Jaya had been with Viva Music since 1996. She has released under the label several multiplatinum sellers totaling more than half a million copies. Her last outputs, however, had been on the decline in retail even as songs from the latest one, "In Love Again," hardly measure up to success of earlier singles on radio.
"And it’s not as if I’m not cooperating with them or have not been proactive," she says. "How many times have I asked for a meeting to tackle the issue that somehow key people from my company had managed to shrug off? How many times have I asked questions that did not merit direct answers from them? Kung hindi pa nagkusa si Ogie Alcasid to give to radio stations copies of his song on my CD (‘Ako’y Sa Yo’) during his last radio tour, nobody would know what single I am promoting now. That song—nor any other new one from my album—is not even in the recent CD samplers Viva gives out to radio stations."
Jaya realizes that young singing champions are understandably apples of the eyes of her mother company since they are just building up their careers. Still, she stresses that this is no reason to ‘neglect’ established ones such as she.
"I don’t have anything personal against young artists. In fact, I support them and am only too willing to give them advice, to guide them when they ask for it. But my songs, too, need to be heard by people! Otherwise, my career would suffer. I mean, do you think producers would still get someone if they no longer hear his song on radio? Careers are maintained for it to enjoy longevity. And for recording artists, the best way to do that, is to be on radio’s play lists."
The Queen of Soul rejects the idea that it’s her sound—largely pop/R&B/soul in inclination—that poses problematic. Though the current trend in OPM today towards rock music, she believes that the market is big enough to accommodate different types of musical genres.
"And it’s not as if I’ve not exerted effort to give people something fresh every time I put out an album," she says. "As an artist, I have always been careful to woo my audience to grow with me, to entice them to join in my evolution. I have always given them quality because I think that’s the very least I could do to people whom I owe my success to."
Softening somewhat, Jaya acknowledges that Viva Music has been major contributor to who she is now. She says that she harbors no ill feelings towards the company and is not even entertaining offers to switch allegiance to another label. Her opinions, she says, is just her way of ventilating observations in a bid to arrest the seeming malaise.
Apart from lack of airplay, Jaya is happy with the way her professional and personal life is going. Her GMA 7 television shows "S.O.P." "K! The Videoke Challenge" and "Pinoy Pop Superstar" (where she’s regular in the panel of judges) are all top-rated. She is with a new manager, Maristel Sampedro, of StarWings Talents & Events Management.
Her love life, too, has been reactivated post-Andrew Buffington (her ex-husband) via romantic relationship with a none-showbiz Filipino-Amercian who works as general manger in a telecommunication company abroad. The two met when Jaya was in the U.S. last year for a tour she did with Freestyle and Basil Valdez.
"So you see, all I’m really saying is just play the damn songs!" she jokes.
"In Love Again" has 11 tracks. Others are "Look What You’ve Done To Me" "Aanhin Pa," "Bakit Di Mo Sabihin," "Kung Ako’y Iiwan Mo," "My Love," "Night And Day," "Stay True," "Maging Akin Ka Lamang," "Sa Duyan Ng Pag-ibig," "Di Na Ba Kita Mapipigilan," "Matud Nila" and the title track.
Jaya and Maristel are currently arranging a bar tour and preparing for the Queen of Soul’s 10th year in the business in 2006.
