Acoustic loves Sabrina

The series of albums is titled I Love Acoustic. But the fact that it is now on its eighth volume makes me think that acoustic loves Sabrina more. After all, I cannot think of any other singer hereabouts who has built as successful a career as Sabrina has on acoustic music. And given the music industry situation nowadays, how else will you get to the eighth album if you were not able to sell the previous seven releases.

I know the recordings are not really what you would call acoustic in the strict meaning of the term. That means no synths in the music, just the pure sound of real musical instruments. There is a lot of synthesized sounds in the arrangements in the Sabrina albums. But as far as the Pinoy’s evolved meaning of the term acoustic goes, which is a soft, easy-listening take on current sounds, then Sabrina indeed sings acoustic.

I have always thought of this type of recordings as a last resort for singers who have failed to find new songs or ran out of ideas for their music. Not in the case of Sabrina though. It is her voice that sells the songs. She makes them sound new and because Pinoys are known to frown on the over-produced pop sounds we get nowadays, they are just too happy to hear familiar hits pared down to the basic melodies and performed by Sabrina’s sweet tones.

Her last collection I Love Acoustic 7 had Maps, Problem, All Of Me, Let It Go, Magic, She Looks So Perfect, Dark Horse, Say Something, You & I, Best Day Of My Life, Let Her Go, Pompeii, Red, Ain’t It Fun, Human and Heart.

Her latest I Love Acoustic 8 includes Thinking Out Loud, Bang Bang, All About That Bass, Love Me Like You Do, Uptown Funk, Chandelier, I Really Like You, Blank Space, Sugar, Love Me Harder, Style, Heroes, Lost Stars, The Heart Wants, Cool Kids, I’m Not The Only One, I Want You To Know and One Last Time.

What is really great to know though is that Sabrina’s singing has developed a solid following in other Asian countries like Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In those places, the arrival of new Sabrina albums is a major event and she is fondly referred to as Asia’s Acoustic Sweetheart. In fact, she was recently invited to represent the Philippines at the 2015 Asia Song Festival held in Busan, South Korea.

 Sabrina held her own alongside Asian artists like William Chan of China, NGT48 from Japan, and EXO, GOT7, Red Velvet and B.T.S. of Korea. She even did a duet of a Korean song, Lonely with the K-Pop boy group B1A4. That is not all. In a move that sees her transcending her acoustic origins and which will enhance her cred as an artist soon, Sabrina also performed an original song, Hypnotized, that will be part of her next album. It is set for release next year and will have an all-new original line-up.

For now though, spotlight is on her I Love Acoustic 8 which was recently launched in Southeast Asia. The Malaysian edition features a duet of Terima Kasih, which is Freddie Aguilar’s Anak in Malay with Malaysian artist Natasha Sass. Out there in Indonesia, the album has Sabrina singing with top pop artist Chilla Kiana in the cuts Thinking Out Loud and Love Me Harder. These collabs with foreign artists are added proofs that Sabrina indeed has a good following in those countries. 

The other MTV Europe winners

And now please allow me to return to the recent MTV European Music Awards and to put out the names of the winners that I left out in my piece about the event. Congratulations to all of them.

Here now are the other winners of the 2015 MTV, EMA.

Best Collaboration: Justin Bieber, Skrillex, Diplo, Where Are You Now? 

Biggest Fans: Justin Bieber

Best Look in Partnership with Tezenis Underwear:  Justin Bieber

Best World Stage: Ed Sheeran V Festival, Hylands Park, UK 2014

Video Visionary Award: Duran Duran

Worldwide Act North America: Canada, Justin Bieber

Worldwide Act Latin America: Brazil, Anitta

Worldwide Act Europe: Italy, Marco Mengoni

Worldwide Act Africa/India: Africa, Diamond Platinumz

Worldwide Act Asia: China, Jane Zhang

Worldwide Act Australia/New Zealand: Australia 5 Seconds of Summer.