Javier Colon Relaxes Underground With Smooth Hits

By MATTHEW BLAKLEY

When you visit the Underground, the place is usually in full force: the lines are long and the place is packed. It’s kind of stressful, right?

Well, just before 8 p.m. on Tuesday night, Javier Colon, an American singer-songwriter coming off of his junior album, titled “The Truth—Acoustic EP,” magically calmed the place with just the music from his sound check.

Colon began his performance with the ‘80s classic “Time After Time,” which pleasantly intertwined with his controlled R&B sound and subsequently exemplified a fresh vocal perspective to enjoy all night long.

Next, the singer paid homage to his Dominican and Puerto Rican roots by singing the song “Niña” by Jose Feliciano.

Colon then got a country fever and performed various country music that included “I’ve Got Friends In Low Places” by Garth Brooks.

Colon admitted, “Garth is one of my favorites.”

He concluded his fever with the song “If You Get There Before I Do” by Collin Raye. Then, to make matters even more dynamic, Colon sang a masterly crafted version of Coldplay’s “Fix You.”

After a couple more songs, Colon said that he usually travels with a band, so it was just him and his guitar this time. He took the opportunity to switch to his keyboard and sang a Michael Jackson song.

Colon’s lyric, “I was 18 the very first month away from home,” from his ballad “Meant To Be,” aired a sense of sentiment in a room filled with freshman and graduating seniors.

He wrapped the night up with a cover of “No One” by Alicia Keys, proving once again that he can sing anything and still be original.

“My favorite song was ‘Niña,’ because I just studied abroad in Spain, so it really resonated with me,” said senior Marion Carr.

Other reactions included a group of ladies behind me who all continuously said “they were melting” while Colon sang.

All in all, I’d say the entire Underground was speechless with Colon’s talent.

After the show, I got the chance to ask Colon what artists he is currently listening to. He laughed and said, “I listen to everything from James Taylor to James Brown, but I most recently downloaded the ‘Glee—Season Four” CD and I really like it!”

Though I’ll take his word on the ‘Glee’ album, Colon still gave a great acoustic performance. I’m sure many audience members have added Colon to their recent list.

[Photo by Matthew Blakley/Bullet]