It's been a while since Ogie Alcasid released original songs but this 2016, the award-winning singer/songwriter returns to the OPM scene with new tracks for his album titled Ikaw Ang Buhay Ko.
The 48-year-old TV personality/musician hosted a press conference for his new album last Thursday, April 14, at the Universal Records Tower in Quezon City.
In an interview with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) and other members of the press, Ogie said that his new album is dedicated to his wife Regine Velasquez-Alcasid as they celebrate a new milestone in their marriage—their 5th year as husband and wife.
Ogie enthused, "The original idea was to come up with a wedding album, something that you know, people who are getting married or those who have been married and want to celebrate their anniversaries, they can listen to an album and celebrate love."
"Well, sabi ko it’s out 5th year anniversary so I wanted to dedicate this album to my wife, so that’s why Ikaw Ang Buhay Ko is the title."
Four years has passed since he released his last album titled The Songwriter & The Hitmakers in 2012. He collaborated back then with several artists including Piolo Pascual, Jed Madela, Kyla, and Sarah Geronimo, to name a few.
Members of the press asked about what kept him from making a new album. The Kapatid star answered that he got busy with his duties as a father to his son Nate on top of his other commitments for TV5 and as President of the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM).
Ogie expounded, "Kasi, to be honest, I think I was just very busy with OPM. I devoted a lot of my time to OPM and then I had a boy, a son, Nathaniel James. And, I don’t know, nawili ako dun sa anak ko. Within that four years, I was just writing and writing and it just dawned on me na December 22, 2015 was our 5th year anniversary."
For this album, Ogie decided to focus on himself and released five original tracks along with five other chart-topping hits of other musicians. The TV5 star noted, "My last album, which was released 4 years ago, was an all original album but it was sang by different singers. I sang some songs. It was Ogie and The Hitmakers [The Songwriter & The Hitmakers], something like that and it was the title. It did really well."
His five original compositions for the Ikaw Ang Buhay Ko are "Ikaw Ang Buhay ko," "Habang Buhay (Saranghaeyo)," "I Love You," "Ikaw Ang Aking Pangarap," and "The Lord Is Our Savior."
Ogie also recorded his version of the songs "Iingatan Ka" and "Tanging Yaman" by Carol Banawa, "Hawak Kamay" by Yeng Constantino, "Pag-ibig" by Apo Hiking Society, and "Hanggang" by Wency Cornejo.
IKAW ANG BUHAY KO. Way back in 2013, Ogie performed title track of his new album back for the "iRequest" segment of his show The Mega and The Songwriter on TV5.
The song "Ikaw Ang Buhay Ko" was inspired by a couple--Ralph Guzman and TJ Ramos--who were about to get married at that time. Ogie decided to add the song to his new album and tweaked a bit of the lyrics inspired by his wife.
Ogie said, "There’s this one time na magpo-propose siya dun sa fiancé niya and they wanted me to write a song. I was able to come up with this song 'Ikaw Ang Buhay ko,' medyo iba lang yung lyrics of course, I changed it a bit."
He continued, "When my wife heard it she kinda cried, parang na-touch siya ganun, ng slight."
Another song that is close to the heart of both Ogie and Regine is the song "The Lord Is My Savior," which he dedicates to his wife's late father Gerardo Velasquez, also known as Mang Gerry in showbiz.
Ogie recalled, "There is this one track there which is 'The Lord Is My Savior,' that one came at a time when my wife was... when her father was not doing very well, when Mang Gerry passed a few years ago."
"When he was very very sick, I was just writing this song, and my wife asked, 'What's that song?' Andd I said, 'I'm writing this for the Lord,' and sabi niya, 'Parinig nga.' And she started singing it on her own and finding comfort in it by singing it so I said, 'Can we record it?' Sabi niya, 'Sure!"
Ogie added that they gave some of their close friends a copy of the song as a Christmas gift. The 48-year-old singer revealed, "In fact, two years ago Christimas time, we gave it as a gift to our friends on a USB. Keepsake lang. And then now, I said, 'Can we release it in my album' And she said yes so that's why the song is there."
ALDUB SONG. Ogie also wrote a song inspired inspired by Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza's love team popularly known as AlDub. The Kapatid star uploaded a snippet of the song on his Instagram account with the caption: "#iloveyou from the album #ikawangbuhayko is a song that I wrote 4 months ago for the #aldubnation #aldubfan and #aldub enjoy! #toGodbetheglory #OPM #music #eatbulaga"
Ogie recounted the scene on Eat Bulaga's "Kalyeserye" segment where Alden visited Divina (Maine Mendoza) at the mansion of her Lola Nidora (Wally Bayola). This scene inspired the songwiter to write this composition.
"This was when yung nagkita na sila e, umakyat [ng ligaw] siya [Alden] sa bahay nila [Divina], ang tagal na 'to e. I think the whole country went nuts 'di ba? Lahat nanonood sa bahay, sigaw kami ng sigaw. And si Alden kasi keeps singing 'God Gave Me You' so sabi ko, 'Parang kailangan pa niya ng iba pang kanta.'"
He continued, "Maybe something direct, so I said, 'I Love You.' E, yun pala meron silang songwriting contest, e, hindi naman nila ako pinasali. Then... they liked it, GMA liked it. Wala lang, they just liked it but they didn't get it. So I recorded it, eto na yun."
"I don't really write in English a lot, tingin ko hindi ako masyado komportable sa English. Kaya lang parang yung kuwento nila, parang dapat English 'di ba? I don't know, hindi ko alam kung bakit naging English yun."