It’s a road less travelled for Michelle Junia but it was a path that led her to discovery – the music she loves to sing and record!

A cum laude graduate from the University of Sto. Tomas Conservatory of Music, Michelle has gone through a variety of musical genres since her college days as a band member and solo performer. She has done pop, jazz, Gospel, alternative and even heavy rock in the past. But none has appealed to her to specialized on or pursue.

Moreover, she didn’t like the ideas that recording labels execs offered her in the past, especially with the materials she was supposed to use in her album debut.

“The songs that was pushed to me wasn’t in my heart and it was hard for me to pretend that I liked these songs. I just couldn’t force myself to like songs that I can’t relate to,” she expressed in Filipino.

Thus, after three attempts of coming up with her own album, Michelle Junia has finally succeeded in finding her corner of the sky in the music industry with “Back in Time,” her debut album which she herself has produced with Kettle Mata as her musical arranger and musical director.

“This album reflects my journey as an artist in search of what kind of music she can call hers… now we have this indie music scene so artists are now given a chance and the music industry is very democratic now that you can introduce the kind of music that you like and want. So I took this chance now,” explained Michelle.

She also attributed her debut album to Kettle Mata, her band mate in college under the group Counterpart. It was Kettle who suggested to her to take on songs from the ’50s with a twist – new and varied arrangements like bossa nova, pop and theatrical to mention a few. The songs in her album are from Elvis Presley, Doris Day and Cliff Richards. And it also contains an original by Kettle Mata song entitled “Lambing.”

Her “Back in Time” album will be launched in a show interestingly titled “Daddy’s Favorites” today, June 26, at 8 p.m. at the Music Museum. And some of the songs that will be featured in her show are upbeat renditions of Connie Francis’ “Stuck on You,” “Return to Sender” and “Lipstick on Your Collar,” and bossa nova arrangements of Elvis Presley songs like “Jailhouse Rock,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”

Her special guest in the show directed by Sigfreid Sanchez is Trina Chong.

Michelle also described her own kind of music as not being fancy but the concept of her album speaks more about her new-found passion.

“My album really contains old songs because I really have this great appreciation for old music. A lot of people have influenced me to appreciate it so I think I owe it to the younger generation now to introduce to them the songs of the 1950s,” she said proudly.

So why did it take her just now to produce an album?

“Now is the right time because I feel very ripe, very mature and I know now the kind of music I want to be known for. I now know the kind of music I want to share with the public and the market. So I’m now more confident because this is what I like and I’m determined to push it,” she replied.

She also believes that her journey is finally over in finding her own kind of music which she is sharing via her “Back in Time” album.

“This is where my heart belongs, this kind of music is my home so this is me. I just know this is it because I feel it so much in my heart,” she smiled.

As a recording artist, Michelle stressed that she doesn’t want to be labeled as a mainstream recording artist. Though a lot of mainstream recording artists have inspired her, she doesn’t want to compete with anyone. In her venture as a recording artist, she wants to be known for the experiences she has had, for what she’d become and why she has chosen this kind of music.

“I want to be known for being Michelle, and this is Michelle’s music. I feel that I’m also showing my flexibility as a singer after I recorded this album,” she said. “Apart from the personal reason and attachment I have, we also want to be marketable and if I’m going to do songs that artists have been doing the past several years, I’ll sound the same only. I want to sound different but still included in the cycle.”

Bottom line for Michelle is that with her music, she wants to reach a wider market.

“Music is a universal language. I want to reach the most people I can,” she stressed. “I don’t want to be confined in a world that is limited. I think I have a calling here to reach out to more people. And the real sense of music is getting your message across and touching people’s lives!”

That said, with her ’50s-inspired debut album, Michelle Junia is on a league of her own and she is ON THE RISE!