CEBU, Philippines – Monique Rae makes her first foray into the recording scene with an Alanis Morisette-meets-Carrie Underwood kind of musicality. As the 20-year-old singer/songwriter makes strides towards a successful singing career, Monique brings with her the kind of solid freshness that few of her teen colleagues can stake a claim.
Monique Rae grew up in her mother’s native Cebu before settling in Metro Manila. Her mom being her greatest influence in singing, Monique started her career Cebu as early as seven years old where she played lead roles in stage plays, hosted local TV variety shows and recorded singles that earned her a place in the music scene in the south.
Now, here’s one young woman who’s singing her heart out via incredibly catchy tunes that should establish her as more than your average teen queen.
Debuts with
“All up to me”
Inspired as much by such international recording stars as Carrie Underwood, Alanis Morisette, Britney Spears, Beyonce… this Cebuana songbird came up with her debut album, which in her own words, “truly represents me—free-spirited, simple and soulful.”
Bursting with wide-eyed, adolescent feelings, Monique is a slightly more knowing 20-year-old, and so it isn’t a surprise if her album is a bit mature. Under PolyEast Records, which signed her in August 2007, her debut album entitled “All Up To Me” teems with catchy hooks, and boasts of a voice that packs emotions.
Her kick-off single, Set Me Free, which has the upbeat-pop rock vibe, shows well-crafted melody and lyrics on tough love sentiments and tactics that are universally felt. Over all, the 12-track set showcases this precocious artist, whose vocal presence blends in innocence, passion, vulnerability, yearning, intensity and tenderness—made complete by guitar hooks (electric and acoustic).
But what truly shines through is this young musician’s lyricism—she handles much of the songwriting. Her compositions are some of the most open, simple, and idealistic ruminations on life and love that you’d ever hear. “My album represents life. In life we fall in love, we get hurt...we experience so many different emotions. It’s like a roller coaster. And it’s all up to me to know how to deal with life’s situations,” she said.
And so the debut album goes, song after song, to unravel a young lady expressing a heart in the right place, particularly with original compositions such as All Up To Me, Funny Feelings, With You and I Am Empty.
Halik Sa Hangin, an adorable tribute to unhindered affection is written by her fellow Cebuano and Urbandub’s vocalist and songwriter, Gabby Alipe. Monique’s inspiration and greatest influence on her chosen career is her mom, Eva Santos, who also contributed songs that are some anthems to individuality—Panaginip, Free, Pwede Ba and Promises.
A Career Ahead
To sum it up, Monique Rae has shown extraordinary talent for someone so young. Monique, who also recorded the song Sundown with the band Hale and was included in Hale’s third album “Above, Over and Beyond” also released by PolyEast Records in 2008, has a long career ahead of her.
PolyEast Records A&R Director Chito Ilagan shared, “Monique is a self-made musician/songwriter who has a definite style of her own. It is quite hard for a new singer to have an identity of her own in her first album but Monique has done it with ‘All Up To Me.’ Her album producer, Jon Jon Castañeda, knew exactly her strengths and utilized them in this album.”
With her unique blend of music—rock, pop, folk and touches of soul—no wonder she has impressed her record producers and has found favor with variety of radio stations. She describes this album as her creative way of opening up her heart, mind and soul. She calls it her personal evolution and that every song represents a different chapter and story of her life that she hopes listeners can learn from it. Monique has come a long way to take her to where she is now, but for her and her album “All Up To Me”…this is only the beginning.