Alden Richards: Intimate songs in ‘Say It Again’ are close to my heart

Alden Richards needs to consolidate his gains if he wants people who don’t care much about his AlDub tandem with Maine Mendoza to take him seriously as a solo singer.

This career-boosting gambit is crucial if Alden intends to sustain music lovers’ interest in him as a recording artist, because he can’t always hide behind the easy recall and built-in appeal of covers (Rey Valera’s “Naaalala Ka,” Itchyworms’ “Akin Ka Na Lang,” Fra Lippo Lippi’s “Everytime I See You”), or the instant likability of charming originals like Agat Obar-Morallos’ “Wish I May.”

Alden’s latest album, the seven-track “Say It Again,” is a bolder and more ambitious effort to expand the 24-year-old Kapuso heartthrob’s music-making reach and stretch it farther away from his self-limiting ballads. The lineup is unconventional, to say the least.

This time, Alden ventures into a variety of genres that allows him to strut his stuff like he’s never done before. You can shimmy to the EDM-infused vibe of Edmund Macam Perlas and Phil Geronilla’s “You Got Somebody,” Perlas, Geronilla and Jason Aguja’s “I Dare You,” and the pop-rock bounce of Jonathan Douglas and Joel Houston’s religious head-banger “One Way.”

Then, you can groove to the pulsating hooks of Perlas, Thelma Lebert, Alexander Hiding and Carlo Ferrer Santos’ “Say It Again,” a catchy dance track garnished with a dash of hip-hop, courtesy of rapper C-Tru.

If you prefer the dreamy schmaltz of “Wish I May,” Morallos’ “Rescue Me” and Ronnie Winter’s “Your Guardian Angel” are pleasant ballads that proficiently utilize the singer-actor’s midrange trills.

Alden Richards

If the songs seem personal and intimate, that’s no accident, Alden told the Inquirer last Friday.

He explained, “Every time I record an album, I see to it that the songs in the lineup are close to my heart—so it includes a couple of Christian songs that gives praise to our Creator.”

Does Alden have a personal favorite in “Say It Again”? “I have my own version of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ ‘Your Guardian Angel,’” he disclosed. “It was one of my favorite songs in high school.”

Let’s face it, Alden is sometimes weighed down by his limited vocal range and occasionally shaky baritone, but his latest album is a notch better than his previous chart-topper, because Alden has become more comfortable scaling and sustaining his tricky melodies.

He may not musically transmogrify overnight into another Jed Madela, Christian Bautista or Erik Santos, but there’s always room for improvement for enthusiastic performers like Alden who are only too willing to listen to constructive criticism.