DE VERA’S eight-track album is uneven.
Jc De Vera made his auspicious debut as a recording star with the recent release of his dreamy first single, “Langit Na Rin,” composed by Jobert Austria and arranged by prolific arranger-songwriter Jonathan Ong.
But “Stellar,” the album that contains it, is an uneven musical affair that is, well, less than stellar.
The eight-track collection is crafted in the same vein as Maja Salvador’s appealingly frothy albums, but is weighed down by lackluster tunes that don’t have the radio-friendly lure of “Langit Na Rin.”
In fact, it’s hard to conceal JC’s vocal limitations in Brian Lotho’s “Nabihag,” his by-the-numbers duet with a heavily digitized Jessy Mendiola, who should stick to her day job.
JC also sounds digitized in Ong’s “Galaxy of Love,” a dance track with a trance-inducing smolder.
Elsewhere in the album, the singing heartthrob is vocally and musically outclassed by her other guest vocalist, Lovi Poe, who brings sassy sizzle to her part in Ong’s steamy “One Night, One Kiss.”
Aside from “Langit Na Rin,” the album’s other significant romantic ballads include Clem Castro and Mcoy Fundales’ easy-on-the-ear “Heaven Knows (This Angel Has Flown)” and Austria’s “Pakiusap.”
VIBARES sings musical prayers for peace.
‘The Voice Kids’ alumna
For her part, Darlene Vibares, who placed fourth in the first edition of “The Voice Kids,” benefits from voice- and (mostly) age-appropriate song choices in her self-titled debut album.
She may not have the bell-like vocal clarity and seamless phrasing of the young Lea Salonga, but she gives it her all in Jungee Marcelo’s musical prayers for peace, “Sa Aking Daigdig,” Florante’s melodically delectable “Sana,” Paul Williams’ “Rainbow Connection” and Odina Batnag and Roger Whitaker’s “I Am But a Small Voice”—each one as earnestly and proficiently rendered as the next.
She uses her scintillating “kiddie” register (she’s turning 12 next month) in most of the aforementioned ditties, but Darlene projects a bigger voice in her version of Alicia Keys’ oft-covered “Girl on Fire”—and knocks the female empowerment anthem out of the musical ball park.
Darlene’s album isn’t without flaws, however—especially when she’s left to her own improvisational devices in “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” (from “Cinderella”).
To say the least, she lacks the theatrical rhythm and flair the Walt Disney tune requires. Her performance is likewise compromised by off-kilter phrasing and diction gaffes that could have been cured in the recording session’s controlled environment.
The young performer’s revival of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” (and Dolly Parton original) is an even bigger head-scratcher: She tries too hard to copy Whitney’s impeccable curlicues, which require not just steely pipes but also prodigious technique in note-tweaking—this is something Darlene is too inexperienced and rough-around-the-edges to pull off. Her forced bravado sounds like a gravelly whine.
Moreover, the popular song from “The Bodyguard” is thematically and lyrically inappropriate for an 11-year-old: “If I should stay/ I’ll only be in your way/ So goodbye, please don’t cry/ We both know I’m not what you need.”
Is she singing the song to her two-timing nanny?