Karylle embarks on a “Roadtrip”
Karylle's fourth full-length album " Roadtrip," is her most personal and perhaps even most ambitious musical outing to date.
The independently-produced "Roadtrip" features 11 songs written by Karylle herself. The process of writing all the songs in the album, she said, took around four years.
"Roadtrip" contains songs that vary in style and sound. Karylle explained that she wanted her latest album to reflect her numerous musical inclinations and influences.
Its debut single, the upbeat "OMG," for instance, is a techno-dance song that's quite unlike what you'd expect from Karylle, with lyrics that goes: "Tell me what you do when hot bachelor guy is a single lady who's so much hotter than you." The song, the entertainment press noted during a press conference, sounds like something from Ke$ha or even the earlier Lady Gaga.
"There was a time in my life when I love to go clubbing, and ito ang kinalabasan noon. So if it sounds Western, it's because I was heavily influenced by being out in the clubs kahit di halata sa itsura ko," Karylle explained.
She added, "I'm overwhelmed by the positive feedback on the song. They're just happy to hear something new, something original."
Meanwhile, the album's title song is slow and soothing, much like an actual roadtrip.
Karylle believes the Filipino listeners are ready for this change—or any change, for that matter.
"We've been bombarded with remakes and it's been a really long time since we came out with something original," she told entertainment writers in a press conference last week.
Karylle said record companies were not as ready as the listeners now when she pitched her all-originals album. This, she said, is the reason why she went indie.
"(I went independent) because (the record companies) wanted to come out with an album na hindi original songs and gusto ko talaga ipaglaban," she said. "I wrote the album in four years so you can just imagine lahat ng iniyak ko tuwing nare-reject yung mga kanta ko. Sabi ko, kung ayaw talaga nila, e di ako na lang ang magbabayad. Tutal I worked hard naman and kahit papaano nakaipon ako."
She said the album took "a little over a million" pesos to produce.
"Doon ko na lang nilabas ang luho ko," Karylle added.
This musical growth can be somehow attributed to Yael Yuzon, lead vocalist of the band Spongecola and Karylle's rumored boyfriend.
"Ang parati kasi naming joke is he has 15 number one hits and counting. So with that, as a solo performer, I always feel like I want to be able to be more involved with production. I just want to grow and expand so yun din yung influence nya," Karylle said.
