Album review: Charice's self-titled debut

In the 2 1/2 years since Ellen DeGeneres featured this young Filipina singer on her popular talk show, Charice has racked up an impressive number of friends in high places: She's made several appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," sung duets with Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion and signed a record deal with David Foster, the soft-pop impresario behind Josh Groban and Michael Bublé.

Today she's scheduled to appear on "Oprah" yet again, this time alongside Justin Bieber. (Like Bieber, Charice built an initial following on YouTube, where displays of precocious vocal talent are outnumbered only by videos of babies tasting lemons.)

Charice's self-titled international debut contains input from some of those powerful pals, including Foster, the set's executive producer; "Replay" singer Iyaz and such A-list songwriters as Ryan Tedder, Diane Warren and Carole Bayer Sager. Inevitably, the result darts somewhat haphazardly from sleek dance-pop tunes aimed at girls Charice's age ("I Love You," "Pyramid") to schmaltzy slow jams seemingly intended for those girls' moms ("All That I Need to Survive," "Note to God").

If "Charice" lacks any kind of stylistic focus, though, it also feels like an honest showcase of the singer's voice, with relatively uncluttered arrangements and limited vocal processing. There's nothing especially interesting about that voice beyond its technical sophistication; any character is a product of inheritance, not invention. But its strength lives up to that of her collaborators.

—Mikael Wood

Charice
"Charice"
(143/Reprise)
Two stars (Out of four)

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Comments

[malinnaya]

Fire Mr. Wood. Now i am wondering the qualifications LA Times need for a writer...tsktsk. Obviously this article is so ill opinion-based and his opinions are rather disgusted or rather opposed to by readers. Who are the readers? it's us in the first place..Come on, speak some truths somehow to gain integrity to your name otherwise just simply try harder.

[Jon]

2 out of 4? Who is Mikael Wood? Anyone knows which artist has he given a 4 star in the past? Just to get an idea about his taste in music...?

[lorena]

come on man, she deserves a better review than that crappy, little writings of yours.. clearly you have not made your research about her thoroughly.

[Ashley]

Just got my album at offers.com (cool i got a discount!) and I gotta say Charice is now one of my favorite singers of all time! What talent! Makes me wonder, she has been singing for quite some time now (she was like 10 when I saw her on a korean variety show), did she even have the opportunity to go to school or even enjoy her childhood? Anyway it doesn't matter what other people say, she's still young and she's got plenty of time to hone her talent.

[Allan]

I think the people on this thread who aren't Charice Fans don't get it. This girl is worth defending. For someone so young her character, appearance and ability have been bashed far too often by so called experts and members of the public in her own country. Critcism is a part of the music industry, I can accept that, but so is giving a voice to the 'other' view.

[ARVIN Mendoza]

Prejudice is Ignorance!

I'll rate the album beyond 4 which it deserves. Charice is a supernova!!Charice is just like the most shiny star in the galaxy!!Yes, there are a lot of singers out there. But they are a whole bunch of crap. Yes, they can sing (but who doesn't how to, even birds can) but they do not have that extraordinary talent that Charice has. She sings with passion. She sings better in live than in record unlike those singers that only rely on editing their terrifying voice!!!

the songs in the album are all great. They have the appeal to everybody from different walks of life (again) unlike this review which deserves to be thrown on trash.

[charice!!!!]

stupid ...it's a 4 out of 4 ...what do u consider a 4/4?

[paul maraya]

what credential does this writer have? can he explain the basis of his write up? is everybody just on the same page and criticizing his piece? the actually paid him for this? pls. answer pls.