Hoku Ho’s debut
album hits stores
Dad Don's absent on this one,
By Tim Ryan
but there's always the next one ...
Star-Bulletin
WATCH out Britney and Christina, Hoku Ho has just released her first album "Hoku."
The 11-track, self-titled debut album for Geffen Records includes the acoustic track "You First Believed" which she wrote, produced and played guitar as an inspirational song for her fans.
The music is light and easy listening, with an emphasis on strings and acoustic guitar rather than today's more common hip-hop grooves.
"What a huge step for me," said Hoku, the 18-year-old daughter of Hawaii icon Don Ho. "But it's something that I always wanted to do."
The album hit record bins last Tuesday.
Hoku's single, "Another Dumb Blonde," is on the album also can be found on the "Snow Day" soundtrack. The single is currently No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 list of top-selling songs.Hoku wanted to include a duet with her dad on her debut album, but the two did not have the time to do so. That duet could happen on Hoku's second album, she said. The pair performed together for years.
Whatever the song dad and daughter do, it definitely won't be dad's signature song "Tiny Bubbles," Hoku told Launch magazine in an earlier interview.
"I hate that song!" she said. "It's just, like, you hear it over and over and over again.
When I was working in the show, he did it once in the beginning of the show, just in case some people didn't make it all the way through -- and then once in the end of the show just in case. ... After listening to it over and over and over again, you've got to get sick of it, you know? But ... dad always said, 'It's like hating money.' "
Hoku earlier told the Star-Bulletin that any new female pop act between 18 and 20 will be compared to Spears and Aguilera.
"I'm constantly asked questions about Britney and Christina," she said. "I have nothing but the utmost respect for Britney and Christina, because I mean I'm still this star-struck little girl just looking at them and going, 'Oh my gosh, that's so awesome.'
It wasn't that long ago that Hoku was on the outside looking in.
"I used to look through magazines and, like, ooh and ahh at their clothes and what they were doing," she said.
She knows she has dad to thank for being discovered. While the pair performed together on Maui last year, songwriter Antonina Armato -- who has written for Mariah Carey and Vanessa Williams -- was struck by Hoku's talent.
Armato encouraged the teen-ager to go to Los Angeles to meet with record producers. Last October, the La Pietra - Hawaii School for Girls graduate signed a three-year, $300,000 recording contract with Geffen Records on its Interscope label. Armato ended up writing the song "Another Dumb Blonde" for her.
The song debuted on MTV Jan. 20. The next day, it was ranked as the music TV station's 10th most requested video.
Hoku next will join B'Witched, LFO, Blaque and No Authority and others, as featured performers at this year's Nickelodeon "All That Music & More Festival" that kicks off June 29 in California.
