Round 3 with Fil-Canadian Pop Singer Elise Estrada

A day before Filipino Canadian pop artist Elise Estrada started her series of shows here in Manila, I was able to talk with her and her producer-manager Adam Hurstfield at the Viva-Vicor office.

Elise was simple, sweet and mild-mannered which is quite the opposite of what her pictures look like in the cover of her new album #Round3. You would want to speak to her always because that’s the time you see her smiling – and she has got the prettiest smile ever.

She spoke of joining several talent competitions and beauty contests when she was young before finally realizing that her calling was music. She left Manila at the age four (4) and vividly took the memory of her Grandma to her new home in Vancouver Canada. Elise Estrada described her as a perfect example of a person who possesses a good-heart – for the now 27-year old singer, she was a representation of her Filipino roots aside from her folks of course.

I bet you didn’t know that she was once crowned as Miss Vancouver Princess and a first runner-up at the Binibining Pilipinas World of Canada. The last time we saw Elise was when she became one of the Grand Contenders of the second season of GMA Network’s Pinoy Pop Superstar which Gerald Santos and Aicelle Santos won in the year 2006. She mentioned during the interview that joining Pinoy Pop Superstar turned out to be a great learning experience that helped her won the 2007 Beat Music Awards which gave Elise her first recording deal under her old label.

The competition introduced Elise Estrada to producer Adam Hurstfield who was one of the judges, and the result was the song ‘Insatiable’ that instantly became a hit in North America – it went straight to number one in Canada’s pop charts!

“A lot of recording labels said that an Asian pop artist won’t make it in North America but Elise’s ‘Insatiable’ went number one so they were absolutely wrong. North America needed an Asian Pop Star and I’m glad to say that Elise is the very first Asian Pop Star in Canada, weeks after the release of her debut single, people are lining up in malls to get her autographs. She was the very first, and it opened up the doors to other talented artists like Bruno Mars,” Adam said.

Elise Estrada said during the interview that ever since she was a child, she already wanted to become a singer. Just like a true Filipino, music is deeply embedded in her veins. She actually couldn’t imagine doing anything else but sing and make music.

She really has a wonderful singing voice and credits this to her mom, who is also a singer and a Filipino vocal coach named ‘Tita Salve.’ I think it runs in the family because her younger sister Emmalyn Estrada is also a singer in Canada and is now part of the group GRL. She’s 22.

Elise Estrada did some shows in the Philippines at Fairview Terraces, Market Market, Marquee Mall, Harbor Point and Trinoma.

I mentioned during the interview that we, Filipinos, were greatly deprived of the wonderful songs of Elise Estrada. She and Adam already produced two studio albums before #Round3 and now with the new album under Universal Canada, XOXO Entertainment and through Viva Records in the Philippines, we will be able to hear more of Elise’s songs.

I have her album #Round3 on ‘repeat all’ status and playing as soon as I enter my room. It’s like an addiction!