Other than belonging to the same “American Idol” batch where they cultivated a lingering friendship that extended to their well-received Valentine’s Day concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the difference between Jessica Sanchez and Colton Dixon is like night and day.
Pandering to the near-sellout crowd, Jessica’s repertoire consisted of her covers of the songs that brought her to a runner-up finish at “AI”, including Luther Vandross’ “Dance With My Father”, Jennifer Holliday’s “And I Am Telling You”, “Beyonce’s “Love On Top” and, of course, “I Will Always Love You”.
She did debut a couple of original songs — “Fairytale” from her upcoming full-length album and the Smart jingle “Jump In”, her oft-viewed collaboration with apl.de.ap.
Colton, on the other hand, made the most of his 30-minute set that opened Jessica’s concert. Performing only two covers, namely Switchfoot’s “Meant To Live” and Lifehouse’s “Everything”, the song he performed at the end of his elimination at “AI”, the young Christian rocker still managed to impress the crowd with the hook-laden original songs (“Rise”, “Never Gone”, “You Are”) from his newly released debut album, “A Messenger”.
In a roundtable media gathering that preceded the concert Tuesday, Colton was very animated whenever the topic focused on his own original material. Aware that Christian music has the tendency to be on the preachy side at times, he pointed out that many of the songs in “A Messenger” can be interpreted in other different ways.
“These songs are not necessarily based on one’s religion or another. I just really want to inspire and share what I’ve been through. Even with ‘American Idol’ I didn’t want to be preachy,” he noted. “I can write songs that are more abstract and open to interpretation. But at the same time, my music has to be based on who I am and what I believe in.”
Colton’s face lit up when he was informed that the Philippines is a predominantly Christian nation as he was also quick to announce that outside of his hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, most of his fans are actually from here.
“I didn’t know how much big the Christian population is here. That’s amazing and encouraging to me,” he exclaimed. Although he is never shy to talk about his faith and write songs about it, his music actually has a very mainstream rock feel to it with influences of artists like Coldplay, The Fray, Snow Patrol and, yes, Switchfoot very much evident in their engaging and often pulsating tempo.
“Headbanging is definitely something I’d love to see people do in my concerts. Just the feeling of being encouraged and feeling like they’re not alone, that is the biggest message that I want to share. You know, just, whatever the situation you are going through, God said ‘He will never overload you’. That is definitely what I want fans to feel,” he enthused.
As far as the lyrics of his songs are concerned, Colton said they don’t necessarily have to be based on biblical passages. He pointed that even people with different religious beliefs can relate to them.
“I didn’t want to necessarily seclude anybody. I just want to put something positive out there. I’ve heard music that talks about all the wrong things. It may be great music to some people, but lyrically it might strike a wrong chord. Personally, I just want to put something out there to encourage you and wake up every morning with a smile,” he concluded.
source: interaksyon.com
