Charice, All By Myself. A Study In Being Alone
Frank A. Hilario
May 11, 2011
I've since changed my mind, or my heart, or both. Lately, I've come to think and feel that the song "All By Myself" is by all standards The Song That Is All Charice. Celeste expresses my Glee about it very well with this image from her website polyvore.com.
So Charice sang Celine Dion's version of "All By Myself," the song that was, she said, "the perfect song about neglect" (ANN, author not named, 20 April 2011, people.com). I agree, if you don't take care of yourself. Charice and Mommy Raquel both know that you have to take care of yourself when you are all by yourself, when people revile you, ridicule you. (See my "Birthday! Mommy Raquel, I'd like you to dance (Happy)," Pinoy Cinderella, blogspot.com).
Also, there is the real danger you can slide down the totem pole of success like Whitney Houston, who has yet to conquer her all-alone-by-herself-ness. The latest news is that one of her friends, Prince has banned her from attending his concerts (popeater.com). "Who can I turn to / When nobody needs me?" Ah, Whitney, you have to need yourself first.
Isn't it? In Glee, Rachel Berry wants to be on top of the world singing "All By Myself" without competition from Sunshine Corazon? That to me explains why there are several months between the 1st and 2nd appearances of Sunshine in Glee Season 2.
It's true! Sunshine Corazon says, "I'm such a better singer than everyone else, so I know how it feels. I'm all alone at the top" (ANN, ph.news.yahoo.com). "Also, I'm really short, so even when I'm in a group of people I feel like I'm wandering alone in a forest."
It's true! Charice said, "I'm gonna be singing ´All By Myself´ by the legendary Celine Dion. When I found out about the song, I freaked out. I've been singing that song since I was a kid" (quoted by Kaye Villagomez, mb.com.ph). And when last year Charice blew the roof off concert places in Asia - I was at the Araneta Coliseum in October when she thundered her "All By Myself" and we all fell in swoon - and the news was, "Charice newly crowned 'Concert Princess of Asia'" (27 October 2011, American Chronicle).
But did you know that Simon Cowell banned contestants in American Idol from singing "All By Myself" because too many of them wanted to sing it? That's according to Eric Carmen himself who wrote the lyrics of that song (ericcarmen.com). I think that was a big mistake. Instead, Simon should have allowed them and recorded the variety of interpretations the contestants gave that one single song - and produced a CD that I'm sure would have been a hit! You can't be too creative with a song.
Variety of interpretations, variety of people. Whatever we do, I think we can learn many a lesson from those 3 words alone: "All By Myself." That is because as different as the artistic interpretations of the song "All By Myself" are, so the life experiences of people as far as being all by themselves is concerned, and there are always lessons to be learned.
Thus, "All By Myself" is a phase in the life of a child learning to walk, and that can be delightful, as well as that of a surgeon learning to operate on a human body, and that can be nerve-wracking. In Season 5, Episode 10 of Grey's Anatomy, Cristina is given the honor to do the first solo surgery among the residents, "but she was banned from doing it because her interns got out of control and were caught operating one each other" (imdb.com). Charice knows this by heart by now: You really can't be all by yourself - you've got a team!
One night, Kristen Bell's Michael went out of town on business; all alone, for dinner she decided to make "Herb Crusted Salmon on top of a salad" (thegrasskirtblog.com). Why not? It makes great eating (click the link to look at what Erin had for dinner). Reminds me of Charice's old favorite sardines. "Some friends and I were talking once and they were shocked that I bother to cook whenever it is just me," Erin says. "My response was, 'I have to eat too!'" When you're all by yourself, you can make the food quite inviting to make company with.
About food, Giddy Giddy confesses, "I did, however, eat 3 of these cholesterol-laden treats in one sitting... and all by myself" (giddygiddy.com). Those were egg custards. She left "this solitary one for the kids and husband to fight over." That was a relative mistake. Lesson? "I learned my lesson: I should have just eaten it ALL to avoid conflict!" No, girl, you should have remembered you have a team!
What do you do when you're all alone at home at night and you're washing the dishes and... I'm sure Charice will like this one from ANN (yourghoststories.com):
I was home alone one night doing the dishes and turned my back for a split second to change the music on the CD player we have in the kitchen and when I turned around one of the dishes was in the air, right in front of my face, floating there. I couldn't move, I just stood there in shock. After about 20 seconds the dish dropped back into the water and I continued to just stand there and look at the sink.
Being afraid is something you do all by yourself quite easily when you feel so all alone. So? Don't feel! Know that you have a team.
If you saw something you like but tell yourself, "I don't have to buy that. I can make one all by myself," you are practicing the art of handmadeology according to Melinda Martin (handmadeology.com). But be careful, she says. In a conversation, Jennifer Hutchings told her:
Just because you CAN doesn´t mean you should! My sis and I have a joke about saying "I can do that!" We´ve spent YEARS seeing something we like, then thinking we can do it better/cheaper. OMG, the money and time I´ve spent chasing that particular tail! /lol
And this little story I'm sure will never happen to Charice but she can relate to it: Steve Brookstein is the 2004 winner of Simon Cowell's talent show "X Factor." He went on a UK tour; sad to say, he was forced to cancel a gig at a coffee shop (Caffe Nero) because nobody showed up! He was all alone by his lonesome.
Alina can brag that she's wearing a pair of "sewed-all-by-myself pants!" (Look Diary, blogspot.com). "This is what came out ;))," she says. "In these photos they rather seem to look kind of an electric blue, but they are definitely purple." I can imagine Charice being definitely green.
The rule of "All By Myself" probably also applies in politics. In a study of 193 mayoral winners in Latin America, Claudia N Avellaneda and Maria Escobar-Lemmon found that the Mayors believed that the factors that led to their victory could be ranked thus: 1st, personal characteristics, 2nd, campaign activities, and
3rd, their political party. Which means you can win an election almost all by yourself, or that political parties are the least of your worries.
What do you do when you have qualified for the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke at the NCAA National Meet in Tennessee that will happen in 6 weeks' time and you're all by yourself in the swimming pool practicing? Rory Buck says, "I sit here contemplating tomorrow morning's early practice, knowing that it will be worth it in the end, making me stronger, faster and more efficient" (Rory Buck, wordpress.com). Rory practicing to win. And Charice? Practicing to shine.
Mellissah Smith finds that being all by yourself as an entrepreneur is "a lonely existence" because there is no "business partner to share (your) highs and lows" (marketingeye.com.au). Actually, at first she had a business partner, but when the marriage of that partner broke up, the partnership did too. Then Mellissah met "this amazing group of talented businessmen who kindly encouraged me to expand my business into Sydney" and gave her not only office space but also "negotiated deals every day and were happy to share their experiences and opinions with her." Over the years, Mellissah has become one of Australia's leading marketing experts. Not all by herself.
Which all tells me that whether singing, sewing, or selling is what you do all by yourself, you are much better off with a team. Just make sure the members of your team are smart, not smart alecks.
Since I'm writing the day after the day after the night before, it's rather late to celebrate with Charice and other Chasters her 19th birthday on 10 May. Why? I forgot. Well, now you can't blame me if I celebrate that birthday late all by myself!
And yes, for Charice, I predict: Here Comes The Boom! And of course, I'm saying that all by myself.
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