For Jay-R, girlfriend Krista is "the one"

CEBU, Philippines - The first OPM songs that US-born and bred Jay-R was introduced to were those of Gary Valenciano's, the most memorable of which for him was Di Na Natuto. Being the romantic that he is, he immediately loved what he heard.

"I liked it, and it inspired me to sing Tagalog songs," said the singer previously hailed as the country's Prince of R&B and now has the new title of Platinum Prince of Soul.

Since coming out with his first album back in 2003, Jay-R has never released an all-OPM CD, until this year. It was dream come true indeed for him to finally record a concept album made up of all-Tagalog classics. "Jay R Sings OPM Love Classics" under Universal Records is a compilation of timeless romantic Tagalog songs given the Jay-R touch.

"They wanted me to do remix pa rin pero at the same time they wanted to support OPM music kaya all Tagalog ang ginawa namin. And I've never done an all-Tagalog album before, kaya gusto ko rin yung idea," Jay-R said. He gave generous samples of his soulful revivals during a recent album tour at The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu.

The 13 songs, originally sung by some of our biggest OPM hitmakers during the 80's and 90's, were handpicked by Jay-R himself. "I picked songs that were familiar to me and those with good melodies. The lyrics I like are those that are very deep and talk about love since I could relate to them." 

Jay-R's favorite and the album's carrier single is the 1996 Rivermaya classic Himala. He also collaborated with First Female Diamond Artist & Soul Siren Nina in the track Muli, originally sung as a duet by Gary Valenciano and Regine Velasquez. The rest of the tracks are: Ako'y Sa 'Yo, Ika'y Akin (I-Axe), Ikaw Lamang (Zsa Zsa Padilla), Paalam Na (Rachel Alejandro), Kahit Kailan (South Border), Huwag Na Lang Kaya (True Faith), Sa Isip Ko (Agot Isidro), Sa Kanya (Ogie Alcasid), Ikaw Lang Ang Mamahalin (Martin Nievera), Sana Ay Ikaw Na Nga (Basil Valdez), Wala Na Bang Pag-ibig (Jaya) and Hagkan (Sharon Cuneta).

Have these artists whom he borrowed the hits from already heard his rendition and given their approval? "Yun ang hindi ko alam. Ang alam ko sila Ogie, Regine and Jaya narinig na nila yung mga kanta at nagustuhan nila. They were giving me their two thumbs up when nagkita kami sa Party Pilipinas."

Releasing a cover album doesn't mean Jay-R and his team are running out of fresh compositions. He'd prefer churning out original songs and not just offer revivals, but the musical artist accepts that he also needs to acquiesce to the clamor of his fans. "I think it's better for an artist to come up with original songs. It defines them as an artist and shows their originality and creativity. But doing cover albums is also a way of expressing your vocal talent and a way of giving what the fans want. Kasi yun ang gusto nila, an all-Tagalog album of their favorite songs."

Jay-R was presented by his "Party Pilipinas" colleagues recently with the Gold Record award given by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry since his album had already sold more than 10,000 copies. "I'm very happy about that. Being a part of this Ayala Malls tour was a major part of it becoming gold kaya nagpapasalamat din ako sa Ayala."

When not promoting his own album, Jay-R takes on other tasks such as a producer and songwriter for other artists. He and his friends Billy Crawford, Kris Lawrence and Jimmy Muna built their own production team which they called "3 Stars Productions."

According to him, their purpose is to provide opportunities for talented Filipino singers to release original records. Being under contract in a certain recording company leaves them with limited power to choose what songs they want included in an album. Although they can give inputs to some extent, they are not given complete artistic freedom. "3 Stars Productions" will be their outlet to experiment with their own ideas.

Friendship and their shared love for music was what brought the four male artists together. When they're working, it doesn't matter that Jay-R is the Platinum Prince of Soul or that Billy has the international experience in his resume. They all treat each other as equals. Jay-R said they each have unique talents to bring to the table: Kris is adept with the piano and in creating back-up vocals, Billy is skilled at writing lyrics, Jimmy is great with his guitar and is also a good writer, while he also contributes with the songwriting and video-directing.

For a start, they just finished a song for Kyla's new album. "Sana maging single. It's a really good song. All our songs usually are the more danceable and upbeat ones. We also do ballad, but we do more catchy and upbeat songs. And we all wrote songs for each other."

But their pet project is really to produce an all-original hiphop and rap album for Elmo Magalona, teenage son of the late Philippine King of Rap Francis M. "Magaling talaga siya mag-rap eh, so we wanna show everyone what he can really do. We feel na with our music and his talent combined, it will be a big hit."

Other stuff that's keeping the GMA 7 mainstay occupied is the promotion of his Christmas album and conceptualizing a video he and girlfriend Krista Kleiner will be doing for the song "Beauty Queen." That song was what the Binibining Pilipinas-International 2010 winner performed for the talent segment of the Miss International competition held last month in China. Krista made it to the Top 15, and won the two special awards Miss Talent and Miss Expressive.

"I wasn't surprised. Krista's very talented and she's a true performer talaga. I'm very proud that she won with our song, but I believe she would have won with any song. I'm very proud of her, and I knew she was gonna take that Best Talent award," the beaming boyfriend said. 

And while pageant fanatics haven't been as enthusiastic with Krista as they had been with previous Filipina representatives, Jay-R is obviously her number one fan. "I feel like dinaya ang Pilipinas! Kasi pagtinignan mo yung hilera ng mga babae, si Krista talaga yung nagsta-stand out eh. If not the most — well, I believe she stood out the most — she's among the top three who were most talented, beautiful and intelligent."

Jay-R went on to share how he and Krista were drawn to each other when they first met. Having a lot of things in common definitely helped, including their similar taste in music and that they both came from the States and struggling to learn Tagalog. They connected right a way, he revealed, and did not stop talking and seeing each other after their initial encounter. The couple has been going steady for a year and six months now.

He's glad to have snagged her before she even became a beauty queen, for he wouldn't have known how to compete with all the males seeking her attention. She even caught the eye of foreign singer Julio Iglesias (not in any romantic way, but professionally) and asked her to join him on tour as a guest performer. "It's very hard. Supporting her is kailangan talaga kasi for her, it's not easy. So I have to be there to make sure that she doesn't keep her head down, na she's focused talaga and in the right direction. Aside from that, she's a beauty queen so all the guys are looking at her and trying to get her number. Luckily for me, she has a good heart and mabait siya. She shows naman that she respects me."

Jay-R is already sure that Krista is "the one", but he won't be pressuring the former EB Babe member and aspiring singer to settle down anytime soon. "You know, I would love to. Pero at this point, I want Krista to focus on herself muna and her career. She has a lot of growing to do." (THE FREEMAN)