Reinventing R&B and Rap Music with Alisson Shore’s GARUDA
Who could ever imagine that the current R&B and Rap local scene can still be reinvented, after so many years and so many artists? But that’s what Alisson Shore has done- with fine precision- with a sound that’s best described as alternative R&B and alternative pop.
It isn’t just his signature high note singing style that has made critics take notice and music aficionados give applause. This Batangas-born singer also gifts the audience introspective music productions, earning added raves over his genre bending artistry.
This October, Alisson Shore released GARUDA, his debut full-length album. Garuda, in Vedic mythology, means “wings” and the album symbolizes his journey into creating his music and honing his craft. GARUDA’s sound is a great mix of 12 alternative pop and RnB songs as well as more upbeat hip-hop based tracks. The album is a celebration of the “new wave” RnB scene of Pinoy music which is well represented by Alisson and his contemporaries like Kiyo, Because, Just Hush, and more who are featured in some of GARUDA’s tracks.
GARUDA was kickstarted by the release of ERE last February, a fast-paced song with a catchy hook and chorus written and produced by Alisson Shore. It talks about how people can suddenly disappear from your life, despite having a strong connection at the start of the friendship or romance — with one person left wondering why people leave, and hoping to find the answer on how to keep people in one’s life. ERE’s CGI heavy music video is on track to be considered as the most futuristic music video in Philippine history. This was followed by the release last August of the single and music video of HOYA, a song capturing the essence of longing between people, heightened by the pandemic. With a hook that says “gusto na kitang makita” Alisson highlights people’s desire to be connected. After the premiere of music video for the song TAGPUAN and the release of GARUDA, Alisson plans on releasing album teasers with a full set of visualizers one after another; 3 major music videos; and, a DELUXE version of GARUDA, yet to be announced.
Preceding GARUDA, Alisson has released several solo or collaborative singles that have turned out to be staggering hits on various music and video streaming platforms. His breakout single Urong Sulong, with Kiyo, performed a massive 70 million cumulative streams in all DSPs and received the 2020 5th Wish 107.5 Music Awards Wish Hip-Hop Song of the Year award. Alisson’s top performing solo single, Hanggang sa Huli, reached 11 Million YouTube views and 3.8 Million Spotify streams; the hit song Violet, his collaboration with Colt & Jmakata had 21.5 Million YouTube views and 6 Million Spotify streams, and Polaroid, with Kiyo and No$ia performed at 9.7 Million YouTube views and 5.3 Million Spotify streams. Alisson Shore’s catalog has surpassed an incredible half a billion streams and views in the past three years.
Spotify, the top digital audio and media services provider in the world, has even selected Alisson Shore to be one of its RADAR artists. RADAR is an international emerging artist program that connects a global community of fans to breakout artists that are transforming genres in their home countries — and are poised to hit the big time on a global stage.
Anyone who has experienced Alisson Shore’s music cannot deny his talent. With the launch of GARUDA, Alisson Shore’s brilliance as a singer, songwriter and music producer will surely draw him closer to his strong and supportive fan base while luring other music enthusiasts who crave to hear a true alternative.
