Heaven

Heaven is the debut studio album by Filipina singer Nina, released in the Philippines on August 20, 2002 by Warner Music Philippines. The album is heavily influenced by jazzy lounge, pop-R&B and composed of songs that resemble the sound of international records at the time. Under the direction of Warner managing head Ricky R. Ilacad, foreign songwriters and arrangers from the United States and South Korea, including Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche, were hired for the production of the album. Ilacad was very impressed with Nina's submitted demo version of Steve Perry's "Foolish Heart" which they decided to re-record for the album. Upon release, the album received generally positive reviews. Most critics applauded Nina's vocal range and technique, as well as the composition of songs. The album was a commercial success in the Philippines, peaking at number one on the PH Top 10 Albums chart. The album is credited for popularizing the acoustic phenomenon in the Philippines. It earned numerous awards from various music organizations, and became one of the best-selling OPM albums in 2003. In terms of musical style, the album has been referenced for the use of whistle register by OPM albums released in the later years. In addition, Nina was given favorable comparisons to Mariah Carey. Heaven was made available on digital download through iTunes and Amazon.com MP3 Download on January 23, 2007. As of October 2003, the album has reached double platinum status by the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI), denoting over 60,000 copies sold in the Philippines. Five singles were released from the album, all of which became commercially successful in the country. "Heaven", the first single, was released alongside the album. "2nd Floor" was later released as a radio single. The album and its first single, initially, had weak chart performance. It was the third single "Jealous" that became a number-one hit for three weeks, also enabling the album to increase in sales and climb to number-one position of album charts. Following the success of the third single, two cover versions were released as official singles. "Foolish Heart", a song originally included on Nina's demo, began receiving heavy airplay and later, charted at number-one in the country for four weeks. "Loving You", a song originally done by Ric Segreto, was released as the final single from the album.