Started this month's Concert Series was Asia's Phoenix Morissette as she performed at the Monster Studios for the first time! Hosted by Rico Robles and Rica G, this new duo dived in on a series of questions about her vocal abilities, collaboration with international artists and even got Morissette to sing a snippet from the musical Rent!
Kicking off her set with the first song of the night was a cover of local rapper Karencitta's Cebuana. And Morissette definitely nailed it! Especially the Bisaya rap-part of the song seeing as she also hailed from Cebu.
Not long after her Cebuana performance, Morissette got the chance to greet her Cebu fans on air for all the Monsters tuned in at our Cebu station (Monster Radio BT105.9) before starting her second song of the night, which was a cover of Anne-Marie's 2002 and Lady Gaga's Million Reasons.
First topic of the night was Morissette's Christmas single with A1 member Ben Adams. She expressed how this is her favorite that she ever recorded so far because of how rare singers in the Philippines do Christmas songs - and given the honor that she got to do it with an international singer.
Morissette also talked about her naturally powerful vocals and how she developed it throughout the years simply by just practicing! Her routine is basically taking an hour or 2 to practice and just stretching her voice. She also vocalizes before every performance and definitely loves to sing in the shower - just like the rest of us! She also shared about how her ASAP performances come to life by rehearsing the day before or even the morning of the actual tv performance! Morissette also shared her love for dance, especially when she's performing, to give her the energy she needs to hit those high notes.
Morissette's main musical influence is none other than Beyonce - from her training to her dancing skills. Something Morissette definitely feels inspired by. She also gets inspiration from musician-singers since she also has a knack of playing musical instruments.
Rica G didn't hold back on asking Morissette about any stage/performance mishaps that happened to her in the past. She didn't hesitate to share one incident that happened in Cagayan where the sound system won't play just as she was about to perform on stage. According to her, she tried to stall the crowd as much as she could but luck wasn't on her side that day. Thank God, talent was. She then encouraged her fans to sing acapella to Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now and eventually pulled it off despite technical difficulties. Way to go Mori!
Another music-related fact about Morissette that not a lot of people know is that she does musical theater. Although it has been a long time since she was cast for one (Chuva Choo Choo – Mr. Kupido Musicale), Morissette did say that she's been hoping to do another musical play in the near future. She became much more diverse on the topic of musicals from talking about The Color Purple and swooning over soulful black women singers to encouraging Rica G to watch a musical play to being imagined as Maureen from Rent and singing a snippet of Take Me Or Leave Me.
Morissette proceeded with her set by singing 2 OPM songs - a cover and an original. She first sang Janine Teñoso's rendition of Di Na Muli and her original Akin Ka Na Lang.
Akin Ka Na Lang is written by Morisette's good friend Kiko Salazar and was originally submitted for Himig Handog. According to Morissette, that was the first time that the two had met and recorded the song way back 2014. She's still filled with gratitude as her song Akin Ka Na Lang is still being played up to this day. Rico expressed that every great singer has a great songwriter behind them and asks Morissette who her "great songwriter" is. Kiko Salazar is that great songwriter of hers since he has been Morissette's backbone for a really long time. He even introduced Morisette to a different sound! Coming from pure ballad, she became much more open to experimenting with her voice and sound - all thanks to Kiko. Morissette shared that when she recorded and sang A Whole New World, she applied the new technique and got to touch different colors of her voice. From her Beyonce-style singing, she toned it down to a much more Disney vibe a la Lea Salonga.
Morissette also gave minor details on her upcoming album, stating that it's already on the works but doesn't have any release dates yet. Rico dived again on the topic of Morissette's vocal abilities; her vocal care. She shared that before her vocal care consists of her parents prohibiting her from drinking anything cold and eating too much sweets. In which she said that she later on understood why she was prohibited from these things. She also reiterated that these specific preventions worked for her but cannot vouch for every singer out there. She also drinks coffee before she sings because for some reason this method works well for her. Can't argue about this with someone who has powerful vocals!
Finally Morissette talks about her collaboration with the classic Rick Price on their song Heaven Knows. This song is actually a Rick Price original but Morissette did her rendition and got to do it with the original singer! Morissette shared her thoughts about this collaboration. "Who would've thought?" (Morissette's exact words) that she would be able to collaborate with THE Rick Price on this classic tear-jerking, heart-wrenching song from the 90s. Rico also gave a fun fact: the place where Morissette was seated at the RX booth was the exact same place Rick Price sat at during his guesting. Talk about coincidence! Morissette just hoped for the next time she's back, it would be her and Rick Price singing their song.
Ending her interview, Morissette greeted her fans, Mowinatics, on air and promoted her up and coming Youtube channel. Keep an eye out on her channel morissette where she has just started vlogging about her daily life and behind the scenes on ASAP. Stay tuned as well for new videos from her in which we might see Morissette do a makeup tutorial or vocal tutorial or even do covers of her favorite songs! You can check out her new channel and subscribe as well: Morissette
After the last part of the interview comes the last song from her set in which she performed her newest and beloved collaboration with Rick Price. Morissette ended her first ever Concert Series with Heaven Knows.
Stay tuned for the Concert Series - an on air live performance from different artists/bands. Every Monday from 7-8 PM!