![]() With a slow pop rock vibe, a little electronica, and plenty of attitude, to say that these songs work is an understatement. And while the reconciliatory song “Start Again” might seem cliché, its angry tone allows it to be different from the usual let’s-get-back-together song. Even “Say Forever”, which deals with courtship, is different in the way it uses the metaphor of traveling with nowhere to go. The jazzy track “Helpless” reinvents the love into longing by focusing on the lack of control one has over one’s emotions and memory. The chorus of “Your Universe” goes: “You hold me like I’m the one who’s precious/I hate to break it to you but it’s just/The other way around/You can thank your stars all you want but/I’ll always be the lucky one”, in the process turning the tables at the girl who thinks herself lucky. In this title track, as with many of the love songs in this debut, Blanco employs a distinct kind of songwriting that’s reinvents the formula with a different vocabulary and perspective altogether. He has the writing chops that can melt anyone’s heart, without being mushy or corny about it. ![]() As soon as the strains of the title song “Your Universe” begins, it’s easy to see why Blanco became the soul of Rivermaya in his last years with the band. It has everything that would make a non-fan move on to the next CD on their shelf.Īnd yet, this just might the biggest mistake one can make. It didn’t help that the first song “Say Forever” begins with a distinct electronica sound, made even more disconcerting by Blanco employing what sounds like a British accent (I’m at the central stay-shun/Without a des-ti-nay-shan). ![]() It took a while to get used to the sounds of Rico Blanco’s solo album Your Universe (Warner Music, 1998). A version of this essay was published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer on May 4 2009.
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