Kitchie Nadal On Navigating ‘New Ground’ For Upcoming Concert: “It’s very experimental now.”

There’s no arguing that Kitchie Nadal has one of the most iconic and evergreen discographies in Original Pilipino Music (OPM).

The veteran pop-rock star’s 11-year-old eponymous album has been resurfacing on the Internet as of late, reestablishing the artist’s legacy in the Philippine music scene. Celebrating her longstanding influence in the industry, the artist is set to hold her first-ever solo concert in the Araneta Coliseum entitled New Ground this June 21. This show follows her 20th anniversary celebration held at the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City last year, titled Same Ground.

As the buildup for the concert continues, Kitchie Nadal has also been set to hold a performance abroad, on May 25, at the Edmonton Convention Center in Canada.

While busy with preparations for her New Ground concert, Billboard Philippines caught up with Kitchie Nadal on the conceptualization behind the show, and the new grounds she has yet to discover.

Billboard Philippines: Congratulations on your upcoming New Ground Solo Concert! How have preparations for the show been going?

Kitchie Nadal: It’s been good. A lot of online meetings and a lot of like promotions and even like rehearsals online, recording online. Yeah, it’s been fun and I’m so glad that I’ll be flying back to Philippines soon. So finally, I get to see everyone physically, you know, in one room or in one place — same ground.

It’s fascinating to hear you’re preparing for the concert in a completely separate country. What’s that been like?

No, it’s challenging also, but I’ve been constantly communicating with everyone. It’s all good. And I just came from the Philippines just last month. So, yeah, so I’m not that nervous when it comes to just preparing.

Following your Same Ground solo concert at the New Frontier Theater last year, how does it feel to finally headline a venue as grand and historic as the Araneta Coliseum?

Well, it’s a mix of emotions like nervous, excitement, a lot of, you know, just memories and yeah… but overall, it’s exciting. It’s something good to look forward to.

You mentioned that with New Ground, you’ll be heading in a new musical direction. Can you give us any hints on where you’re taking your music?

Well, for the past few years now, we’ve been playing our songs from the first album. We’ve been constantly rearranging those songs. I think it’s like a natural feeling for musicians [to rearrange songs], because we cannot be playing the songs over and over in the same way. For the past few years, we’ve been exploring and trying out new sounds, and that’s our driving force to do this concert.

Can you also share some of like the inspirations that have been informing how you’ve been experimenting so far?

For example, our guest artists — I’ve never collaborated with them ever in my whole life. So that’s pretty exciting. And also the genre, because normally I always get to collaborate with artists with the same genre. This time, we’re blending genres. That’s pretty exciting for us now. We’re gonna perform with them in this concert.

Given you’re blending genres now, how would you say that you’ve pushed yourself out of your comfort zone for this concert?

Out of my concert zone, because I’m flying all the way back. I think that’s the most challenging part, because I have to fly all the way to the Philippines. But other than that, no, I really enjoy it. I like that we’re experimenting.

For me, ever since naman, even before I got into the rock scene, I’ve always listened to different genres. That’s the truth. When I got into the rock scene, naabutan ko ‘yung era na, if you’re rock, you cannot push boundaries; hindi ka puwede tumawid sa hip-hop. Kundi, papatayin ka nila. Sa mga concert, kapag may tumutugtog ng, kunyare, rock, tapos kung may tumutugtog na hip-hop, babatuhin ka nila — as in, physically. Can you imagine?

(For me, I’ve always, even before I got into the rock scene, I’ve always listened to different genres. That’s the truth. When I got into the rock scene, I reached the era where, if you’re rock, you cannot push boundaries; you can’t cross over to hip-hop. If not, they’d kill you. In concerts, if the bands were playing rock, then someone played hip-hop, people would throw rocks at you — as in, physically. Can you imagine?)

Now, people are so open-minded and so open to different sounds. And that’s why for me it’s so fun. I’m looking forward to [blending genres] without the fear of babatuhin kami (being pelted with rocks).

What’s something new you’ve learned in the process?

I think, siguro, (perhaps) just getting to know different artists, because I’ve been based abroad for quite a while now, for eight years now. So may time na rin na hindi talaga ako masyadong (There was a time where I wasn’t really) updated. When we were brainstorming about this concert, they were actually telling me all those artists I’ve never heard of before.

So I got to learn to know them and listen to them, to their music. And yeah, that’s something that for me, it’s new. Because it wasn’t like that in my time, in my era. But now I listen to different artists, emerging artists. It’s very experimental now, which is, for me, it’s super fun.

Who would you say are some of the most exciting artists you discovered as of recent?

The most recent is Dia Maté, she’s synth pop. During my time, parang wala pa yatang ganon eh (there weren’t artists doing that yet). Of course, si ena mori, Arthur Nery — for me, he sounds like [Michael] Bublé, just a bit more R&B-ish.

Yeah, I don’t wanna give too much away, but we’ll be guesting artists we’ve never performed with before.

Is there anything that triggered your shift and journey from Same Ground to New Ground?

Medyo na-surprise kami (We got surprised) in our 20th anniversary — we were all so surprised with the audience, the growing audience. Among younger listeners they’re the ones who are requesting, or even, more excited to see us or they come to our gigs late at night. We’re so surprised, like, “Wow, this is not our generation at all!” They are our inspiration.

As we build up to the day of the concert itself, what can fans anticipate in this new exciting show?

Of course, we will be performing songs from the first album and a few classic cover songs, and just collaborations with new artists we’ve never performed with before. Surprise!

What can we anticipate from your upcoming new music?

Well, we re-recorded songs from our first album. Just watch out for those new songs. [They’re] not just rerecorded or remastered — those songs were rearranged as well. So over the years, since we’ve been performing them live, may mga changes na rin (there are some changes, too). I feel like the sound now is more modern and more Gen Z. So, watch out for our six songs we’ll be releasing, including one song that’s new — a rock song.

Can you tell us anything about the new song?

The new song, it’s interesting because I used to write mga love songs, heartbreak songs, and emo songs. So this song, it’s like speaking from an ate’s (older sister’s) point of view. So I’m the one giving advice now to somebody, to someone who is in love.

That’s so lovely, especially knowing how your fans use your music sometimes as a way to cope with heartbreak.

Yeah! I’m part of the healing stage — how to choose wisely in your love life.