Crystal Paras
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the relative newcomers being given their musical breaks in the GMA Playlist stable will eventually find their respective places in the sun. We’ve always liked the idea of developing rising recording artists from the ground up and seeing how far the musical muses would take their performing careers.
In Crystal Paras’ case, we certainly hope her performing reach would soon be far and wide, because this eager and effervescent beauty richly deserves a stellar showcase. So, we expect nothing less than a wider platform at the Kapuso Network for her to strut her stuff.
It also doesn’t hurt that she is as lovely as she is musically intuitive, eagerly serving songwriter Rina Mercado’s radio-ready melody well with her soothing rendition, while sinking her thespic teeth into the sort of budding romance her “proper” debut single “Hintay” sings about.
As the song shows, Crystal is a diamond in the rough whose lissome luster is hard to conceal.
“Hintay” is about a girl smitten with a boy who seems to reciprocate her affection. But while she is thrilled at the prospect of reciprocated love, she’s also cautious and scared to get her heart broken.
Versatility
Musically, the single benefits from an easygoing patter that plays well to the vocal-placement shifts Crystal executes with ease and confidence. Deftly incorporated into this musical brew is a slight rasp in the singer-actress’ middle register that adds texture to her over-all likability.
Then, there’s her versatility. For instance, while she manages to limn her low notes in Ann Margaret Figueroa’s “Pinag-isa” (the theme song from “The Lost Recipe”) with appealing heft, she also displays the high trills she scales in Mercado’s “Ikaw Pala” (from “The Gift”).
“Hintay,” meanwhile, demonstrates Crytal’s ability to execute runs and curlicues without drawing too much attention away from its hum-worthy melody—an impressive feat in itself.