Martin Nievera talks about poetry, becoming a great artist, and all about his latest album during the press conference launching the album entitled “As Always”.

At around three in the afternoon, Martin Nievera arrived at TGI Friday’s in Robinson’s Place Manila, then sat down with a few press people who were already there waiting for him. Of course it included me, although technically I’m not so much of a press person. Upon seeing one of the CD packages of his latest album “As Always”, he was all praises – no, make it “in shock”, as he puts it.

In case you haven’t seen the said album, the case looks pretty much like a notebook with three sleeves inside – one is for the audio CD, one is for the minus one CD, and another for the poetry sheets written by Martin himself with the lyrics of the album’s tracks.

"Pretty cool, huh?” Martin says. “I mean, when I showed them (PolyEast Records) my poetry, I said to put them in a notebook just like this. That's why I'm very impressed with this, because it's just like the notebook which I write for myself."

Martin reveals that he’s been writing poetry for as long as he could remember. But while the enclosed poetry was written especially for the album, his ‘personal’ poems were another story, for they were drawn out at times when he’s emotionally unstable. “Yung mga talagang galing sa puso ko, galing sa buhay ko, like when I'm going through bad times - may mura, may swear words, but they rhyme, huh?" he quips.

And because he’s been through a lot, Martin has also written a lot of poems. And guess how many they were at the moment? "You know this wall?” he says, pointing at the wide glass wall behind him at the venue. “End to end.”  And we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of notebooks here, including hotel notepads which he also uses in writing. It’s also no wonder that some of these poems were turned into songs, including “Before You Say Goodbye.”

But Martin’s doing revivals lately, including As Always, which consists of fifteen revival tracks, including the Michael Jackson hit, “One Day in Your Life”, which incidentally is one the first songs Martin learned to sing as a kid.

“My sisters, they would sing with the guitar,” he begins. “And I'm doing anything but that. And they're always 'Get out of here!', 'Shut up!', 'I can't hear myself!' 'Please!' And then one time, they were like, 'O, halika, come here. Learn this song.' 'No, no' (bangs the table) 'Learn this song!' So I would sing it with my sister Gina, over and over again until I finally got it. That became the very first song I learned, and in turn, Gina would secretly teach me how to sing. So I'd really want to remake this song, 'cause it's my very first song. I even have a recording of it. I wanted to release it with this, so you can hear my voice when I was, like, 13 or 14, singing 'One Day in Your Life', and then hearing it now."

But when asked if he thinks the recording was great, he says, "Awful. It was great then, and it was like, 'Oh, you can hit all the notes', but it was awful."

Speaking of Michael Jackson, Martin says he reminds him of his colleague and good friend Gary Valenciano. "When we're on the road, I can't spend five minutes with him like this" he says, referring to steady talks such as the one we were doing at the moment. “But the moment we go onstage, it's like Martin and Pops.”

"Like Michael Jackson, Gary V is a perfectionist; and if he didn't get his way, he won't stop." He adds further.

Martin also commends on how technology has made recording a lot easier for everyone, including artists like him. "I've recorded this album in a week, the album before this I've recorded in five days."

He also appreciates the actions and gestures being done to promote his album, one of which is the live band accompaniment for his mall show later that day at the events hall of Robinson’s Place Manila. "I'm so happy that PolyEast Records believed enough in me to do this, to give me a band in this promo." Martin stated. "Before Regine (Velasquez) used to do it, now Martin does, too."

Martin understands as well that CD sales in the Philippines aren’t as easy as it is in other countries. That’s why in exchange, he make sure that all CDs are signed up, even if it takes a long time. "I'll sign every single CD until we're done. The mall closes before we're finished, and I'm still signing,” he says further. "I owe it to the CD buyers. Remember we're not talking about America where everyone can afford a CD. It's not easy to own a CD - CD player, CD (bala), coming over here, the meal that they have to take, fanning and tuning in line waiting."

True enough, the proceeding mall show later that day was astounding, proving his chops as the Concert King even at a smaller stage. As he puts it, "Believe it or not, my quietest days of all is when I'm singing on stage. It could be the loudest audience, it could be the loudest sound system, but when I'm in my element, singing the song, and I could actually feel it before you do, that for me is peace. That's my happiness, my happy place, when I sing the song. Love it, I'd die without it."

And true enough, he never left the venue without signing everyone’s CDs – including mine.