Barbie Almalbis has a new heart
Barbie Almalbis is turning out to be a more adventurous musician, thanks to marriage (to Martin Honasan) and motherhood . Her experiments with sound and melody have increased, now that she can work freely in the comforts of her home.
“I feel blessed I can work from home. Nagtatrabaho ako everyday, pakonti konti.”
Unlike her single days, when she entered the recording studio and worked non-stop, Barbie now pauses every time he kids come home from school and attends to them first.
Precious moments
But this most welcome interruption -- short or long -- recharges Barbie when she returns to her home-based recording studio.
The result is obvious in her new album, “My New Heart,” made up of eight original compositions and her interpretation of the traditional song "Joyful, Joyful" - - that reflect “everything that happened in my life.”
She dedicates the mellow “Secrets” -- about “sugar clouds falling down” and “a hundred kisses from day to day,” to her children.
Barbie not just proves her overflowing love for God by regularly serving in her local church. She does so in “Joyful, Joyful,” where she sings about “field and forest, veil and mountain, flowering meadow, flashing sea, chanting bird and flowing fountain” rejoicing in God.
"The (original) music is by Beethoven and words by Henry van Dyke. The band and I arranged the music and wrote the interludes," says Barbie.
Happiness and sadness
The songs blend happiness and sadness, not because Barbie feels down and out. It’s just that now, she can experiment with expressing as many feelings as she can in song.
Martin depicts this spectrum of emotions in the album’s cover, where he paints splotches of color (blue, red, yellow, pink and mustard) over a profile of Barbie’s face.
Painting and music have always been two of Barbie and Martin’s bonding moments, even when they were still single.
They enjoy commenting on each other’s works -- Martin on canvas,, Barbie ton guitar.
Mutual space
“Martin is also a musician. And since we’re both artists, we understand that we need space,” says Barbie.
That mutual space, and Martin’s undying love and support for her has made Barbie not just a better artist, but a much happier person.
This, she proclaims to the world through the song's title track, where Barbie pours all her feelings for her husband.
"I felt my heart was closed and I carried a lot of baggage," Barbie tells Yahoo Philippines. "The song is about how God began to relieve me of all that weight until I could finally share and allow myself to be vulnerable to another person. This was when I fell in love with Martin."
Why, the thirtysomething Barbie can pass off for a 17 or 18-year-old student!
“I thank my genes and my husband for loving me well and influencing me to have a healthy lifestyle,” Barbie parries compliments on her never-changing youthful looks.
She’s having the time of her life alright.
