Every musical artist should be brave enough to surprise listeners with their kind of act. Being unpredictable makes one more interesting and this has become the key to talented Marie Digby attracting people and creating fans out of them. Her acoustic versions of peculiar picks enabled her to enjoy Youtube success in quite phenomenal sense.

“I love vocally challenging myself and I feel like trying to always do the impossible,” she told the Manila Bulletin in a phone chat.

The great response from viewers of her Youtube postings and the record buying public only points to the fact that her efforts paid off. By now she has already released quite a number of singles and a couple of studio albums. Her new CD “Breathing Underwater” once again delivers her intuition in coming up with something unusual. Just the title “Avalanche,” the lead single, affirms that she won’t settle for common words.

“The song is about a crumbling relationship when you’d ask ‘Is this worth it’,” she noted in metaphoric expression, revealing that most of her songs are her “own story” and emotionally true.

The MCA artist and voice behind the hit acoustic rendition of Rihanna’s famed “Umbrella” will be performing in the country on Aug. 1, 8 p.m. at The Fort NBC Tent. Before that she is set to have an autograph-signing at the Podium (in Ortigas) today, July 29, 4 p.m. She expressed much thrill that she’s visiting the Philippines for the first time, promising to do a mix of her old and new material come her gig. “I want to go to the Philippines knowing that the people there are huge music fans and they’re known for being hospitable. I can’t wait to get there.”

It’s been upward for the 26-year- old star since winning a Pantene Pro-Voice competition in 2004. Her first single “Say It Again” did make a mark and began a succession of likable tunes that got played over the airwaves.

Marie’s dad is Irish-American while her mom, Japanese. That’s the main reason why she has recorded numbers in Japanese language. This undertaking and other accomplishments like the Youtube posts and her inclusion to a Disney compilation (with the song “Fool”) make her both visible and busy.

A fan of Joan Osborne who scored a hit with “One of Us” back in the 90s, Marie, who started writing songs in high school, shared that it is always her agenda to provide surprise among her possible audience. Before doing her now famous Youtube videos, she wondered first what if she “can make the songs acoustically.” The choices, most of them unlikely picks, are simply those she loves.

Asked to give an advice for budding entertainers finding it hard to go out and promote their music, Marie suggested two things. “Play live. You have to perform in front of a crowd. Second, make use of the internet.”

Take it from the expert. Her “Umbrella” has created opportunities for her and proved once more that self-determination can help a deserving act make it through the rain.