Auspicious start for Rayver Cruz–as a recording artist

CRUZ. Not just a vanity project.

Is Rayver Cruz a better singer than dancer? No. But, as the actor’s self-produced debut album, “What You Want,” proves, he’s got what it takes to pursue singing on the side—which is probably why his friends, Sam Milby, Gerald Anderson and Dom Hernandez, decided to coproduce the album with him. —It isn’t just a self-indulgent vanity project.

And it isn’t just because of the people he knows. Without batting an eyelash, we can tell you that Rayver can sing. He may not have the birit-generating pipes of exceptional song-and-dance performers like Gary Valenciano—but, in his best tracks, he sings his songs proficiently without the help of digital technology.

In “Dance the Night Away,” for instance, he sounds like Westlife’s Shane Filan, as he renders its radio-friendly melody with boy-band flair and polish.

The album’s eight-track repertoire contains tunes laced with hooks that aren’t as hard-edged jigglers as Gary V’s early dance-floor charmers, but they aren’t any less appealing.

The technological innovations don’t always work, though. But, at least Rayver’s soothing baritone is easy on the ear, even when some of his melodies aren’t all that memorable.

Rayver is most comfortable singing midtempo tracks that he and his fans can groove to, like the throwback-sounding “Feeling Good,” “Bitaw” and “Only Cuz I Care.”

If you prefer something more familiar, his easygoing covers of Archie D’s “Kasayaw” and Gary V’s “Hataw Na” won’t disappoint. The former demonstrates that he doesn’t need a digitized sound and electropop flourishes to make a thin voice heftier or hide his insufficiency.

Rayver’s relative inexperience is apparent in “Let It Loose,” however—not because he does badly in it, but because he sings the upbeat ditty with a superior vocalist: Kyla sings circles around him when she launches into her melismatic runs!