Keiko Necesario Warner Music’s newest bet

At the virtual media conference for Keiko Necesario’s latest music video, the talented music artist had nothing but good words for the experience she had recording her album and signing up with Warner Music Philippines.

Keiko’s new release is entitled Ready, Let Go, an album six months in the making. It’s a product of her collaboration with singer-songwriter and UK-based producers Rusti Russouw and Tristan Charmichael, collectively known as Chasing Fantasia.

“I’ve had some of the songs in this album for years and some of them, I started writing while in process of the recording, but technically, I only started working on the production last November,” Keiko told Manila Standard Entertainment. 

“The music video for the single, yeah it’s kind of quirky. I had fun doing it. We wanted to take the audience back to the ‘90s with its dominant theme. That’s what we were trying to achieve when we started planning the concept for the music video. As for the title, I don’t remember exactly when I came up with it but the song basically talks about surrendering, letting go of your worries and fears, ” she added.

Talking about the recording process, the singer-songwriter recorded two songs in London and the rest of the album was completed in the Philippines. The producers even flew from London and we worked on the album for three weeks in Baguio. 

“The process of making this album has been an adventure because there’s been a different kind of high in figuring things out; what sounds good and what doesn’t or trying to make the elements work or even just listening to Rusti and Tristan throw ideas for every song and witnessing them talk about some of the technical stuff I know nothing about. It’s been really fascinating and just fun getting to make a record that way,” the emerging music artist stated.

From London, where she recorded two songs in the span of three days, to Baguio where they had weeks to arrange 10 songs together, Keiko admitted that it was a bit nerve-racking yet exhilarating experience at the same time.

Also during the virtual interview, Keiko’s manager Graham Perkins shared a few insights about the young artist’s collaboration with the UK-based duo.

“This collaboration with Keiko, Chasing Fantasia, and Warner [Music] Philippines has been something very special to me. It’s playing a huge part in my plans as I build my management business across the globe. It’s been the catalyst to creating new partnerships and friends and the merger of my company with Open Door Artists in the Philippines has been a major outcome from the collaboration. For me, it’s all about making music that can come from anywhere,” he noted.

“Here we have a Filipino artist, managed by a UK-and-now-global management company, produced by South Africans,” he carried on.

Meanwhile, Chasing Fantasia shared in a statement that it’s their first time working with a Filipino artist. When asked about the possibility of collaborating with more talent from overseas, Rusti and Tristan had a positive response.

“It’s amazing when people from different cultures come together and create music. You learn so much and grow as both artist and producer,” the duo said.

“Honestly, we were blown away seeing the amount of talent while attending a few festivals during our time in Manila. We could see real support for the fellow artist! This is sometimes lacking in the west. There also seems to be a real openness to collaborate and build cross-border relationships. We felt so welcome and were treated incredibly well, thanks. We would be thrilled to do more work in Asia. The west needs to hear more of the diverse talent coming out of these time zones,” they ended.