His rise to stardom was phenomenal. In less than a year, Somedaydream, a one-man electro pop act, was able to capture the hearts of thousands of Filipino fans with catchy songs that he sang, composed, and produced on his own. No wonder he received accolades from various award-giving bodies in the music industry last year.
The talented 21-year-old Atenista is likewise good-looking aside from being articulate in person and in writing (read his blog here -- I love his entry dated January 3). Talk about having it all.
The talented 21-year-old Atenista is likewise good-looking aside from being articulate in person and in writing (read his blog here -- I love his entry dated January 3). Talk about having it all.
If you have been following this blog, you've probably read the other posts I've written about Somedaydream a.k.a Rez Toledo. It's actually easy to write about someone I personally admire and respect. He not only managed to break through the standard fare in the OPM scene; he has also become an inspiration and a role model to thousands of Filipino youths who now look up to him, including my sons and nephew.
In case you remain clueless about him after reading the first two paragraphs, watch this clip:
"You and me, sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Sounds familiar now? Yes, he's the guy behind that LSS can't-get-it-out-of-your-head song Hey Daydreamer featured in the current Selecta Cornetto ice cream TV commercial.
Last night, Somedaydream had his very first Bloggers' Meet-Up at Blue Onion Bar and Restaurant in Eastwood and everyone had a lot of fun listening and, yes, singing along to Hey Daydreamer while members of the audience -- get this -- ate Cornetto Disc Ice Cream! :D He sang four songs from his self-titled debut album and answered all questions thrown at him. Here are some snippets:
A: It's really wide because I remember when I was in high school, I started playing in a rock band and played bass guitar and never listened to Hale (that got some laughs because Somedaydream's manager, Champ Lui Pio, was the vocalist of that band). Back then, I listen to Wolfgang, Eraserheads, and Rivermaya. Basically, from rock, my musical influences changed to Adam Young of Owl City, Lewis Dubuc of The Secret Handshake and bands like The Maine and Forever the Sickest Kids. Right now, I've been listening a lot to David Guetta and a lot more electro artists.
Q: How long did it take you to write Hey Daydreamer? What comes first, lyrics or melody?
A: I wrote it in three hours, I think. It was a really boring day, brownout sa bahay. I was just there with a guitar and a candle. But it took around 60 hours in the making kasi Hey Daydreamer has a Prelude and then Hey Daydreamer itself. I released it digitally online on my own three years ago. Two years after, I started working with Champ and we worked on it again. When I'm writing a song, it's usually simultaneous. While I'm on the guitar or the piano, I write and compose. That way, the melody and the song are in sync.
A: It's definitely something spontaneous. I don't spend a lot of time changing melodies. When I come up with a melody, it's either I like or I don't like it. If I don't like it, I forget it. If I like it, I record it in my cell phone or on something. And mostly, the first melodies I came up with are the ones that come out in my songs. It's spontaneous and natural which is a good thing in terms of song making.
Q: How do you respond to criticisms?
A: I learned early on, when I spoke to people like Marc Abaya and a lot of other great artists, when you're in the scene, you learn to filter criticism. There are criticisms that are constructive and then there are those na, for the lack of a better term, walang kwenta. So, you just drop those, forget about that, and don't let it affect you. I get hurt sometimes but definitely you're more into it for the constructiveness.
Q: Can you imagine yourself doing collaborations with other mainstream artists that are not from the electro pop genre?
A: Collaborations are always good. I'd like to collaborate with other new artists when they come out. I always say I wanna collaborate with a new girl with an amazing voice. I'm really open to that.
A: When I had my electronic song and materials na for my solo project, I [asked myself] what would I name it? So I made a list of random compound names, connect those nice-sounding words together, and thought of Somedaydream. I picked it because it's ambiguous. I really love it that way so I went with it.
Q: What do you do in your spare time?
A: I geek around, actually. I search for new gadgets or I watch ... I haven't watched a lot of TV series lately, but that's what I do. I read up on new instruments. Lately, I've been really focused on music so in my spare time, I try to write songs, play the guitar, and explore writing songs with just the piano 'cause I used to write songs with just the guitar. More on self-exploratory things.
Q: Do you see yourself making an album of cover songs?
A: That's a definite no. I don't want to release an album of covers. I can write my own songs so why not just put those in an album?
Q: How is Champ like as a manager?
A: Very honestly, he's not strict. He's like a brother to me, a good friend, and a mentor.
Q: If you were not Somedaydream, what would you be doing?
A: I'd probably be a director. When I was in high school, that was my thing -- directing. I'm really into the doing-it-yourself kind of thing. Before I focused into music, I was really into visual arts and arts in general.
Q: How do you see yourself in five, ten years' time?
A: Hopefully, we could go international. Second, [to] come up with more albums, next year, hopefully. And then, I'd like to be able to help out other artists aside from myself. Those are my goals.
Q: Did you expect this level of success?
A: I didn't expect it to be this fast. Every time I come out of a gig, I would tell myself, "Everything's so fast-paced!" Like, I was just in Davao, in Iloilo and Samar last week, I felt like I just gigged for FEU but actually I was in a commercial shoot the whole day yesterday so it's overwhelming in a sense and it sort of doesn't catch up with my feelings. In that way, 'yun ang unexpected. Also, with the target market, I expected my peers to like the music, like my age group. But then, we were getting feedback that older people would like it and really young people would like and understand it [too]. So that's really nice and that was surprising.
Let me include Somedaydream's clip from his ANC guesting here
because he sang acoustic versions of his songs there and he sounded great!
"With the first album, he did really well. But I think the challenge for him as an artist is to make a very successful followup to the first album and probably a third one. And then after that, once he cemented his position in the music industry, I think that's when he can be open to other stuff," adds Champ. "But for now, I think he's doing a good thing for the music industry as a whole kasi, with him really doing well, I think it encourages the younger musicians to create original music and not settle for covers. I think that's what we need -- a new face, a new type of music, to ignite the new breed of next generation musicians to take over the music industry."
For now, catch Somedaydream this month during his Mall Shows happening in SM Las Pinas (Feb. 11), SM Bicutan (Feb. 18), SM Marikina (Feb 19), and SM Sucat (Feb. 25). All shows start at 5pm. Grab a copy of Somedaydream's self-title debut album for only P250 and have it signed and meet him after his performance.
Somedaydream, the album, is exclusively available in all Astroplus branches under Mecca Music and MCA Music. The tracks are also available digitally via mymusicstore.com.ph for P25 per song. To download Somedaydream's songs on your mobile phone, just text SD to 2346.
Get more inside scoop about Somedaydream through the semi-collector's edition of Pinoy Magazine's 2012 Kick-Off issue because it is packed with lots of tidbits, exclusive photos, and more about Rez Toledo. I have a copy and I must say Annie and Ayelski Medina did a great job compiling all that info!
Also, stay tuned to radio stations this coming February 8 because a new single from the album will start playing in the airwaves :)
Also, stay tuned to radio stations this coming February 8 because a new single from the album will start playing in the airwaves :)
Somedaydream's 1st Bloggers' Meet-Up was made possible by MCA Music, Mecca Music and Pinoy Magazine in cooperation with official online partner Orange Magazine TV and Blue Onion Bar and Restaurant with special thanks to Bose, Terranova, Mossimo, Keds, and Selecta Cornetto.
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