Fetching musical charmer from Jennylyn Mercado

MERCADO. Teams up with Christian Bautista in “Suddenly.”

COVER versions of popular hit songs make recording artists’ latest albums accessible when they don’t sound like unimaginative retreads, or veer too far away from their intended melodies.

In Jennylyn Mercado’s case, she gets some help from Christian Bautista to breathe new life into “Suddenly,” Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard’s oft-revived karaoke staple (from “Xanadu”). The remake is one of the songs featured in Mercado’s latest album, “Ultimate.”

Jen and Christian’s singing styles may be polar opposites—he’s partial to ballads that demand properly placed, lyrical crooning, while she does well in radio-ready jams with an improvisational, pop-rock vibe. —But, when their voices come together, they coalesce in irresistible harmony.

The 29-year-old songstress is as vocally fetching in “Bulalakaw,” her dreamy duet with Silent Sanctuary’s Sarkie Sarangay, whose languid crooning beautifully complements Mercado’s honey-coated trills.

Jen occasionally sounds shrill when she strains to scale the complex notes of “Lampara,” but she sounds impeccable in Jonathan Ong and Myrtle Sarrosa’s easygoing midtempo track, “Magkaibang Mundo,” and Ong and Mark Carpio’s catchy, ’80s-sounding “Nakaw-Tingin.”