Rico: Hello, world! By Peachy Vibal-Guioguio (The Philippine Star)

Rico Blanco’s musical journey has taken him new heights of recognition and fame in his home country and he is now ready to move into the wider musical scene overseas — with Singapore as his first stop into the burgeoning Southeast Asian market. Rico’s cross-cultural or international appeal was evident when he was asked to present two of his songs for the Singapore Radio Awards 2010 held last March 17, at MediaCorp TV Theater with Singapore’s Acting Minister for Information, Communications and The Arts Lui Tuck Yew as guest of honor.

Rico, who was prepared to perform his popular English compositions, was surprised when asked by Simon Nasser, Warner Music Singapore marketing director, to include in his repertoire Yugto, the signature song of his highly popular and critically acclaimed record album, Your Universe.

“It’s a good song with a good melody that has a universal appeal,” explains Nasser. “Moreover, it’s the most-requested song by MediaCorp, the producers of the Awards program.”

Mediacorp is the leading media company which sponsored the Singapore Radio Awards 2010 in partnership with Warner Music Singapore. The awards night became a sort of launch pad for Rico’s breakout into the regional music market considering that Singapore plays a strategic and central position not only by its geography but more because many global and regional media organizations operating in Southeast Asia have their regional headquarters there.

Flerrie de Leon, business development director of Warner Music Philippines, explains how Warner breaks new artists into the regional/international music scene. According to her, as early as January, Rico’s Your Universe album was already released in the Singapore market. Since that time, the album’s carrier hits Yugto and Your Universe have been constantly hogging the radio airwaves. Shepherding the record album from its first radio play to countrywide success is Nasser’s handiwork.

Asked for his formula in steering artists for the Singapore market, Nasser had this to say, “Initially, we try to promote the album of the artist here through traditional media like radio stations. Then we make sure we launch the artist at the right time.” Right timing means the artist’s song is already popular and enjoys a following among their target audiences.

Rico, on the other hand, feels nostalgic on this latest gig. The last time he performed in the Lion City was when he was still with his former band, Rivermaya. This time, he plays solo on center stage: The situation that has its appeals to the consummate performer that he is. “I miss this feeling of playing for an entirely different set of audience that is seeing me perform for the first time.” And Rico, who had wowed Singaporeans before, did not disappoint this time around as his high octane performance was one of the highlights of the awards program. As predicted, the hit song Yugto resonated well with this multi-cultural and international audience. Singapore organizers asked him to do a Filipino song, further reinforcing Rico’s feeling of self-fulfillment.

Nasser, who’s also credited for packaging Rivermaya and Christian Bautista for the Southeast Asian market, put forward the idea of including Rico on this show to MediaCorp because he wanted Rico to showcase his talents before this top-level gathering of movers and shakers of Singapore’s advertising agencies, biggest companies and well-known media personalities. “It is an opportunity for him to impress them with his musical genius,” he said. Moreover, he believes that one needs to look at the long-term payoff for success in the music business
, hence the need to invest the necessary talent and resources. “Success cannot happen overnight. We have to keep producing and turning out records so that he (Rico) will be established in the domestic market until such time that he is ready for an international audience,” Nasser averred. Given Rico’s dedication to his craft, Nasser believes it’ll be soon when either Rico gets a crack at the international arena or an international artist would collaborate with him.

Apart from performing at the Singapore Radio Awards, Warner Singapore also prepared a slew of radio guestings and print interviews for Rico where, in his radio appearances, he was asked to render a song. Rico, who was working the whole week of his birthday, capped his Singapore performances by doing a bar gig sponsored by Class 95FM, the No. 1 English radio station in Singapore. For this memorable outing where all of Singapore’s famous DJs watched, Rico literally brought the house down not just by his singing but by the charisma and adrenaline-pumping performance his Filipino audiences have long known him for.

If the overwhelming response of his Singaporean audiences (a racial mix of Tamil, Malay, Chinese and English) were to be used as an indicator, then Rico may be the next international star that the Philippines has nurtured in its bosom that just about now is ready to take on the world. So clearly, it’s hello world; and welcome to “Rico Blanco’s Universe”.