Album Review : I Heart You

Album Review : I Heart You
Artist : Daniel Padilla
Genre : Pop

As one of the latest teen heartthrobs in Philippine music industry, you do not expect much with this album. One thing is sure there will be hits and misses. So, just I listen to this whole album with open mind. I found “I Heart You” quite engaging. It has a nice country music feel but the problem is his voice’ too cutesy. “Sana Siya Na” compounded his weakness when it comes to singing; he minces the words thus you tend to hear “saan na siya ngayon” instead of the title of the song.

Again, an album from a Pinoy singer is not complete if without cover or remake version. Daniel Padilla’s rendition of “With A Smile” from Eraserheads is quite faithful to its original version, melodically and vocally. It pays that his voice has the same quality with that of Ely Buendia. However, there is a feeling of amusement that in some parts of this song, he tried to sing it like rocks stars do. He should have stayed with the “cutey-cutey” rendition. You know that the singer did better version of an original song if you can forget the original performer. Think of Nora Aunor singing “Handog” by Florante and sure is, she made that song as her own song. This did not happen with Padilla’s version of “Ewan.” While the symphony background was quite helpful, being faithful to original arrangement made the song a weak remake.
In “Everything,” what seemed to be a good song was ruined with his diction. I guess he should work on this. “Sa Aking Piling” has a good production and fortunately his voice works well in this song. Again, even singing Tagalog songs, problems with diction is still imminent. I feel like listening to a Cebuano singer trying his best to sing in Pilipino. In “Ewan,” he tried to be faithful with the original, and “Langit Na Naman,” he tried to put his stamp in this song. The verdict is that there is a little bit of naughtiness in his version. Fortunately for him that he can replace Rio Locsin with Angel Locsin. You can escape “Walang Iba.” It’s not worth listening.

Okay, his own version of “In My Life,” will not make any Beatles fans cringed due to disappointment. It is one good version of an old standard. In “Next In Line,” this song has good musical production, but he lacks maturity to deliver this song with the same passion After Image did. For a non fan like me, this record is worth downloading and inserting some songs in my MP3 player. I rate this album 3.5 stars out of 5 stars.