Little Princess No More

By Eric Cabahug (from the August 2006 issue of Starstudio magazine)

These days Sarah Geronimo is singing a different tune. A very different tune.

In her surprising, risky new CD, Becoming, she purrs about “running wild”(!), buzzes about touching that “feels like fire”(!!), and coos about “making love till the dawn”(!!!).

Yes, that’s the new Sarah for you (Miss Geronimo if you’re nasty!). Little princess no longer, she has become a heady, worldly young woman who’s practically imploding with sensual passion.

But don’t worry. It’s all just for the record.

“Sana po mag-mature na ang pag-iisip,” Sarah intimates with a sheepish smile during the sit-down for this story. We are at the lounge in Amerasian Studios, where Viva artists record their albums, and Sarah has just come from a three-hour session laying down the vocals to 2 additional songs for the repackaged Bituing Walang Ningning teleserye soundtrack CD.

Dressed in tight light baby blue jeans, baby pink shirt, and a cream-colored distressed cotton jacket, hair kept in a ponytail, Sarah looks very, well, Sarah. Girly. Teeny. And when she talks it’s still all sweet naiveté.

So when she tells you that becoming mature is one of her wishes for herself for her 18th birthday (last July 25), you wish the same thing for her. If only so that she can engage in a meatier discussion of the daring new themes and sounds she explores in Becoming.

Sarah admits having a hard time doing the record. But it had little to do with the mature, if not outright adult themes in this 14-track collection of non-tweetums material.

“Na-pressure po ako!” she says. “Kasi yung ibang songs po ni-record namin sa States nung may tour kami. Medyo ngarag-ngarag nga kasi hinahatak lang po kami para mag-record [in between shows].”

There was little time to study the material, much less to revise their original arrangements to the higher, belting ranges that Sarah is used to and actually prefers. But it’s all perfectly fine with her. “Very foreign!” she enthuses about the album’s sound.

Working with non-Pinoys (headed by US-based producer Christian de Walden) added extra pressure. “Nakakapanibago nung una kasi first time ko [to work with foreigners] at sa abroad pa ang recording. Pero mababait naman po sila. At ang gagaling!”

The same can be said of Sarah. Adventurous, confident, inventive even, the 18-year old successfully transitions from teen-pop princess to OPM royal lady-in-waiting with this sophisticated record. No more vocal acrobatics and histrionics, thank you. Her voice has become deeper, richer; her singing more elegant, layered, soulful.

So don’t go looking for the wailing lovestruck adolescent of “How Could You Say You Love Me”. She has grown into the strong, quietly secure lover of “I Still Believe In Loving You”, Becoming’s gorgeously mellow, guitar-kissed Toni Braxton-lite opening track and carrier single, where Sarah tenderly but assuredly sings “I’m not sure why you were leaving / But I’m gonna let your heart go free / You won’t see me cry”.

That’s just for starters. There are the aforementioned bits about running wild (in the standout country-ish upbeat track “Baby Blue”), touching (in the Santana-lite pop/salsa number “You Mean The World To Me”) and making love (in the sexy, jazzy groover “Is This Love?”).

And the 18-year old sounds so convincing throughout she makes you totally forget that this is a Sarah Geronimo record. That’s the genius of her work here.

Stress on the work. Sarah hasn’t had any real experiences of the sort she sings about in the album. (Her brushes with romance and love have so far been limited to “crushes lang”.)

So how did she manage to do justice to these songs? “Kinuha ko lang ang emotions ng mga kanta, inilagay ko ang sarili ko sa situations and just imagined.”

Sarah sure makes it sound like child’s play.