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Joy to the (music) world! - CONVERSATIONS with Ricky F. Lo

The start time I heard Joy Enriquez sing, I idea she was a Filipina. I thought she was Jocelyn Enriquez, the Filipina at present making noticeable waves in the US music scene where she’s mistaken for, quite ironically, a Latina.

The occasion was the cocktails that followed the international press preview of Anna and the King, starring Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat, at a cozy restaurant in Los Angeles sometime in Dec, 1999. The evening was capped by the rendition of the movie’s theme song, How Can I Not Love You, by "a sensational singing discovery" and she was none other than Joy Enriquez.

Terminal calendar week, more than a year later, I met Joy Enriquez again, this time in Singapore where she launched her debut self-titled album (released locally by BMG Pilipinas Inc., featuring 11 songs crafted by some of pop music’s best producers like Babyface, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins, Soulshock & Karlin and Ian Prince) which carries, you guessed it, that at present popular song which Joy sings with all centre and soul as if it’s the song of her life.

Joy in person is what her name stands for – a lot of joy. She’s bubbly and exciting and warm and friendly and charming as most Latin singers are, effervescent and enthusiastic as she answered every question – even the "personal" ones – during this exclusive Chat.

That same dark, Joy gave a sample of her stuff at a disco off Orchard Road for the benefit of the hundred or so entertainment print/TV journalists invited to the album launching. Subsequently doing How Can I Not Love You, Joy launched into a couple of dance numbers which set in motion that famous "Latin burn down." So high was Joy’s energy level that, later on at the reception, she danced some more than in the crowded space, twirling and turning and twisting, tantalizing in her sexy gyrations, showing everybody that she’s skilful not only to listen to just likewise to watch in perpetual Latin motion.

Make way for this new Joy to the (music) world!

You expect very Filipina; your proper noun sounds very Filipino, too. I could take mistaken you for a kababayan (compatriot).

(Smiling) "It’due south funny but a lot of people are telling me the same thing. They think I am Filipino. I don’t know but somewhere down the line, possibly there’s a Filipino in our ancestry. You lot can see information technology in the eyes of my mother, as well, and in the shape of her face. I should tell y'all that my best friend is a Filipino; her proper noun is Corina Souza, from Manila."

How dainty. How long have you known her?

"Five years. I met her at the mall when I used to work at that place."

Hasn’t Corina invited you lot to the Philippines, maybe equally part of the promo for your album?

"In fact, she has! She told me, ‘You actually have to get to the Philippines!’ Now, I actually want to go. She simply came back from a holiday in the Philippines and she was telling me how much she enjoyed it and how cute the country is, and how much I would enjoy it, too. I actually want to go, I actually want to go dorsum."

Go dorsum?

(Bursts into laughter) "I hateful, I really want to go, non go back because I haven’t actually been there. But information technology seems that I’ve been at that place because of all the stories Corina has been telling me. I’ve become then familiar with the Philippines."

Oh, such equally what stories?

"Oh, nigh the beautiful beaches; she told me that I could go boating, you know."

Past the way, how did you get to sing the theme song of Anna and the Rex?

"Babyface produced the song and he had asked the producer of the picture if he could let his artist – which was me – get ahead and demo it. The producer had some divas lined up only Babyface insisted, ‘No, I want my ain artist!’ And that was information technology. Then we went to the studio to demo How Can I Non Honey You and so Babyface took the vocal personally to the producer and, afterwards listening to it, the producer just loved information technology! It was a not bad opportunity for me."

Of form, before Anna and The King, you did the vocals for the song When You lot Believe in Barbra Streisand’s movie Prince of Egypt.

"Yeah, it was with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, Babyface also produced that."

I’m curious... Is at that place a story backside How Tin can I Not Love You?

"Yes. The movie is about two people who can’t be together. When I had the song in my mitt and Babyface was didactics me the lyrics and the melody, I actually had this feeling inside me that, you know, I’ve been there before, I’ve felt the same feelings earlier. You know, you honey somebody simply it’s non gonna work out. The lyrics are just then passionate that I can’t help putting myself in the song. I really fell into the song and so deeply."

What are your favorite lines from the song?

"The kickoff lines..." (Proceeds to sing)... "Cannot touch on, cannot feel, cannot be together..." Those are really potent words, you know. You love each other but y'all cannot touch, you cannot feel and you cannot exist together."

Unconsummated dear.

"Exactly. It’s nearly unconsummated love."

Could you tell us more than about your album

.

"It has a little bit of everything. Expect a little bit of emotional passion when you heed to the ballads sung straight from my heart. When I sing them, they put me back into situations I’ve been through, places that I’ve been...family...friends...relationships...y'all know. At that place are besides songs that are excessive. Definitely, I take that side that says, ‘I don’t desire yous, I don’t need y'all.’ I take songs like that. There are also songs that make you desire to get up and party, get upward and milkshake the party."

What’s the song on the album that all-time describes Joy Enriquez?

"Oh, yeah, Merely When I Needed You. It’due south about family, it’s virtually God. I’m very motivated by my family which helped me get where I am today. That song expresses that beloved and that grapheme in me."

So you’re family-centered, God-centered.

"Very!"

You’re Catholic?

"Very!"

How much of you is Latin and how much is American?

"Hmmmm. American? Maybe 50 percent because I live in America. I swallow American nutrient and I live in American surroundings because I was born and raised in California. Fifty per centum of me is Latin because it’s in my blood. That 50 per centum of me allows me to sing the manner I sing. Latin is my roots."

Practise you categorize yourself as a "Latin singer"? Or just an creative person regardless of nationality?

"Merely an creative person. But the Latin part of me gives me the passion."

Who are your role models?

"One is Gloria Estefan. She’s probably my biggest inspiration. She really is, because where she has come up from and how she handled herself in the situations she has been in...wow... she’s just admirable! She’s a great function model not only to me and her family but to all young people, Latin and everybody! She’southward a motion, she has a whole Latin movement going on. She helped open doors for other artists, not only Latin artists but all artists."

What type of songs do you lot feel nigh at-domicile doing?

"Ballads, definitely! When I do ballads, I close my optics and requite it my all – my heart and my soul. I have the audience for three minutes when I’grand singing live and you can hear a needle drib."

Is there one vocal by any singer which you consider your favorite, virtually memorable?

"Gosh! Any song past Karen Carpenter or by Barbra Streisand. Yes, People."

Why People?

"Considering it’s about people. Y'all know, people who need people are the luckiest people in the world. The lyrics of the vocal are simply bang-up; they’re very truthful. The song hits you in the heart."

Have you ever wanted to exist a singer since y'all were a child? Haven’t you dreamed of beingness somebody else?

"I thought of condign a psychologist when I was going to schoolhouse. Only e'er, ever, I knew that I would be a singer. I knew that I was going to touch a lot of hearts by singing."

Did you lot realize that y'all would exist a vocalizer for the balance of your life when yous won 11 times in Star Search?

"Even before that."

Star Search is where some of today’south young singers have started, including somebody from the Philippines named Josephine "Banig" Roberto (whatever happened to her?).

"Britney Spears is one of them, and Christina Aguilera."

How did you lot become into Star Search?

"I auditioned with more a one thousand other kids in Glendale, California. I was just nearly 12 then. The audience was done in a mall. Twelve hundred kids i day and 1200 kids the next 24-hour interval. Each one of usa had 30 seconds to sing a song. I got upwards onstage, I sang my song and they didn’t call me for days. I kinda got over that; I went back to schoolhouse. A couple of years went by. I was singing at a piano bar in Hollywood and a talent scout approached me. I was singing at the right place at the correct time. The talent lookout man told me, ‘I want you to audition for Star Search.’ And then I auditioned. My Dad was with me, my Mom was with me, my sis was with me. The next matter I knew I was there on Star Search, singing!"

What songs did you lot sing?

"The starting time fourth dimension, I did Celine Dion’due south Power of Beloved. And the second time, a Mariah Carey song."

Could you tell us more than about your babyhood, what sort of family yous come from?

"I come up from a little boondocks chosen Whittier in California. It’southward a small town; everybody knows everybody. A very customs-oriented little boondocks. I was involved in talent shows and plays. One of my nearly memorable experiences was during graduation when I was 5 years old. While everybody was singing with a grouping, I asked to sing solo, I insisted that I sing solo. I come from a closely-knit family unit. Wherever I go, my family goes with me. My Mom gave 100 percent of herself to supporting me. She’southward the one who pushes me, you know, ‘You’ve got to do that; you’ve got to do this!’ She’s a stage mom! (Laughs) She’s the 1 who constantly reminds me, ‘You’re gifted; God has given you a gift of singing and y'all take to use it; you have to make the whole earth aware of it.’ And hither I am, using that souvenir."

What about your family unit?

"My family has its ain business – interior design – and it has been at it for 20 years now."

Far from performing arts.

"Yes, quite far! But in their own way, it seems very shut. My family has their own business, they know how to manage, they know how to coordinate things and how to work with people. My family unit is very business-like in that way. They thrive on a pocket-sized family unit business, hands on. That was the way nosotros children have been raised, through that pocket-sized business. And then I grew upwards having that mentality. And then when I get a deal, I’m very business-like. My Dad (Randy Enriquez) is with me because he’s my managing director, my sis is my little director and my mother (Elena Reyes) is at that place for me, as well. It’s all in the family."

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

"I have an older sister, Tiffany, and a younger brother."

Are y'all the but ane in the family who sings?

"Tiffany sings, also, and she’s been playing the piano since she was v years erstwhile. She majored in music in college. My little brother sings and so does my mother. We all sing together. We are a singing family. Music is part of the family unit. We e'er go to church where we sing together. Music is an integral part of our family unit."

A religious family unit.

"We’re with the church choir. Back domicile from church, we continue to sing. My sister would play the piano and we would sing together."

Does your being religious help you in your craft?

"It does, definitely! I wouldn’t be here today if not for God. It was God who gave me the gift of music and I have to honor Him everyday with the gift that He gave me. That’southward the only way. He tin take it away from me someday He wants to. I take skillful care of my voice and I brand expert utilise of it because information technology came from God."

Talking about more earthly things...What about your lovelife? What most boys?

"No fourth dimension for boys, not correct now. No fellow. Right now, my love is my music. I’ve been heart-cleaved."

And so soon?

"Come on, I’grand 20! I’ve been at that place, done that, and then I know what I’one thousand singing near. I was boy-crazy and I’ve been into relationships. I’m singing from experience."

What sort of boys do you find attractive?

"Right now, I’thousand into shy guys. I really am! That’southward why I wrote the vocal Tell Me How You Experience, included in my album."

Are you the ascendant type?

"I’m very ambitious; I know what I want. But I’m very protective, also."

Are you as joyful every bit your name suggests?

"Oh, aye, I am. Very blithesome! If you inquire me to draw myself, I would say that I am a happy person, approachable and very caring. I care a lot about people; I want to brand people around me happy – and joyful."

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Source: https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2001/03/04/94183/joy-music-world-conversations-ricky-f-lo

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