Artist:  Charice
Title:  Charice
Label:  Reprise

Dazzling vocals and collaborations with some of the industry's finest prove that Charice's popularity is, indeed, no fluke.

In many lines of work, and that includes the entertainment biz, of course, it's not always about how talented you are, but having friends in high places.

As it turns out, the young Filipina singer with the unusual name has both—talent and connections—in spades. Not only did she wow the likes of Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah with her famed YouTube clip, but Charice has also sang duets with some equally famous company—Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli.

Now, thanks to the wonder of viral marketing, she's got a record deal with David Foster, the hitmaker known for discovering everyone from Josh Groban to Michael Bublé to Ms. Celine herself.

Armed with the input of some of the industry's brightest songwriters including Diane Warren, Carole Bayer Sager and Ryan Tedder, Charice's fantastically diverse vocals are top notch, whether she's belting out wistful ballads like "All That I Need to Survive" and "Note to God" or getting a little funky on dance/pop fodder like popular lead single "Pyramid" and "I Love You," a sweet song of devotion to a significant other.

While a couple of songs ultimately skew a little too much into schmaltzy territory for my liking (see "Nobody's Singing to Me" and "In Love So Deep"), the cheese is ultimately masked by Charice's powerhouse vocals, which recall a young Christina Aguilera.

And thankfully, unlike Miley Cyrus' recent Britneyfication with the risqué song (and video) for "I Can't Be Tamed," Charice doesn't feel the need to get all sexed up to succeed. Instead, she just lets her voice settle the score, which is a nice, age-appropriate change from the norm.


**This review first published on May 27, 2010.