christian was asked how his current projects has contributed in his personal and professional development.  He said he learned a lot from the production and other cast mates who come from other countries and culture.  In Singapore, he appreciated the people's business sense, perfectionism and sustainability.  And it gave him a lot of confidence, he learned to dance.  Christian shared, "Am trying to dance.  From zero to four, out of ten.  Kailangan talaga sumayaw ka.  Lahat kayo pantay.  Lahat kami from zero."

Christian also revealed some of his dream projects and his plans for next year.  He wants to do theater again and his dream role is Ewan's character in Moulin Rouge.  He also dreams of collaborating with other artists, doing projects with other countries, like in the USA.  He is currently busy promoting The Kitchen Musical and his latest album Outbound.  A very big news he announced is that a major concert next year is in already in the pipeline!

It was an intimate gathering but I was able to sense that Christian enjoyed his first ever Bloggers Conference.  He didn't exert extra effort to be nice because he is, as my first impression, a real pleasant performer.  He was candid, witty as his jokes and punchlines made everyone laugh loud, cool and very real.  And with that, it I am happy to know that I made the right choice in admiring this one of a kind talent that our country has.

As a performer, Christian believes he’s improved, but he’s not reached his peak. “Honestly, I do feel that I’m at my best so far. [But] I just hope I’m not at my best.” He adds, “[And] As I continue this journey, I have reached another turn on the road ahead. This is the right time to pursue new paths and directions. And there is no better way to begin this new and exciting phase than to share my latest work with you. With your support and a personal sense of renewed energy and devotion, I am ready to face the challenge of the future.”

Outbound is out now in all major record bars nationwide under Universal Records. TRACKLISTING: 1. All That’s Left 2. Unphotographable 3. Faith 4. I’m Already King 5. What Can I do 6. Never Far Away 7. Wrong Number 8. Sakura FINAL

The gathering was also made possible by Christian Bautista's sponsors Ever Bilena Blackwater and Black Berry.

Christian Bautista candidly shared that when he has thoughts or ideas for a song, he immediately puts it to his BlackBerry!  :D  Nice one Christian! 

FREE Christian Bautista “ALL THAT’S LEFT” Ringback Tone! For GLOBE users text UD344 and send to 2332. For SMART users text FALT and send to 2728. Text GetSong[space]6151903 to 2728 for SUN users (P15 for 15 days). FOLLOW CHRISTIAN BAUTISTA: Christian Bautista Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/xianbautista Christian Bautista Twitter: http://twitter.com/xtianbautista The Kitchen Musical Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/TKMOfficial

By the way folks, he signed my collection of albums plus the one he gave that day!  And as my bonus for you, I'm sharing one of the signed albums as a raffle prize!  (Not Outbound folks, it stays with me hehe).  I'm giving away The Christian Bautista Platinum Collection which contains his many hits in the past!  Just follow @tatak_digitista on Twitter and retweet the link of this blog post http://digitista.blogspot.com/2011/11/asiansation-christian-bautista-makes.html.  I'll then raffle the album to those who followed me and retweeted this blog post!  :) Good luck folks!  :)