Maja believes in herself

When Anne Curtis recorded an album and staged a sold-out concert at the Araneta Coliseum, she pushed stars and mortals alike to sing beyond borders, have fun and shimmer like “yellow Roman candles exploding across the stars.”

In the wake of Anne releasing her album, other artists not normally considered singers, followed suit. One of them is Maja Salvador. The Urian award-winning actress and dancer recently recorded an album under Ivory Records.

During the press conference, Maja admitted that Anne was one of the people who inspired her. “Oo, isa ‘yang si Anne sa mga naging inspirasyon ko,” Maja told the entertainment press. “Kasi di ba sinasabi niya lagi na dreams do come true? At totoong-totoo naman, tulad rin ng sinasabi ko lagi, kapag may pangarap ka, paniwalaan mo lang at ibibigay naman ‘yon sa ‘yo ng Diyos.”

In fact, the title of Maja’s album — Believe — is all about that. It’s about Maja believing in herself and the things she can do. She started out in the business as an actress but gradually expanded her talents to other areas. She learned how to dance and soon became known as the Dancefloor Princess. Then she learned how to sing and here she is now, with an album and a legitimate bid to add “recording artist” to her list of accomplishments.

Evidently, she also wants to add “composer” to it since among the tracks of the album is one that she wrote, titled Buong Gabi. The song, says Maja, was basically unplanned. “Last two days na ng recording ‘yon, sabi nila, dapat pagbalik ko may na-compose na daw ako,” laughs the singer-actress. “Tapos isang araw, nagloloko lang ako, pa-hum-hum lang ako ng kanta na nilagyan ko ng words, ayun, hanggang nagawan na ng buong melody. Pinagtulung-tulungan namin hanggang sa nabuo.”

According to Maja, a lot of people were surprised by her decision to go into recording. “Maraming nagugulat kasi nga alam nila na mas sayaw at arte ang kina-career ko. Tapos may mga nagtatanong, ‘Bakit siya kakanta, paano siya naging singer?’ Di naman ako nasasaktan sa comments nila. Isa nga ‘yon sa mga nagpapa-challenge at nag-mo-motivate sa akin. Di naman masamang mag-try at may bagong patunayan sa kanila, di ba?”

But unlike Anne, who has turned her being a non-singer into an asset, Maja is taking her own singing seriously, but with a lot of caution. In the liner notes of her album, she addressed her supporters, saying she wanted to inspire them by becoming the best she can be whether it’s dancing, acting or singing. “Sa mga bagay na dapat i-improve, gagawin ko, gaya ng pagkanta. Kahit alam ko na hindi ako ganoon kagaling, gaya nga ng sabi ng single ko, dahan-dahan. Step by step muna. Minsan di ako ganoon ka-confident pero sana dumating ang time na confident na ako,” says Maja.

She invests as much time as she can into practicing. On her way to the press conference where she knew she was going to perform in front of the media, Maja kept singing her single in her head, never giving up until she felt it was the best rendition she could possibly give. “Siyempre, kapag may isang bagay na gusto mo talagang gawin, ipa-practice mo,” says Maja, who took voice lessons as part of her preparations for the album. “Ako, bukod sa voice lessons, feeling ko kailangan mong mag-observe din. Itong kanta ko nga, habang papunta dito, paulit-ulit kasi gusto ko pag humarap ako, ayoko ma-disappoint ang mga tao.”

It also stems for her passion for music. Because she loves it so much, she wants to get it right each time she does it. Says Maja, “Sobrang mahal ko ang music. Kahit naliligo, nag-ma-make-up, or patulog ako, may music ako. Importante sa akin ang music kasi parang na-e-energize ako.”

At the press conference, reporters asked Maja if Gerald Anderson had already listened to the album, and what his reaction was. Maja smiled as she addressed them, “Oo, narinig na niya, and in fairness to him, very supportive naman siya. In fact, he bought a copy of the album yesterday.”

But Maja’s ultimate goal is to become a total performer. In fact, this was what led her down this new path in her career. “Gusto ko talaga maging total performer so naisip ko na baka pwede kong ipag-combine (ang mga talents ko),” she says. “Pwede naman, ’wag lang tumigil mangarap.”