MANILA, Philippines ? Marié Digby does look like a magazine cover girl. She has flawless, porcelain-white skin, long, jet-black hair, plus she looks amazing from any angle.

Digby is even more stunning in person. She is slim and statuesque, has undeniable presence, and her Japanese, Irish, and American heritage gives her a unique look. Look a little longer and you see some Zhang Ziyi and Bjork in her.

During this shoot for Super, however, she cleared something. ?I?m not a model,? she said with a giggle. ?I?m a singer.?

Running out of poses, she then did some silly ones.

This musical Jill-of-all-trades (she sings, writes songs, and plays both the guitar and the piano) started her career in 2004, when she won in a voice competition sponsored by the shampoo brand Pantene Pro. She got to work with a professional album producer and perform with top musicians as part of her prize. Eventually, Digby inked a deal with Disney?s Hollywood Records.

She released her debut album ?Unfold? in 2008. It contained the hits ?Say It Again? and ?Stupid For You.? In 2009 came a Japanese studio album. Her songs have also been used in several TV shows such as ?Smallville? and ?The Hills.?

However, most people know Digby as the YouTube ?cover? girl with interesting versions of various songs, from Britney Spears? ?Gimme More? to Maroon 5?s ?Makes Me Wonder.? Her video channel currently has over 180,000 subscribers. It?s most famous, most viewed and most discussed video (over 13 million views) is her acoustic rendition of Rihanna?s ?Umbrella.?

This song?together with tracks from her new album ?Breathing Underwater? under MCA Music Inc.?was what she performed during her one-night-only concert last Aug. 1 at the NBC Tent.

Super had a chat with the YouTube sensation before she flew out of the country.

What cover are you most proud of?

My personal favorite is probably the Incubus song, ?Love Hurts.? I love it. For me, a successful cover is when I am able to make it my own and not sound like the original, so I really like that one.

How different is your version of ?Love Hurts? from the original one?

The original one is a full-band production so it?s got drums, bass and guitar and all that. Mine I made into a more of a piano ballad.

Among all the covers you?ve done, what?s been the most challenging?

?My Life.? That one was hard to learn because of the rap. There were so many lyrics and I usually cheat and I put the lyrics up on the screen when I am doing the video. But this one, it?s so quick that I had to memorize it. It took me about 50 takes to get it right. There was only one that I got it right, and that?s the one I uploaded.

What cover received a lot of criticism from people?

I got the most flak for probably ?Umbrella? and ?The Game.? I knew I would get a lot of flak for doing ?The Game? because a lot of people would say, ?What business does a little acoustic singer-songwriter girl have singing a rap song?? But I just wanted to show people that I love all genres of music.

What songs do you still want to cover?

I?m really into this new song by Lupe Fiasco right now called ?Shining Down,? and I also like Amerie?s ?Why R U,? which is a new single.

Some singer-songwriters think they?re better than singers because they?re versatile. How do you feel about this?

I don?t see it that way at all. People ask me all the time, why don?t you try out for ?American Idol? or for any of those talent shows. I say, because I?d never make it. That?s a different type of singing to me. I don?t even have a vibrato; I?m not a belter. I?m a simple singer, and I don?t think that avenue would have worked for me. But I don?t think myself superior just because I write songs. There are people with fantastic voices who don?t need to write songs; and by the way, there are writers who can?t sing?so they need jobs, too.

Who have you been compared to the most?vocally, musically and physically?

I?ve heard everything from Bjork to?I love Bjork?someone said Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton. I don?t even know if Vanessa Carlton has any Asian in her, but she looks like she can be half-Asian. I think Michelle Branch does have some Asian blood in her, so maybe that?s why people see these similarities.

If someone would do a cover of one of your songs, who would you like that to be?

I really like Imogen Heap; I think she does an incredible job of taking a song that?s already out there and giving it a total different spin.

Which song of yours?

?Unfold,? maybe.

For more of Marié Digby, check out www.youtube.com/user/MarieDigby.

What do you think is the greatest cover of all time? E-mail the author at ninomarksablan@yahoo.com.