Yeong Kar YanIt hardly feels like a year since Singapore Idol’s first female runner-up winner, Sylvia Ratonel was introduced to Singapore that she’s releasing her self-titled debut album.
That’s because she’s kept in our radar, singing the national anthem a month ago, before the F1 races here, doing a duet with Idol winner Sezairi at the National Day Parade, hosting local variety show Buffetlicious with Michelle Chia.
Touted as “The Beautiful Talent” on Idol, Sylvia also saw her pan-Asian i.e. Fillipino-European looks being courted by Maybelline New York, who added her to their list of celeb endorsers, putting her in the company of stunning models Lisalla Montenegro and Deepika Padukone.
Her single for “The Power in You” campaign and makeover show, “Fly”, hit the top 10 on 987FM, which she says “really helps to empower girls to be more confident.”
When UrbanWire joined Sylvia at Stereolounge in Pan Pacific Hotel for a sneak preview of her album, we chatted with the 22-year-old songbird about her music and the making of her latest record.
Here’s a first look at the acoustic rendition of her 987FM chart-topping single, “It’s Raining”:
https://youtu.be/budf00DDbuU
While “It’s Raining” is about a lovers’ tiff, the song has a sweet melody that’s easy on the ear. “Sometimes you quarrel with that other person… [but] at the end of the day, you work it out and know you still want to be together,” explained Sylvia.
Even after so much success, the singer, artiste and spokesmodel candidly admits that she still isn’t used to the media spotlight. “I guess it’s from my character?… I have always been very shy and even now, before every performance, I get nervous for myself. I try, you know?”
“I just want people to see me as a real person,” she said, in between smiles.
She may be shy, but her sincerity shines through in her music and there’s a certain quality of innocence that defines the starlet in the way she carries herself. But this is also a girl ready to make leaps in her career and venture into bigger things, like acting or even opera.
“I don’t know,” she laughed and added, “I was a soprano in choir so it’s something that I will not rule out. I mean, everybody is doing it, Taufik is in a musical so I might want to do that for my future repertoire.”
The Temasek Polytechnic graduate grew up listening to various artistes from pop singer Christina Aguilera to the edgier System of a Down and Silverchair. but R&B singer, Alicia Keys remains her biggest idol.
“She is just very fantastic and really talented. Even if I don’t have the chance to collaborate with her… [if I just had a day with her to just] see what is her inspiration and maybe [ask her to] teach me how to play the piano,” she gushed.
Consisting of 80’s cover Manic Monday and11 original tracks co-written with her producer, Don Richmond, Sylvia Ratonel’s a surprising mix of catchy and upbeat dance tracks that will have listeners hooked from start to end.
It’s a style unexpected of the soft-spoken singer whose rendition of love songs such as “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan, and tender vocals took our breath away during Singapore Idol. But moving away from familiar ground to venture into R&B was a conscious decision for Sylvia as she wanted more listeners to be able to relate to her album.
“From Singapore Idol, I realized a slow song might be very heartfelt, but it doesn’t really go with everybody. That’s why I decided to go for an R&B twist, more of the hard beats… A lot of my inspiration came from my life experience… But for those [songs] that are more upbeat, Don has a bigger play in [them] because he’s a master behind the beats.”
As an active clubber before Singapore Idol Sylvia instinctively knows a hit when she hears one. She recommends “Gimme What You Got” for its addictive hook while “Get Up Everybody” brings out an edgier sound from the powerhouse singer. There’s even a Malay song, “Mari Bersamaku”, thrown into the mix and her duet, “A Woman and A Man” with Singapore Idol 2009 winner, Sezairi Sezali, has also been rearranged to fit in with the album’s sound.
“When my mum first heard [Get Up Everybody], she said, ‘This song quite power.’”, giggled Sylvia.
Mention her producer, Don Richmond, and a playful side of her comes out as well.
“I call [him] ‘mat’ and he calls me ‘minah‘! (stereotypes for a Malay man and a woman)He is really a very happy-go-lucky guy so it’s very easy to work with him. Working with him doesn’t feel like it’s work. It was really very like, just sit down and ‘chillax‘ and you know, when we have to work, we will still work and write songs.”
As much as she enjoyed the process, creating the album wasn’t always a breeze, and at one point, her voice suffered from overstrain for 2 weeks because she was singing and juggling Buffetlicious at the same time.
“It’s like 9 months since Singapore Idol until now so it feels like, as if, I’m giving birth to a real life baby. So it’s the big one and hopefully this album kicks off and does really well.”
Sylvia Ratonel’s album comes out in stores today, Oct 27.