It takes a lot of courage for me to listen to G.O’s cover of Javier Colón’s Song For Your Tears but it has been staring at me from the shelf in The Retro Room for some time now. I knew that sooner or later I was going to want pull it down, dust it off, listen to it, and subsequently feel my heart shatter into a million pieces. G.O being away and missing him compounds the aching but this song is just too good and his performance of it during the Zepp and Sensation tours of 2013, a master vocal class with every note.
I did not know too much about Javier Colón other than he had been a contestant on the inaugural season of The Voice here in the US and was in fact, the first winning vocalist on the show. But as I read a little more about him, I began to understand perhaps why G.O was drawn to his music.
I would have thought – based purely on the fact that G.O covered it – that Song For Your Tears was a charting single for Javier. Not so. It is the third track on Javier’s album, Javier, that was released in 2003. The song was not even a released single from the album. Ahhh….G.O dug a little bit into the album and found what resonated the most.
An adept student of music, Javier graduated college with a degree in music education and although he considers himself an ‘acoustic soul’ artist, he blends many genres of music into his own, including rock, funk, jazz, and folk, to name a few. He has also been labeled an R&B neo-soul artist. Oh yes….neo-soul. I feel comfortable saying G.O fits that description quite well himself. It makes sense to me that G.O would put Javier on the list of his many music guides that he would learn from, and subsequently cover.
Perhaps the strongest connect I see between Javier and G.O is the shared key ingredient that makes them both incredible vocalists: honesty. When they sing, you believe them. You believe they have lived every word.
I read comments about Javier where people ask, “why isn’t this guy a superstar?” This same sentiment crosses my mind over and over every time I listen to and watch our beloved G.O perform.
I love that G.O chose to cover a song by a singer/songwriter much like himself; you know, the kind of artist that lives and breaths music with a passion that is so honest, visceral and raw. That kind of passion is simply impossible to fake. G.O proves it with every note his soul releases. And he does it as equally honest and powerful in English as in his native Korean. So why isn’t G.O a superstar? Just wait . . . I really believe the best is yet to come. So I hope you will be ready because I have a feeling G.O’s star is going to burn brighter than even he could possibly imagine. In fact, I think it will explode.
~♥~
As amazing as he is in Korean… when he sings in English it impresses me even more. Whether you understand the language or not is immaterial. G.O. always sings from his heart… how can you help but be moved?
Music is a language all unto itself, right? It carries its own vibration and you cannot help but feel it. This one guts me every time. It is such a beautiful song and when G.O sings it, seriously…you feel every single imaginary emotion that is just coursing through him. I just love it.