|
February 11, 2011
Woman on the verge
Solenn Heussaff, model, makeup artist, fashion designer, painter, VJ, actress, singer
Text by Anna Patricia Valerio
Photo by Mark Nicdao from Solenn's personal portfolio. |
The slew of covers on magazine racks may claim otherwise, but there seems to be something premature about calling Solenn Heussaff today's "it" girl. Her popularity hasn't reached household name status yet (mentioning her name may even elicit a "Solenn who?" from the truly clueless), while her name lacks the easy-recall factor that even her fans—perhaps out of excitement—occasionally misspell it. Blessed with beauty, brains, body, and breeding, Solenn is ridiculously easy to hate, and yet she doesn't have a throng of haters hurling invectives at her—even when she had allegedly caught the attention of Gleestar Mark Salling.
And yet it is precisely for these reasons that countless men and women have been touting her—exalting her, even—as a modern-day goddess. And it's an acclaim that's not quite undeserved. Having gone a long way from starring as the nerd-turned-hot girl who literally let her hair down in a Pop Cola commercial, the 25-year-old French-Filipina beauty has been adding slash after slash on her resume with enviable ease: print and commercial model, makeup artist, fashion designer, painter, Channel V VJ, Survivor Philippines: Celebrity Showdown finalist, actress, and now, singer. "I have always believed in doing as much as you can do as long as you do those things well, she says.
Break into song
Solenn's foray into singing started innocently enough. Performing in front of a stuffed toy audience and vocalizing in the shower don't quite paint a picture of a future singing sensation, but that's something that Solenn, at the time and perhaps even today, couldn't care less about.
Every Sunday, from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon, her dad would play music in their garden and keep young Solenn within earshot of jazz tunes. But it's not all jazz, either. "I always discover new genres with him, even if some I dislike," she says.
She believes in her singing chops just enough to laughingly recall how, even as a kid, she would always be asked to sing in front of her parents' friends at their parties. "My parents are very honest people," she says. "If I didn't know how to sing I'm sure they would have never asked me to perform for their friends [to] save me from embarrassment."
Solenn with Leo Dominguez (left), her manager, and Ricky Ilacad (right), MCA Music Philippined president. |
The executives at MCA Music seemed to have the same parental faith in Solenn's shot at singing. Shortly after her stint at Survivor Philippines, the renowned record label approached her to offer a three-year, three-album contract. "I was shocked and excited," she says. "They are a huge company and many of my favorite artists are labeled with them, so I just couldn't believe it."
It's a sentiment that, to some, may reek of false modesty, if not sound like a standard showbiz answer, but Solenn has a way of keeping things—at the risk of turning to an often used but seldom meant phrase—refreshingly real. Maybe too real, even, as she goes on about how fond she is of singing in French—"if I forget the lyrics and make up new ones, no one will notice," she quips—and how much she loves the songs of no less than the First Lady of France herself, Carla Bruni, and French singer Patricia Kaas. "Patricia Kaas is more on the low tunes and [her songs] are very jazzy, which suit my voice well," she says.
But Solenn's music taste isn't all that predictable. Those familiar with her jazz leanings would probably be surprised to learn that she has Lauryn Hill's "Ex-Factor" on her iPod, or that she listens to all-girl heavy metal band Kittie, let alone guess that she has a favorite song by them. (It's "Paperdoll.")
And who could ever expect that she's a fan of the raspy croon of Kitchie Nadal and the sultry singing of Sinosikat? frontwoman Kat Agarrado—"those girls' voices are to die for," she gushes—or that despite not being fluent in Filipino—at least, not yet, as she plans to be by the end of this year—she has found a "forever favorite" OPM song in the unlikely but time-honored "Anak" by Freddie Aguilar?
Not that many. But while her varied song choices may come as a surprise, her favorite artist comes as an expected answer because of her jazz roots: Norah Jones. "I find her songs and lyrics soothing and timeless," she says. "I could listen to her CDs over and over again and not get tired of it."
But it was a Michael Jackson song that really propelled Solenn to the singing spotlight. Clutching the microphone with sweaty hands at her Party Pilipinasdebut in December last year, she sang a soulful rendition of "Billie Jean" to the delight—and most likely, surprise—of the huge crowd. "I was very nervous as it was my first appearance, and [knowing that I was on] national TV didn't add to me being comfortable," she says. Singing one of the King of Pop's most loved songs didn't ease the all-too-known anxiety of performing on stage, either. "I was scared of people's reactions to the way I changed [the song] to suit me," she says.
Solenn, whose public performances include being a guest vocalist at the Jewelmer Jazz Festival in 2009 and, more recently, singing at the launch of Hayden Kho's perfume line, is still no stranger to stage fright. "I'm still always nervous and not 100 per cent sure of myself yet. My voice still shakes and [I still] have the fear of forgetting the lyrics," she says.
But her apprehension surely doesn't show. Open to singing a variety of genres—"I'd love to do some slow songs and a few dance beats but still with a jazzy feel," she says, and yes, even French and Filipino songs—the serial multi-slasher seems ready to take on one more field under her svelte belt.
And she's serious about it. "It's all just a learning process," she says. "I know I still have a lot to improve on, especially in this country where almost everyone can sing and belt out high notes." Little does she know, of course, that she probably doesn't even have to wail the highest notes to fill up a stadium.
|
E-mail this to a friend
Printer-friendly version
