Soul-ed on Tata

Produced and recorded entirely in Berlin, Germany, the 12-track album (under Sony Music) is slated for release these few weeks in Asia, Europe and Australia,

It is her third English album and showcases a more mature, grown-up Tata at 29. She released her first English-language album, I Believe, on Columbia Records in 2004 and her second English album, Temperature Rising, in 2006.

“I really think Ready For Love is my best English album to date. I worked very hard on this album and I think my voice has improved.

“I worked with a vocal coach and pushed my voice to reach notes at the top register of my range, which I was never able to reach before. With this new album I challenged myself a lot,” says Tata over the phone recently.

She did not pen any of the songs but chose to concentrate on her singing instead.

“It is very energetic, dramatic and full of flavours. I wouldn’t really say there’s a definite genre to the album but I have tried a lot of new things like a mix of dance tracks, very dramatic ballads and some medium-tempo songs,” she says.

Ready For Love, the title track and first single, was released on Aug 1.

“The song has a very dynamic black, soulful R&B vibe to it, something which I have never tried before. I was thinking of Jennifer Hudson when I was recording it.”

As to rumours of some tracks from her new album appearing over the Internet, Tata confirms that although the tracks are on her album, the versions over the Web are not sung by her but demo tracks retrieved from the producers sung by a guide.

One of these is the soon-to-be second single, My Bloody Valentine, from the new album.

“When we pitched for the song, there was another famous international artiste bidding for it but I got the track because the producer thought it better suited my voice. So that was quite flattering.”

The song happens to share the same title as a horror-slasher flick and when quizzed about the similarity, Tata bursts into laughter and says: “Really? And the film is out already? What a pity. My song could have been the title track!”

The other song from her album that had its cover version featured on the Internet was Suffocate, a ballad that Tata says aptly described her personal life when she was recording it.

“When I was recording Suffocate, I felt like I was suffocating in a relationship. The song is basically a ballad and talks about how love can become suffocating when you get too close to a person and that everyone needs some personal space to breathe.”

Will the decision to break the European and Australian market mean she will concentrate on English language albums now? No, says Tata, adding that she may be releasing a Thai album next year.

When that happens, it would be her seventh Thai album, as her sixth came out last year.

Tata says she will be in Malaysia this month to promote Ready For Love.