Twelve-O-One

While many Philippine record companies would like to release more adventurous albums by local artists, easy listening music remains the dominant preference in taste for the Philippine market when it comes to local artists. Filipinos are more willing to buy adventurous music by Western artists, which means that many local albums often sound like the easy listening music of boy group 1201, whose debut album, Twelve-O-One, was released in 2001. The music of Twelve-O-One is mostly boring and predictable, as heard on "Kaibigan Lang" (Friend Only), "Sa Bawat Sandali" (In Every Minute), "Kahit Minsan" (Even for Sometimes), and "Ngayong Wala Ka Na (Ayoko Na)" (Now that You're Gone [I Don't Like]), among others. The five members of 1201, however, sing with much passion, and this makes "Nag-Iisang Bituin" (The Only One Star) sound better than it should. The '50s-styled "I Wonder Why" is also interesting. "Pain of Losing You" is an upbeat, dance-inflected number in the manner of the Backstreet Boys, on whom 1201 model themselves. The album needs more songs like this.