With Interview By Edwin P. Sallan
As the Chinese say, 2020, the year of the Metal Rat, is the best time for new beginnings and renewals.
Artist-performer Christian Lloyd just did that. By reinventing himself and focusing on what he does best, the R&B slash soul specialist has scored big with his debut single, “I Want You.”
Lloyd, however, is no overnight sensation. the younger brother of singer-actress Jessa Zaragoza has been in the entertainment industry for years. For a time, Lloyd was also to known to many as the sidekick of John Lloyd Cruz in a series of Greenwich Pizza TVCs. He also played Coco Martin’s sidekick in the teleserye, Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin.
“I realized that my first exposure to music was watching my sister perform on various stages, and admittedly during my early years, I was driven by something else: money, popularity… As a young performer, I went through the whole nine yards: I released an album which was produced solely on the basis of my surname, I was made to choose between being an actor instead, and during the years that followed, I was travelling to Japan and Hong Kong as a member of a boyband, then ultimately as a paid musician doing glam rock covers, then I returned to Manila and traversed the Malate showband circuit.”
“I realized di biro ang pagkanta. Kailangan, ang puso at damdamin ang mananig sa ‘yo, to stay in the business,” he told Soundstrip.
The stories and trials he went through are both amusing and amazing, he said. The pivotal moment and decision came when he returned to the country as a jack-of-all-trades kind of personality: commercial model, singer, basically doing any work he could get his hands on.
“So I was a ‘biyahero’ doing gigs even as a wedding and campaign singer. I was singing for a living for a span of 15 years. In between, I was doing showbiz acting, commercials, and so on,” he narrated.
Not too long after, Lloyd made the decision that he would pursue music as his main purpose in life, and grow old as a bona fide musician.
He said it was his older brother, Ralph Louie, who prodded him to write his own original material. Obviously, the brother knows he had the stories to tell.
“I cover songs by various artists. My brother who’s based in the US said I should write and sing my own composition to gain respect as a singer,” Lloyd said.
Heeding his brother’s advice, Lloyd set out on a path to start from scratch, and make music the focus of his career.
“It’s very exciting – I’m like a kid who finally finished his project, who’s super proud of what he was able to accomplish… I feel like 21 all over again,” revealed Lloyd.
“I want to share it, but for the right reasons: to share that energy to the people, to give them hope, inspire and set a good example, and most of all, teach people that it’s okay to be real…to be honest,” he added.
The single, which was produced by Marcus Davis, is not just your ordinary run-of-the-mill R&B track. The beats are definitely happening in all the right places and are infectious to the bone, yet there’s a sincerity in the lyricism where Lloyd offers the idea of properly ending relationships and men taking care of their ladies, instead of the usual lust-flavored and sexed-up ditty listeners have come to expect from the genre.
Lloyd said it’s part of the promise to flip the script on stereotypical themes and characters, while still paying the proper homage and respect to the elements that make Pinoy R&B and soul world-class.
“With Cacai as my love interest [in the music video], I want to break the stigma, na kapag hindi matangos ang ilong, hindi na maganda? I also want to leave a lesson, that all women need to be loved, pampered, and all,” he said.
“Nakakalimutan na ng kabataan ngayon ang turo ni lola. Dapat mapagmahal, may respeto sa kababaihan. Mas pogi pa rin ang pagiging magalang,” he added.
Soon, he said, he would be dishing out Tagalog songs in the mold of favorite ditties such as ‘Dalagang Pilipina,’ and ‘Pauwi na Ako.’
“I’ve talked with the young composers already. I appreciate their works and like them, gusto kong abutin ang masa,” Lloyd concluded.
Christian Lloyd’s debut single “I Want You” is distributed by MCA Music and is out now on Spotify, Apple Music, and on all other digital music platforms.