Where´s Charice? In Asia, in your living room

Revised 17 July at 0629 hours
ROXAS CITY (13 July) - Anxiously, I´m anticipating Charice's 3-day concert tour in Manila 15, 16 & 17 July, 2 days from now, but I´m still in Roxas City, Isabela, about 400 kilometers away, and not about to leave this City until the 15th, which means I´ll have a bus lag when I get to the first concert. If. It takes about 12 hours to get to Manila from here. Half a day. From Manila to Roxas City, you get to see mountains and valleys; I assure you the views are great, but if you´ve seen one, you´ve seen them all. Unlike the mountains-and-valleys act of Charice; if you´ve watched her once, you´d want to watch her perform again and again. Didn´t Oprah call her "The Most Talented Girl in the World?" Believe me, she´s unbelievable.

Where´s Charice today? The other week, she was in my hometown of Asingan in Pangasinan. I was eating at a mini-restaurant alongside the plaza when suddenly Charice came in, singing out the line "Like a Pyramid." She didn´t know me, and she didn´t notice that I noticed. She came in with 4 other girls. Later, I asked for their names, and the one who sang "Like a Pyramid" was Lorene Carulla. She was with Mary Grace Pido, Claire Alexandra Basa, Tricia Mae Perdiz, and Maricris Bernardino; they were all 2nd year students of the St Louise Bertrand School about a stone´s throw away from where we were eating; their teacher was Ms Maureen Altona Garcia. And of course I played for them "Pyramid" in my Nokia 3510 XpressMusic. We exchanged emails and phone numbers.

Where´s Charice today? You can´t pin this girl down like you can pin a tag on your Google map of Cabuyao, Laguna, a good 1-hour ride from Manila, where she was born 10 May 1992. Charice doesn´t live here anymore.

Shall I say Charice is instinctively peripatetic? Now I understand why she didn´t want to stay long enough to become a US citizen. David Foster had advised her to stay put and become an American citizen so they could push her career harder, with all the privileges of a Green Card holder, but she opted out (Rey Pumaloy, 21 October 2009, telebisyon.net). Her choice: Stay but not stay put, like 1 month in the Philippines, 3 months in the US, 1 week in the Philippines, then off to a tour. A Moving Minstrel, if ever I´ve seen one.

Indeed, touring is currently Charice's chief preoccupation, out in the cities of the world promoting her 1st international album CHARICE (Warner Music). This is the album launched at Oprah´s 11 May 2010 and debuted at #8 at Billboard´s Top 200 Albums. So far, I have racked up at least 200 full plays of 2 of the 12 songs in it: "I Love You" and "In Love So Deep" in the last 2 months, about 40 plays each for the other songs. (With my ExpressMusic and an "original" earphone to match, Charice keeps singing for me, only for me, in the boondocks.) Here is the complete list of the songs in the album:

01 Pyramid (featuring Iyaz)
02 Reset
03 In This Song
04 Nobody´s Singin´ To Me
05 Thank You
06 I Love You
07 In Love So Deep
08 All That I Need To Survive
09 Nothing
10 The Truth Is
11 Did It For You
12 Note To God
13 Did It For You (with Drew Ryan Scott), bonus track. These 12 songs are all original, all about love, and even with Iyaz in "Pyramid," she´s all Charice. Breathtakingly so.

I shall refer to it as Love Album Charice from now on. Check it out!

Come to think of it, actually Charice has been on a tour since she was 7, in 1999, when she began joining singing contests. Before the sorry Little Big Star episode in 2006, she toured the singing circuit in the Southern Tagalog Region south of Manila, joining 100 voice competitions in all here, there and everywhere. She sang for joy, not to mention for food on the table and some little luxuries like pizza once a month. They were rich in songs her own singing Mommy Raquel could teach her any tune at any time; otherwise, they were so poor they couldn´t be a chooser of singing contests.

Well, now everyone who has watched her knows she´s a tour de force. "A force to be reckoned with," according to David Foster, according to Oprah, fairy godmother to Charice. In her first international Love Album Charice, she tours the musical genres, from pop R&B to ballads to belting within each and every song. On the Planet Earth, she has been on tour since last year.

Charice with David Foster

Towards the end of 2009, she toured North America with David Foster & Friends (charicemania); the bill said:

HITMAN
a special evening with
David Foster
& Friends
starring
Charice.

It was a 10-city tour of North America; here is the list of places sung to:

21 October (Chicago, Illinois), Rosemont Theatre
23 October (New York, New York), WaMu Theater
24 October (Newark, New Jersey), Prudential Center
25 October (Boston, Massachusetts), Agganis Arena
28 October (Atlanta, Georgia), Fox Theatre
30 October (Tampa, Florida), Blueline Theatre
01 November (Hollywood, Florida) at Hard Rock Live
05 November (Los Angeles, California), Gibson Amphitheatre
06 November (San Jose, California), HP Pavilion
08 November (Vancouver, British Columbia), General Motors Place

In case you didn´t know about David Foster, he has a book with a title that describes him very briefly: Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping The Charts, And Winning Grammys. 15 Grammys in fact. Today, David is Charice's producer and musical mentor, and I´m sure he´s had another paradigm shift with this Asian superstar, as he had in the 1990s with Natalie Cole, Celine, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, as he had in the early 2000s with Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, and Josh Grobin (based on an interview published 18 October 2009, ANN, author not named, abs-cbnnews.com). While Charice is loved for her soul-full and lung-full adult ballads, you will note that the Love Album Charice is targeted more to the young, Charice's peers. David´s idea, I´m sure. "The music industry is very youth-driven," he says.

Asian City Tour

And now, we learn from charicemania about her 5-country Asian Tour this month:

Charice in Seoul, South Korea - On 12 July, she taped a performance for the TV show Star King, and this episode will actually be aired on 24 July, when Charice will already be in Malaysia. It´s her way of saying "Thank you" from the bottom of her heart. "I got discovered because of this TV show," Charice tweeted. "Now, I´m going back to Star King this July 24 to show my love for them! Korea!" (ANN, zacquisha.com). She had guested there 2 times already. Love is lovelier the 3rd time around.

It will be remembered that in October 2007, Star King was the very first TV show outside the Philippines that featured Charice, and while she didn´t blow the roof off Star King, she brought the house down. And for that feat, Star King viewers voted her "Most Requested Foreign Act" and she returned to this TV show in the same year, December 2007. And it was the YouTube video upload by coolsmurf of Charice's October Star King performance that caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres, who was so excited she personally called and invited Charice to her show. And what did Ellen say after Charice's first song, "And I Am Telling You (I´m Not Going)?" Ellen said, "You´ve just witnessed the beginning of this girl´s career." International career, to be precise. And what happened after that? The next year, Oprah made that dream of an international career come true.

Charice in Manila, Philippines - On 29 June 2010, Mommy Raquel (MommyRaqz) plurked about the Asian Tour: "The tour is strictly to promote her CD on radio and interviews." That may have been strictly the original plan, but the current poster says that in the Philippines, she will be at the Newport Plaza at Resorts World Manila (Pasay City) on 15 July at 8 PM, and she will perform there, not necessarily be on radio or do an interview on air. Same on 16 July also at 8 PM, when she will be at the Venice Piazza at McKinley Hill (Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City), and on 17 July again at 8 PM, when she will be at the Eastwood Mall Open Park (Libis, Quezon City). With the purchase of 1 Love Album Charice, you get a pass good for 2. I´m 500 kilometers away; take me to the site on time!

Charice in Tokyo, Japan - In Tokyo, Japan, on 19 July, Charice will appear at Mezamashi Live in Odaiba Land Fuji TV. Mezamashi (from mezamasu, to wake up) is a morning show, a news magazine broadcast every weekday. Fans can watch out for the Meet & Greet 19-21 July. Earlier, Charice launched her Japan version of the album on 07 July, and there´s a surprise. Japanese chanteuse Kinoshita Yukina is in Love Album Charice singing her own Japanese translation of "Pyramid." Yukina says, "I started having interest in Charice because it (say Cha-ri-ce) sounds like ´Chorisu´ (Yukina´s way of saying Hello), and after I listened to her songs, I was so moved. I wanted to support her somehow, so I translated the song on my own. To do that makes young Japanese people listen to western music more" (quoted by Siso, 25 June 2010, tokyohive.com).

Charice in Bangkok, Thailand - To all her Thai fans who want to see her perform live, she will have a show titled Singh Proudly Presents: Charice, Dreams Come True Showcase @ Siam Discovery. This will happen at the Grand Hall, 1st Floor, Siam Landau Gallery, Siam Discovery on 23 July at 5 PM. The invitation says, "Be amazed by Charice, the international singing sensation, and you´ll know why she is the first Asian to succeed in America" (thaipr.net, translated by AnonymousFanatic). Asians, rejoice! You have nothing to lose but your timidity!

Charice in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - On 25 July, you can watch The Most Talented Girl in the World Showcase at the Dragonfly Club (Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur), 7:30 PM. This is a 30-minute show. As in the rest of the Asian Tour, with the purchase of 1 Love Album Charice, you get a pass good for 2. Watch out also for a mini-Meet & Greet after the show. Yes, you can win tickets to watch Charice live in Kuala Lumpur (1 ticket admits 2 guests). All you have to do is email your answer to 2 questions, complete a slogan and send in details about you (name, IC no, phone, mailing address). You will receive your tickets by mail. The questions are: 1, Where does Charice hail from? 2, Name the song which Charice sings with Iyaz? Slogan: "I love Charice because …" (complete the sentence in 20 words or less). If not, you can buy 1 Love Album Charice and get free tickets at Speedy Video outlets - Pavilion, GE Mall, Mid Valley/Movie Magic, One Utama). Source: galaxieblog

Why Asian tour for Charice?

You ask me: Is touring called for in the script? I say, absolutely, even if I´m not privy to anything remotely resembling a script. Will it be good for her? It will be perfect. Charice's Asian Tour has been designed mainly to promote Love Album Charice, maybe. But I´m interested in the side-effects of Charice's Asian City Tour. I believe it will do much more than promote her album. I already hinted something like that in my bold essay "The Charice Advantage. Pop Princess? Not quite" (21 May 2010, American Chronicle). Remember, Charice is the very first Asian to break the glass ceiling of the American mainstream music industry. So, when this Asian comes visiting Asia, Asians will be either at the edge of their seats, or on the tip of their toes, or straining their necks to watch and listen. And they will be delighted.

What will happen - I hope - is that this Asian City Tour will show the Asian fans and non-fans (not to mention the whole world), that this Filipino, this Asian, indeed Charice is "The Best Live Performer of Her Generation." I wasn´t the first to call her that; I wish I was - some folks in Miami, Florida said it first, according to a YouTube Charice comment by viewer hoIyweIIs. (Charice never forgets to say she´s from the Philippines, me neither. Also Filipino, the most ambitious thing Frank H said was to call Charice "The Greatest Musical Act This Side of Heaven.")

To see is to believe? With Charice, to see and listen at the same time is to believe. In "The Charice Advantage," I have already written, "If you watch any of her videos on YouTube, you will begin to realize she is even better seen and heard." Catch Charice in one of her live performances and prove to yourself.

Charice in Glee, so what?

After Asia, what will Charice conquer next? Asia is of the real world; Charice is poised to conquer next the reel world: TV. She will play a recurring role in Fox´s hit series Glee, a musical comedy (for more details, see my "Glee, Glee Charice! Honor stories, horror stories," American Chronicle). Did a hundred thousand audition for the next season of Glee? Charice is "someone who is extremely talented," Filipino Nikki Gil says (Reyma Buan-Deveza, 12 July 2010, abs-cbnnews.com). "She´s definitely world-class." Nikki says Filipinos Karylle and Sam Milby also auditioned for a role in Glee. Many were called, but few were chosen: 3, including Charice.

Come to think of it, I dare say TV is perfect for Charice, this natural comic. I dare say Glee will prove to be divine for her. I´ve seen her perform; if you haven´t, go watch the first Oprah episode on Charice playing herself at YouTube. She will be a tear and a shout in Glee, mountains and valleys, for she can sing at the drop of a hint, she can emote at the drop of a line, and she can cry at the drop of a note.

From Malaysia, Charice will fly back to the US to begin shooting for Glee on 28 July. Season 2 of Glee starts showing in September in the US. The season finale of Glee was watched by 11 million viewers, "the highest-rated season-ender for all freshman series" (Lynette Rice, 09 June, hollywoodinsider.com). That should mean something.

You ask: Charice in Glee, so what?
I dare say: So millions will watch and hear and see The Best Live Performer of Her Generation. Like David Foster said, "Guaranteed. 100%."