Sitti exploring new grounds in "Christmas" album

When the country’s “Queen of Bossa Nova” Sitti Navarro came up with an album in time for the holidays, it did not appear as a surprise. It seemed like a normal progression of things for the singer, having been able to produce two full-length, platinum albums and sold-out concerts. She’s up to the challenge of reinventing herself and testing new grounds to stay relevant in the industry and perhaps not to stagnate as an artist.

Just recently, Sitti released her first Christmas album entitled Ngayong Pasko, a follow-up to her Sitti: My Bossa Nova album released early this year. Ngayong Pasko, under Warner Music Philippines, has 13 tracks including one original song which is the carrier single penned by Lambert Reyes. The entire album is surprisingly not all bossa nova. “It’s very different from my first album Cafe Bossa. It’s more of introducing a new me to the market which I hope people would accept. I hope a lot of people will like it. I can’t wait to share it to the audience.”

In an exclusive interview with The FREEMAN Entertainment, the bossa babe was all smiles while announcing that two weeks after it was released, her Christmas album already reached Gold status with over 12,500 copies sold. If this is a manifestation of the great reception from music aficionados, then Sitti says, she’s loving it!

Ngayong Pasko is a collection of our favorite Christmas songs. It boasts of a great mix of ballads, bossa nova tracks and pop classics. American diva Mariah Carey’s Christmas hit All I Want for Christmas Is You is the first carol; there’s also Santa Baby, Winter Wonderland, Someday at Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, the heartfelt song Grown Up Christmas List, The Christmas Song, Jingle Bell Rock, and Boogie Woogie Santa Claus. In this album, she collaborated with balladeer Christian Bautista in the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside, and with the Las Piñas Boys Choir in I’ll Be Home for Christmas. (She hails from Las Piñas.) It’s impossible not to notice how Christian and Sitti have repeatedly collaborated in projects—aside from the duet in Sitti’s album, there’s another duet for Christian’s album Captured, and guess what, Christian is Sitti’s special guest for her upcoming birthday concert on November 29 at the Captain’s Bar of the Mandarin Oriental Manila. “Label-mates kami. He’s also from Warner so it’s easy to get him. Gusto talaga naming magkasama,” Sitti explains.

Sitti is putting out the mantle of newness and freshness and she has an explanation for the changes: “It’s a sign of growth na rin. I want to try new things... testing new grounds. But bossa nova will always be there. It will always be a part of me.” On her recent show at The Terraces in Ayala Center Cebu, dubbed as “A Bossa Evening with Sitti,” she opened the show with dance-electronica/salsa themes before actually serenading the shoppers with a medley of her signature Bossa Nova hits.

According to her, she always loves to perform for Cebuanos. “You guys have always been accommodating and friendly. Iba talaga to share music to people who know music. You know your music…you appreciate what we do. Cebuanos are not pretentious, hindi kayo stoic.”

She also took another career leap by recently signing up with Boy Abunda’s talent management group, Backroom, Inc. Even as her time is mostly spent on gigs, Sitti hopes to release another album on the third quarter of 2009.

When the 23-year-old lass launched her debut album Cafe Bossa in 2006, she was deemed a pioneer for paving the way for bossa nova to hit big time as a genre in the local music industry.

Other bossa nova singers also surfaced and followed suit. Asked to react, Sitti says, “It’s quite expected. It’s how the game works. It’s part of the marketing.”

“Kung merong demand, may supply. I don’t check naman how the others are doing. I just focus on myself and what I need to do.”