Morissette:The next Big Diva

Although she lost her voice and she had a fever, she succeeded in wowing the audience.

When singer Morissette took a bow at the end of her eponymous Music Museum show last Aug. 13, she did so to a thunderous applause from the sold-out crowd.

Morissette’s renditions of hits by Adele, Jessie J, Kelly Clarkson and Mariah Carey — as well as her own chart-toppers Akin Ka Na Lang and ‘Di Mapaliwanag — left quite an impression on those in attendance. In fact, they were already screaming for an encore before she had even finished singing. 

The singer billed as the next Big Diva was in a very good voice that night despite the fact that she had just came down with laryngitis a few days before. 

“I lost my voice and I had very high fever,” she explains. “What went through my mind when I got sick was, ‘Naku, kaya ko ba talaga?’ But then I remember the time I interpreted for Himig Handog P-Pop Love Songs songwriting contest, when I sang Sir Jungee Marcelo’s Diamante. I also got sick but I was able to pull through in the end.”

Morissette leaned not just on her family and friends during that time, but she also talked to God and asked Him for help. She asked for God’s help again in the days leading up to her Music Museum show. God heard her prayers and healed her in the nick of time.

“Thank God, the Lord was with me, and it just made me believe in Him more, kaya sinabi ko sa sarili ko na, ‘Hinding-hindi ako susuko. Kaya ko ‘to.’ And then I went to rehearsals at yun, with the whole team, we managed to pull it through, kaya naging panatag na yung loob ko before the concert. I made it,” she says.

Morissette’s battle with laryngitis didn’t keep her from powering through the music set list she and her team put together, especially for that night. She proved her versatility by tackling a variety of genres, from Broadway to gospel to pop and R&B. A clear standout, however, was her performance of I’m Here, a song from the musical The Color Purple. She poured a lot of emotions into every note, leaving some members of the audience in tears by the time she finished.

?Morissette says she can’t believe she sold out the Music Museum, which is one of the Philippines’ most iconic venues. “Simpleng tao lang kasi ako na nangangarap,” she explains. “Galing ako ng Cebu and I never thought I’d actually move to Manila to make my dreams come true. Kasi kung hindi OK sa family ko na gawin ko yun, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. I don’t have the strength to do something that big if I were all alone, so swerte talaga ako that my family has been supporting me every step of the way.”

?Morissette says she’s looking forward to more big moments in her career.

“I’m excited for whatever opportunities that will come my way because I plan to make the most of them.” —With reports from Almed Garcia and Julian Mauricio