Nina Live! is a live album and the third album by Filipina singer Nina, released in the Philippines on February 23, 2005, by Warner Music Philippines. It is officially the biggest-selling album by a female Filipina artist of all time, the highest-selling live album by an OPM artist, and is the fourth album to be certified Diamond by the PARI after Jose Mari Chan's Constant Change and Christmas in Our Hearts and the Eraserheads' Cutterpillow. Nina Live! remains to be the last album to reach Diamond status in the Philippines.
The original release date for the album was scheduled on February 22, 2005, but it was moved a day later due to preparation. Nina has released two successful studio albums that are both influenced by pop-R&B, but behind all the commercial activities, she regularly performs on different bars and gigs. The label wanted to show this side of the singer the best way by releasing a live album. The live album was a commercial success debuting straight to number one on the Philippine Top 10 Albums chart. The album consists of love songs from the 1970s to the 1990s, all of which she has covered live. The live session was recorded on January 30, 2005, at PHI Resto & Bar in Pasig, Metro Manila.
Nina Live! marked the last project that Nina has worked with Warner executive Ricky Ilacad, since he later moved to MCA Music. The live video recording was directed by Marla Ancheta, whom she described as a young, fun person to work with. Nina and The Essence band only had a two-week rehearsal before the video shoot, since they were already familiar with the songs. During the project, she collaborated with her Warner labelmates Christian Bautista, Thor and Trapp of Dice & K9. The songs that were chosen for the track list are the most-requested by fans and listeners. One song that was personally insisted by Nina made it to the final cut. On January 15, 2007, it was made available on digital download through iTunes and Amazon.com MP3 Download.
Upon release, the album received generally favorable reviews. While praising the vocal ability and range of Nina, most critics did not like the idea of doing covers, believing that she has enough talent to release originals. Surprisingly, the album was a huge commercial success. After a week of commercial release, the album immediately reached gold status by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI), and certified platinum after three weeks. It is considered to be the biggest-selling album by a female artist in the Philippines, certifying 10× Platinum (Diamond) by the PARI, a rare feat during the turn of the new millennium, where fewer people are purchasing compact discs and cassette tapes. It is the fourth biggest-selling album of an OPM artist, only behind Eraserheads' Cutterpillow (10× Platinum) and Jose Mari Chan's Christmas in Our Hearts and Constant Change (both 20× Platinum).
Five successful commercial singles were released from the album. "I Don't Want to Be Your Friend" was released prior to the album, as part of Diane Warren's love songs compilation. The first single from the live recording is "Love Moves in Mysterious Ways", originally recorded by Julia Fordham. The song remains as one of the most successful singles of the 2000s, staying at number one for twelve consecutive weeks. It has, since, been linked to Nina, even though it was only a cover. "Through the Fire" was later released. The song is popular for her vocal belts, reaching G♯5 in full chest voice. "Constantly" is the fourth single and it also performed well on charts. "I Love You Goodbye" was released as the final single from the album. Warner made an official music video for the song, instead of distributing the live performance on TV stations.
Background and development Nina's first two studio releases are heavily influenced by the pop-R&B sound reminiscent to international music at that time. Both albums contain a few cover versions, some of which were released as official singles and became commercially successful in the Philippines. Heaven contains two revivals, namely "Foolish Heart" (originally by Steve Perry) and "Loving You" (originally by Ric Segreto)—both were released as single and became chart-toppers. "Foolish Heart" was initially recorded as a demo, but was later included in the album due to its evident potential. The song was a hit, becoming her second number one single, and one of the most played songs of 2003 in the country. "A Girl Can Dream" is also a cover, which appeared on her second album, Smile. It was also released as a single, and became a hit.
"I Don't Want to Be Your Friend" is another cover that Nina made a hit with. The song ruled Philippine charts for weeks, and has been linked to her, even though it was originally recorded by Cyndi Lauper. It was clearly obvious that fans and listeners loved it when she does covers. Behind all the commercial activities, Nina regularly performs in gigs at different bars such as Hard Rock Cafe, Bagaberde and 19 East. She sings her own versions of classic love songs from the '70s to the '90s. For that reason, Warner Music Philippines came up with the idea of putting her live performances in a CD. According to Nina, Warner told her "Why not put it in CD form or in a DVD, so that the people could take home [her] show." After countless live concert performances, she finally gave in to requests by her longtime fans to put out her first live album. The album was said to showcase her musical taste and versatility through a collection of the most requested love songs.
Recording and composition The album was recorded live on January 30, 2005, at PHI Resto and Bar in Metrowalk, Pasig. Nina's labelmates Christian Bautista, Thor and Trapp of Dice & K9 collaborated with her on the album. The live video recording was directed by Marla Ancheta. Warner invited several guests to act as audience on the concert, and the label's managing executive at that time, Ricky Ilacad, oriented them on what the film should look like. According to Nina, she did not really have a tough time preparing for the songs, since she sings them on her gigs. The only thing they needed to do was polish things up, and it took [like] two weeks. Nina expressed how happy she was with The Essence band in the following statement: "Yung bandang tumugtog sa'kin on that night, sobra akong natutuwa sa kanila kasi they really prepared for the recording. Two weeks before, nag-pratice sila halos everyday for it, and it turned out well kasi ang ganda nung pagkakarecord... almost perfect. [The band [The Essence] that played for me on that night, I'm very happy with them, because they really prepared for the recording. Two weeks before, they practiced almost everyday for it, and it turned out well because it sounds beautifully recorded... almost perfect]."
In the process of song selection, the production team chose songs that Nina sings in her gigs, the most-requested by fans—including "Through the Fire", "(Love Moves in) Mysterious Ways" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)". Nina personally insisted "Anything for You" to be included on the track list. During the recording, she admitted that the most difficult song to sing was "Through the Fire", knowing that it requires high vocal registers. She called the video shoot "fun," considering that the director, Ancheta, is kind and still young. They just jammed to it. Nina Live! was not really recorded in a live concert format. It included retakes of a few scenes, where the singers made unintentional mistakes.
Nina Live! captures the Soul Siren magic, the young diva in her element, effortlessly dishing out torch favorites music-loving golden oldies will never forget, like Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire", Brenda Russell's "Piano in the Dark" and The Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why". Contemporary tracks like Aaliyah's "At Your Best (You Are Love)", Jennifer Love Hewitt's "Cool With You", Julia Fordham's "(Love Moves in) Mysterious Ways" and Celine Dion's "I Love You, Goodbye" were chosen to fit the young and student fan base of Nina. The film and sound recording of the album was very raw, so that listeners will almost think they were there at PHI Resto & Bar themselves, gushing over her and cheering all the more when her surprise guests came out and joined her for a couple of very interesting duets. Nina collaborated with three of her in-demand Warner labelmates. The first one to sing with her was romantic balladeer Bautista on "Burn". She admitted that they both did not have a rehearsal and Bautista looked tired, so they just did retakes to perfect the duet. R&B balladeer Thor followed, and he performed "The Closer I Get to You" with Nina. The two were described to have matched vocally, note for note. She also got to bust some hip-hop grooves, when she did an upbeat urban-styled version of "Coloured Kisses" together with Dice & K9's mad pup, Trapp. The duo took the song into a whole new different sound and arrangement. As an added bonus, the album also features Nina's biggest single of 2004—"I Don't Want to Be Your Friend" which was recorded in the studio and not part of the live concert. The track was specially written by international songwriter Diane Warren. The album is notable for having a running time of more than 80 minutes on a single standard compact disc, and for being one of the first OPM albums to be presented in a digipak.
Critical reception
Aside from impressive huge sales and three number one singles in it, Nina Live! was also well received by music critics, earning favorable reviews. Ginnie Faustino-Galgana of Titik Pilipino gave the album three and a half out of five stars, praising the Soul Siren's vocal ability and skills, and stated that "[Nina]'s vocal range is decidedly wide. Her voice itself has proven itself youthful and adaptable to any beat [...] By virtue of the familiarity with the covered songs, as well as Nina's talent, it is no wonder that this album has been churning one hit after another [...] Overall, this album only proves that Nina can do wonderfully with covers." However, she thought that Nina can do better with originals, saying "I believe Nina has enough talent to establish herself with her own sound. If she can be in a tandem with a composer who can write songs for her, I'm sure Nina will do it justice and churn out hits." She ended her statement by saying that the live experience from the album is "quite memorable."
At the height of the album's success, it has been a huge influence and reference to a series of live albums that were later released by different artists. Such albums that followed Nina Live! were Freestyle's Live @ 19 East (2006), Sitti's Sitti Live! (2006), Christian Bautista's Just a Love Song... Christian Bautista Live! (2007), Rachelle Ann Go's Rachelle Ann Rocks Live! (2008) and Aiza Seguerra's Live! (2009).
Commercial performance