Arthur Nery: Music heartthrob from the south

The rock star and actor Kean Cipriano takes his duties as a music executive seriously. As head of the OC Records label, he is constantly on the lookout for talents he can manage and produce records for and hopefully turn into stars. The famous Unique Salonga is in his artist roster.

That is why when his musician friend Wacky Kiray called him all the way from Bukidnon about a promising singer-composer, he made sure to listen with full concentration. Impressed by what he heard, Kean got the guy on the plane to Manila ASAP. And that is why fans now have a new heartthrob to idolize.

The name is Arthur Nery. He has lots of talent and brooding good looks to boot. Only 24 years old, he is the voice behind the hit tune Higa, which is now counting nearly four million views on YouTube and is also fast-rising on Spotify and other platforms. He has an album out with the catchy, instantly relatable title Letters Never Sent.

Arthur hit the nail on the head with that one. After all, most of us have those. Missives we wrote but which we just kept unsent and hidden for years. No wonder people are listening to him. Others that he has also released are Binhi, 3.3 million views as of now, plus Favorite Vice, Got Me Tangled, Hung Up and Cotton Candy.

Arthur comes from Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao. He had been singing since he was a kid. He was inspired by his father who loved Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé. He had also been writing songs since he was in high school. Still, he found it hard to find the guts to pursue a music career because he thought he was not good enough.

That was why he took up what he believed was the normal route.  That meant taking up Psychology at the Ateneo de Cagayan. Then he worked as a call center agent and also tutored Japanese kids in English online.  Thankfully, he kept up his singing and did gigs whenever he found them.

It was his composition the Life Puzzle, the first one he released in public, which at last turned things around. That was when he started to believe in himself. Egged on by friends, who loved the song, he finally decided to pursue a music career in earnest.

That was how he met Wacky Kiray. Nery was booked as the opening act for Wacky’s concert in Bukidnon. They got to talking and when he told the comedian that he was still unsigned and looking for a label, Kean was brought into the picture. Arthur signed with OC Records and it has been uphill for him ever since.

Arthur calls the sound he creates, coffee shop music, light listening songs to relax with. But it goes beyond that. His themes are most of the time based on his own experiences, like heartbreak. These are set to simple and jazzy melodies with a touch of R&B. They often recall tunes by his idols, Daniel Caesar and Bruno Mars.

Like those two, his music is also very sexy. Arthur does a kind of falsetto singing that girls find quite attractive. He also has a predilection for creating puppy dog situations. You know the “Kawawa naman” guy. That is how he makes listeners feel when they listen to him croon something like his Higa.

“At dahan dahang ihiga ang katawan/ nang iyong malamang di ka nag-iisa/ halika na’t di kailangang pilitin/ dahil para sa ‘kin, ika’y mahalaga/ ika’y mahalaga/ at dahan dahang...” Okay. Arthur Nery is here. Higa na.

By the way, back to Kean. Although busy with other artists in his OC label, he has not in any way been neglectful of his own music. The Callalily frontman now also does solo recordings. He has a new single out titled, Make Me Fly, which he also composed and produced. Coincidentally, like Arthur’s, the song is light, simple, jazzy and sexy. Fans should love this new sound from him.