VP/Cover | Siren in Love: Diving Into Nina’s Heart Where Love Matters
Never trust a maiden with a golden voice by the waters, they say, for it may be a siren patiently waiting for her next captive to fall into her trap. But as we navigate the seas of Filipino artistry, another emerges: Nina, Asia’s Diamond Soul Siren who lures our souls through her music and entices us to dive into her heart where love matters.
To put love next to a siren is a total contrast. How could a fatal creature from the myth that leads people to their tragic endings be capable of loving? As mysterious as it could be, Nina, a siren herself, has washed away this labyrinth of thought as she commands the sea to part and let us see through the deepest trenches of her music and story. Nina is a siren with a soul that sings and a heart that exudes love in all its forms.
As she reigns in the sea of her music, Asia’s Diamond Soul Siren has held thousands of captives willingly putting themselves into the spell of her songs the moment she sings or even in a split second that her music plays. Her dynamic performances also hold the irony of serenity and chaos. They bring raging waves to our spines as we lose our senses to all her powerful belts while also calming our hearts along the beats of all her relaxed and chill sessions.
But above all, the magic of her music lies in the message of love that she conveys in every word that she has ever sung. Nina draws all the energy from within her, and she has summoned a powerful soul that carries the essence of every masterpiece that captivated us from the beginning. She sings in the name of love and it’s all that matters.
A Soulful Mystery
Every time Nina steps on a stage to perform, we just can’t stop ourselves from letting her take over the rush of emotions inside us all. It’s as if she has cast a spell that engulfed our souls and took us into a world where only love in all its forms counts. Although her masterpieces tell us varying stories on different faces of love and affection, no matter what phase in life we are in when they arrive at our ears, they hit so hard, turning the calmest emotions into wildest rapids.
As the soul siren navigates into the Original Pinoy Music (OPM) scene for more than two decades now, Nina has serenaded the world with covers and original hits that shaped our views of love and affection. Nobody forgets her iconic “Someday” which has been our anthem of self-love through a journey of hope of getting over the pain of a one-way romance. And we could just flood every room with tears every time this masterpiece plays.
It’s gonna take us forever to name our favorites and dive into the deepest trenches that keep every masterpiece reminding us of the soulful siren. Besides, nobody knows the significance that each of her songs holds and all the stories behind them but the singer herself. But just like any of us, even Nina finds it a challenge to choose only one. “I always say that this is the hardest question for me to answer—harder than the hardest subjects in school,” she confessed. “But if I were to choose one, it would be ‘Love Moves In Mysterious Ways’ because it helped catapult me to where I am now,” the siren explains before revealing her favorite line.
“But still it’s a mystery of how you ever came to me, which only proves love moves in mysterious ways.“
-Nina
Diving into deeper memories that come with her hit “Love Moves in Mysterious Ways,” Nina also recalls how this masterpiece has made her and her artistry diamond-strong and true to the title she was given. The soul siren remembers how parted the seas for her to cross and receive the highest award for her album “Nina Live,” proving her artistry also moves in mystery.
But the siren’s powerful spell that Nina casts every time she serenades the world with her songs remains a puzzle for the captives of her music. Known for their powerful luring sounds, sirens keep their mystique alive through their voices, but where does the enigma lie for the Asia’s Diamond Soul Siren, I ask her. “Well, I’d probably think that I was able to capture their hearts not just with my voice,” she explains. “I think I also captivate the audience with my sincerity in singing the songs that I share with them,” Nina says, revealing the soulful mystery that surrounds her distinct form of artistry.
Siren’s Truest Form
Although the Asia’s Diamond Soul Siren has revealed many of her authentic versions as she dived into different eras of her career, Nina has kept her truest form only visible when she resides in the comfort of the siren’s lair. Far from the fierce and captivating enigma that the siren exudes when she casts spells upon us, her captives, Nina frees herself from the pressure that comes with her title and embraces vulnerability while appreciating every moment spent with the people whom she believes the heavens sent for her.
“Believe it or not, I actually am a very shy person,” she reveals as we talk about the life she lives every time she steps down from a performance. From commanding the raging waters of her music on stage to sending waves that shake her captives, Nina, in her lair, thrusts a spell that calms the rushing waters brought by the rapids of the industry she navigates herself into. And from there emerges a shy siren that she has never shown to everyone. “When I’m offstage, people might see more of my shy personality. I stay quiet at times and might be mistaken as a snob,” Nina says when I ask about the most visible side of her when not on stage.
Nina may be a pacified creature inside her lair, but the waters remain deep and powerful for the soul siren as she draws strength and inspiration from the people who pushed her to dive into the sea of music and continue to hold the anchor for her to strive. “When I’m not performing, I just spend time with my family and a small group of friends,” Asia’s Diamond Soul Siren shares, revealing a gentler but more intimate side of her.
Becoming an icon like Nina comes with the challenge of drawing the finest borderlines between her life as a Siren that her willing captives chase and life as a creature, yearning for the genuine warmth of the love of family and friends. For Nina to navigate into this circumstance, she makes sure her life at home remains at the bottom of the sea that she guards, and that others cannot reach. She recognizes the value that the people inside her lair where she reveals the siren’s truest form hold.
“My family and my small circle of friends—they are the ones who keep me sane and grounded.“
-Nina
Where Only Love Matters
As tame as Nina could become whenever she steps down from the world’s stage, the moment she hears our cries of willingness to get caught in her enigma, the soul siren rises in rush from the deepest of the seas and unleashes a soulful yet powerful voice that never fails to captivate us who dare to summon her. We cried out loud and so the Asia’s Diamond Soul Siren listened.
Nina has set her biggest trap ready for us her willing captives as she will emerge on stage again for her pre-Valentine concert called “Love Matters” and submerge the whole New Front Theater into the waves of her artistry on February 7, just a week before the day we celebrate the love that matters.
True to her mystique nature, her concert’s title sparked a curiosity in me, and so I asked about the story behind it. “Love Matters came about because we all know that wherever we go, love is there. And as long as there is love, whatever happens, it will really conquer all,” Nina explains.
“We’re talking about different kinds of love that you could ever think of. And we’ll be singing all about it on the show,” she shares with excitement about her upcoming concert—a trap we all would voluntarily be jumping into.
With the power that her concert title holds, I asked Nina if there was any moment in her life that made her realize love does really matter. “When I had to choose back then the person I love above everything else,” she replied. It was a quick browse through the archives of the siren’s memories. But above all, more than just an abstract idea of a simple but moving title, “Love Matters” is an act and form of love itself among others.
“Oh, there is no specific way how I express love. I just give however I want it in a specific moment I get to feel it.”
-Nina
To put love next to a siren may be a total contrast but there’s a reason why ‘soul’ was put first before her title. Nina is a soulful siren whose music leads us not to tragic but beautiful endings every time we dive into her heart where only love matters.
Publisher | Richie de Quina & Gwynn Crisostomo
Editor-in-Chief | John Luke Chica
Senior Editor | Chud David Dulay
Junior Editor | Lei Sedero
PR & Advertising Manager | Josh Austria
Digital Manager | Allen Esteban
Words by Chud David Dulay
Photographer | Dookie Ducay
Creative Director | Eugene David
Stylist | Drew Lacia
Hair | Martina Sabusap
Makeup | Dane Ciruela
Studio | Pioneerx Studio
Concert Producers
Heavenly Desserts by Chef Jeng
District One
Essentials
Vera Group
Special Thanks to Cornerstone Entertainment Inc.
President: Erickson Raymundo
Vice President: Jeff Vadillo
AVP for Music/Ad & Promo Head: Caress Caballero
Ad & Promo Assistant: Mika Severa
