Auspicious return for Destiny’s Child

KNOWLES, ROWLAND AND WILLIAMS. Reunite in “Love Songs.”

“Love Songs” is Destiny Child’s first album with new music in eight years. Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams’s third greatest-hits package banks on nostalgia, embellished with irresistible hooks and slinky harmonies.

The album’s only brand-new track, “Nuclear,” is a sultry midtempo tune peppered with gliding melodies riding on gorgeous riffs and glistening voices—but, it is in no way the only song worth re-playing on your digital media player: Rowland’s take on “Heaven” is as sexy as it is scrumptiously rendered, and pitch-perfect harmonies make “Now That She’s Gone,” “If You Leave” (with Next), and “Temptation” simmer and soar.

Thoughtful, soulful R&B songs, more than “Bootylicious”-type dance-floor sizzlers, constitute “Love Songs’” repertoire: Timbaland gracefully reimagines “Say My Name” with a slower groove, while Barry Gibb’s “Emotion” is reinvigorated by the lovely ladies’ sassy singling style.

True Faith turns 20

Our recent visit to Chivs in Greenhills has turned us into a True Faith believer, like Inquirer’s Dolly Anne Carvajal and the resto bar’s co-owner Gary Bereña.

MARFIL. Marks 20-year milestone.

The pop sextet—made up of Medwin Marfil (vocals) and his brother, Eugene (acoustic guitar), Bimbo Yance (bass guitar), Allan Elgar (lead guitar), Jake Lumacad (keyboards), and Benedict Esguerra (drums)—delivered exhilarating sets as they mixed and matched songs from disparate musical genres.

Medwin, who electrified the crowd with his youthful energy and catchy renditions of “Perfect,” “Dahil Ikaw” and “Alaala,” as well as sizzling covers of Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” and Erasure’s “A Little Respect,” told us that 2013 is special—because it marks True Faith’s 20th year in the music biz! Congratulations, guys!