Jadine series breathes exciting new life into Odette Quesada classics

Forget the controversy hounding the JaDine tandem and “Till I Met You,” the television series that’s recently been put to task for showing scenes that are too explicit for primetime viewing. James Reid and Nadine Lustre’s partnership has another ace up its sleeve, by way of the show’s TV soundtrack—and it’s not just because of its repertoire’s “trendingly” crowd-pleasing covers.

The eight-track compilation’s major draw are the compositions of Odette Quesada, whose refreshingly unobtrusive singing style makes a welcome appearance in “My Favorite Story.”

It doesn’t hurt that Odette’s enduring love songs are “youthened” by the novel arrangements of the seasoned likes of Paulo Zarate, Tommy Katigbak, Gino Cruz, Ria Osorio, Janno Queyquep and Jonathan Manalo.

Their popularity may have reached its peak in the ’80s, but the songs’ lyrical “relatability” and catchy melodies are as timeless as the original interpretations of Quesada, Ric Segreto, Kuh Ledesma, Raymond Lauchengco and the irreplaceable Sharon Cuneta.

In his “Till I Met You” duet with Nadine (who gets by on digitized, “carefully projected” warbling), James delivers a stylized rendition that allows the 23-year-old singing heartthrob to make the song his own.

Showmanship, bravado

Juris’ “Friend of Mine” and Kyla’s cover of the title track benefit from the seasoned songstresses’ time-honed ability to fuse earnest singing with note-twisting showmanship and bravado. There are melisma-inducing excesses, particularly in Kyla’s case, but at least they’re movingly rendered and gorgeously realized.

It’s interesting to note that in Erik Santos’ remake of “Don’t Know What to Do, Don’t Know What to Say,” the former singing champ manages to do away with his tiring, perpetually pang-contest performing gambit.

As a result, it’s easier to appreciate the message of the song than focus on Erik’s showmanship—which is a sign of maturity, because a performer is supposed to serve the song he’s interpreting more than his ego.

Soulful, no-frills

We’ve always liked Aiza Seguerra’s soulful, unintrusive and no-frills renditions, but her recent covers, including her revival of “Farewell” in this album, have way too many “whispered” bits than usual—and they’re more distracting than entertaining. Too much of anything isn’t a good thing, indeed.

The album’s most pleasant surprise is delivered by Daryl Ong’s inspired retooling of Sharon Cuneta’s “To Love Again”—a feat in itself, because it’s never easy to revive any of the Megastar’s signature songs.

Daryl’s cover may lack the wistful vibe that Sharon achingly conveyed in her version, but at least his passionately rendered tune for the broken-hearted has as much soul as the 1983 original that inspired it!