Significant debut for ‘X Factor’s’ Fil-Aussie champ

TALENT tilt winner Cyrus Villanueva and his debut album (inset).

Cyrus Villanueva, the teenage Filipino-Australian winner of the seventh edition of “The X Factor Australia,” sings mostly covers of Billboard 100 staples in his debut album, “Cyrus.” But we’re happy to note that he manages to make each track his own by infusing them with a radio-friendly pop croon that is easy on the ears.

The album features re-recorded studio tracks of some of the songs he had performed in the popular talent show. The spirited renditions and Pinoy musical sensibility of the good-looking 19-year-old, whose father is Filipino, will make you want to sing along with him.

That’s no easy feat, considering the fact that his 11-track repertoire features revivals of songs popularized by chart-toppers with distinctive vocal tics and singing styles, like Adele (“Rumor Has It”), Ed Sheeran (“Don’t”), The Weeknd (“Earned It”) and James Bay (“Hold Back the River”).

As he peppers “Rumor Has It”—a tune about a duplicitous lover—with wit and sarcasm, his urgent singing makes the tune bristle with excitement and improvisational theatricality. His easygoing style gives “Don’t” and his R&B-infused winning song, “Stone,” their youthful sizzle and swagger.

If you’re partial to groove-heavy “makeout” tracks, you can’t go wrong with the sultry smolder of Cyrus’ remake of Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do,” the noirish patter of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” and the Lynchian allure of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.”

The aforementioned trio of soul-stirring songs provides melodic pleasure as much as thematic provocation, as they tackle sexual passion, resentment and obsessive love—heavy stuff for someone so young!

Take the intriguingly spiteful “In the Air Tonight.” It examines a man’s growing resentment toward his lover’s perceived betrayal: “If you told me you were drowning/ I would not lend a hand/ I’ve seen your face before…/ But I don’t know if you know who I am!”

Even more compelling are Cyrus’ ethereal rendering of ballads, like Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” (about an ex who has already found another), the elegiac elegance of Bob Dylan’s reworked “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” and the moody ebbs and flows of “Wicked Game.”

Indeed, Cyrus’ self-titled album provides another reason for Pinoys everywhere to celebrate!