Rhydian

[Martin]

Rhydian will be appearing on BBC's Songs of Praise next Sunday 16th Aug at 4.55pm.

Martin

[graemek]

Hi All,
I finally ordered "Rhydian" from UK & it arrived here today.
I don't know why I took so long as his voice & interpretation of songs is absolutely stunning.
His singing shatters me emotionally as much as Hayley does.

Graeme

[pjrcorreia]

Aug 11, 2009 4:10:24 GMT graemek said:

Hi All,
I finally ordered "Rhydian" from UK & it arrived here today.
I don't know why I took so long as his voice & interpretation of songs is absolutely stunning.
His singing shatters me emotionally as much as Hayley does.

Graeme

Hi Graeme,

I'm with you, I bought "Rhydian" from Itunes, I confess that when I heard the samples on Itunes, I didn't like it (well I'm not a big fan of male vocalists, and I guess 30 sec. samples is not much to convince me to buy an album).

Then searching on Youtube, I found "The Phantom of the Opera" sung by Rhydian, and I love it, unfortunately the album don't have that song (I hope it will be on the next one, and maybe a duet with Hayley)! That would be great!

I decided to buy the album, when I heard "What If" the duet with Idina Menzel on Youtube, and I'm glad I did it, I enjoy the album very much is currently one of my favorite albums.

Best wishes,
Paulo Correia

[Ross]

i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif After seeing your comments, GraemeK, I also ordered this CD and I got it today. You are right. Rhydian has an amazing voice. I hope Hayley and Rhydian do a CD duet sometime (maybe on the next Hayley CD).

[graemek]

Aug 9, 2009 16:41:15 GMT Martin said:

Rhydian will be appearing on BBC's Songs of Praise next Sunday 16th Aug at 4.55pm.

Martin

Yes Martin, I actually saw that one last Sunday on ABC here.

I knew the Aled Jones-Rhydian interview already from Youtube where Rhydian announces his own Faith quite unreservedly.

The other celebrity spots were also very credible.

When I have watched ABC presenting of BBC Songs of Praise previously I haven't found them to be in synch. but on this occasion they were.

Graeme

[graemek]

Hi Paulo & Ross.

Rhydian is well catered for by youtube where you can watch his performance as well.

His stagecraft is fantastic & that, coupled with that voice is mesmerising.

And of course his 2 vids with Hayley are wonderful including "that kiss".

There are a lot of youtubes referred to in this thread which are well worth viewing & keeping.

Rhydian's Music of the Night is fabulous. Try listening to Michael Crawford's version & comparing the 2.

Graeme

[Richard]

Hello everybody!

Viewers in the UK can watch this week's Songs of Praise until next Sunday HERE. Rhydian appears about ten minutes into the programme, which also features Libera.

This was a repeat of Rhydian's appearance on 22nd February, which I've found on YouTube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxujKOldiZc

Richard

[nicola]

Hey guys,

I kind of wandered into a Rhydian forum the other day (found them through my referrals on my website - I suddenly had a influx of Rhydian fans visit my site, and it led me to the forum on http://www.rhydian-roberts.co.uk) and I have had the most wonderful conversation with them all. What a lovely group of fans! One of the most active forums I have to, as well.

[martindn]

WOW! I missed that on TV, but this guy is fabulous! As a Christian it is really inspiring to see. A fine Chrisitan with a great voice. Terrific!

Martin

[graemek]

Aug 18, 2009 21:55:37 GMT martindn said:

WOW! I missed that on TV, but this guy is fabulous! As a Christian it is really inspiring to see. A fine Chrisitan with a great voice. Terrific!

Martin

Am 100% with you Martin !!!
Here's a quote from Youtube:

griffcats (2 months ago) Youtube "Somewhere"
Rhydian has a rare combination of raw talent
and intelligence that shows up in his sensitivity and
understanding of dynamics and phrasing to create
a complete musical effect that is absolutely true to
the emotion of the song. I know that sounds overly
technical, but his ability to pull me into this song, which
I didnt even like, is astounding. A rare talent in today's
world of screaming and shrieking and moaning
(well, we get a lot of that here in america, anyway).

Graeme


I enlarged the text in the quote from YouTube.
Richard

[Jillian]

I noticed that Rhydian's new album is called 'Our Homeland'.

I noticed on a few of his forums that this has some of his fanbase rather worried -- I gather they think Rhydian is moving in a more classical direction and towards Welsh folk roots -- because they like him for his more flamboyant, pop performances on X Factor. They also think that he's cutting himself off at the knees by aiming towards a smaller Welsh market at the exclusion of the rest of the UK.

For me, on the other hand, this is great news! Rhydian has a great voice, but I personally find that it can be overshadowed by all the theatrics which flowed from the image that X Factor created for him -- which I suspect had more to do with Simon Cowell trying to make his show interesting than actually representing Rhydian himself.

I love the idea of an album of Welsh orientated material and I think that it will do Rhydian's voice justice. He really is far too talented to be doing covers of Pink's 'Lets Get the Party Started' ... I mean, really....

Perhaps because I'm Australian, the idea of an album of Welsh music sounds rather romantic -- a bit like Celtic music. Perhaps it's different if you live in Britain? But overall, I think it's a good idea -- I think Rhydian needs to get himself into the Classical Crossover niche and he'll do well there. No point floundering around in no man's land. Also, it's good not to pander too much to the X Factor audience, because they'll all have forgotten the old contestants when the each new season comes along.

If you're unfamilar with what Rhydian has to offer, search for: Rhydian Roberts feat. Idina Menzel - What If on You Tube and you'll hear what I mean.

[Jillian]

Here's the tracklist to Rhydian's 'Our Homeland' (just announced):

1. O Fortuna
2. Benedictus-Featuring Kiri Te Kanawa
3. Myfanwy-Featuring Bryn Terfel
4. Conquest Of Paradise
5. How Great Thou Art [Nigel Wrights Version]
6. The Living Years
7. Ave Verum Corpus
8. Cantilena (Adieus)
9. I Won't Walk This Road Alone
10. Anthem
11. Annie's Song
12. Land Of My Father's (Welsh National Anthem)

Looks like he's making a solid move into the classical crossover genre. I'm very glad about this. He really is very talented -- but in the past a lot of it has been shrouded by all the X Factor hooplah and Queen and Meatloaf covers. He's got a couple of big name duets on there.

[Nordly]

Hi Jillian,

I don't really perceive Rhydian as a crossover sort of guy. Well, at least not very classical. I think that Annie's Song is perfect for him, but I guess he can probably do well on O Fortuna. I don't know. He still has a lot to prove to me which way he is best at. Though I do think he is a good singer in any genre.

~Nordly

[Jillian]

Here's the press release for the new album:

Rhydian Roberts
Our Homeland (Album)


Artist Title: 'Rhydian Roberts'
Project Title: 'Our Homeland'
Album Release Date: 30th November 2009

The biggest selling debut male artist of 2008 is back. Today the classically trained X Factor finalist Rhydian Roberts announces details for his brand new studio album, 'Our Homeland' which showcases Rhydian as his very own man. He says, "I had a much more free hand with this album. I could spend my career trying to reinvent myself but ultimately this is me as a real singer. This is very much where I envisaged being when I was at music school. I'm made up. It's brilliant. And long may it continue."

Produced by Karl Jenkins and Nigel Wright, the album was recorded between July and October of this year. Our Homeland is a natural progression from Rhydian's debut release and confirms his place as the UK's leading classical cross over artist. As well as being backed by a welsh male voice choir, the new album sees him teaming up with classical heavyweight Karl Jenkins, opera superstar Bryn Terfe, harp virtuoso Catrin Finch and the legendary Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Rhydian pays tribute to his welsh heritage with a collection of much loved Welsh favourites such as Land Of Our Fathers and Myfanwy, classic hymns like How Great Thou Art, musical favourites Anthem From Chess, pop classics Annie's Song and The Living Years and the classical anthem O Fortuna (which has been reintroduced to a new audience by the X Factor in recent years). The album also includes a special new track, I Won't Let You Walk This Road Alone, written for Rhydian by Grammy award winning songwriter/producer Walter Afansieff.

Rhydian's rich baritone voice and unique talent first came to the public's attention in 2007 when he was touted as the bookies favourite to win the X Factor. Not the typical finalist we've come to expect from the show, Rhydian really is a unique proposition and immediately caught the public's imagination with his flamboyant style, passionate performances and versatile classically trained voice.

His debut album 'Rhydian', released in November 2008, sold over 500,000 copies making the biggest selling debut male artist of 2008, despite being kept off the top spot by The Killers and the eagerly anticipated returned of Guns N' Roses. Although Rhydian was the runner up in 2007's X Factor he went on to comprehensively outsell that year's winner Leon Jackson.

So Classical Cross Over it is. This is creating a gigantic fuss amongst Rhydian's fans. It's sort of made me wonder what would happen if Hayley changed musical direction --- but then I considered that seeing as Hayley sings every genre of music under the sun, there's not much she could really do to shock people!

I'm looking forward to reading what Nicola will have to say about this on her website!

[Jillian]

'Our Homeland' has now been removed as the album title. Rhydian's fans expressed so much dislike of the title that it's going to be changed. Rumour has it that it will now be 'O Fortuna'.

Rhydian is copping a lot of criticism from his fans about this upcoming release. More than I would have ever imagined (and probably more than he would too). Personally, I think they should leave him be and not try to inhibit his growth. He's a classically trained singer, so it's not completely from left field that he might want to release a classical crossover cd.

Rhydian is really quite critical of himself, so I can only imagine what he's thinking about this backlash that's going on.