TO UNDERSTAND Viktoria's approach to life and career, start with the piano.

As the youngest of nine siblings, Viktoria caught the tail end of her mother's patience when it came to getting the traditional lessons on the instrument. Her older brothers and sisters had slackened in their interest, and by the time the young Viktoria got around to asking for piano lessons, mom said no.

Undaunted, Viktoria would sit quietly in the living room while one of her sisters practiced with the teacher, and when they were through, she would gather the piano books and would take her turn at the keyboard.

''It was self-study,'' Viktoria relates. ''I would listen to them and would take notes, and when they had gone, I would try to go over the lesson on my own. Eventually, I was able to convince my mom that I was serious about it and she allowed me to take proper lessons.''

That precocious show of will was the start of a pattern of initiative and drive that characterizes this singer-songwriter's career. It helps explain why, with the launching of her album, ''Deeper,'' Viktoria has set the stage for an exciting comeback.

On a purely artistic level, ''Deeper'' is a fascinating study in reinvention and self-expression.

A blend of dance, ''heart and soul,'' pop and pure joy of singing, the album is the pliant medium for Viktoria's passion for musical role-playing. Etched in the grain of a versatile voice are the emotional texts of a number of people: the seen-it-all-girl in ''Pwede Ba?'' and ''Bongga,'' the sensualist with a taste for romantic roulette in ''Dangerous,'' the vulnerable woman on the brink of heartbreak in ''Deeper.''

In songs that combine gleeful pop with house music, acoustic, strings, and Shirley Bassey-style dramatics, Viktoria turns musical Schecherazade, spinning tales of love, loss and triumphant defiance in a voice which goes from plaintive to plain masculine in a breath's span.

Professionally, the album exhibits Viktoria's considerable chops in cutting a career: she writes all the songs and lyrics (one co-written with close accomplice Rica Arambulo), takes a hand in the arrangements, and, as producer and overall stylist, generally lays down the blueprint for the album's direction, including the accompanying choreography and imaging.

''Deeper'' definitely shows a more mature Viktoria, one ready to take hold of the reins of a career heretofore plagued by stops and starts.

''I have a lot of control and I'm very excited and happy about the outcome,'' she declares. ''This album represents what I am right now, and it does show a deeper side of me. I wrote these songs in a space of four years, at a time when I was sort of hibernating from the local scene. And I think that has been a blessing for me.''

''A lot of people see me just as a singer,'' she goes on. ''What they don't realize is that I'm also very involved in running my career, from the creative aspects to the business side of it. I like to be in control because I'm the type of person who doesn't want to do anything half-baked. And with a career like this, you really have to take the lead because in a way you realize that you are the shampoo that you are selling.

''It's a weird feeling, sometimes. You have to step back and take a look at yourself as if you're regarding another person, and go, 'Now what do I do about Viktoria?'''

It's certainly a different Viktoria from the young popster who burst onto the scene as part of Kuh Ledesma's Music Museum ''brats'' in the early '90s--a teen in torn jeans and midriff top, with twisted hair and dreadlocks, playing 3 a.m. gigs with a band called Metropolis, then straggling to her 7 a.m. film classes at the UP College of Mass Communication.

Then came the more polished ingenue with the girlie-girl mien and the sentiment-laced pop songs of a later incarnation, doing music videos at Bolinao beach in Pangasinan with actor Patrick Guzman for her single, ''Dahan-Dahan.''

And the singer who earned the title MTV Queen for her pioneering videos (''People then would ask me, 'Why are you bothering to make videos?''') in 1992, directed by her brothers Roby and Joey Agbayani.

She even did a movie, ''Manila Girl,'' with Ogie Alcasid. ''That seems like another lifetime,'' Viktoria now says. ''I haven't made a video since 1995!''

What has changed her? A long layover in Hong Kong where she was supposed to sign up with a record company there. ''That was an experience. I got to perform along with Aqua and Debbie Harry at the MIDI conference,'' she recalls.

Then she realized that she has to be with a record company that was compatible with her goals and aspirations--and that the way to move forward was to take full charge of her career.

From the outset, Viktoria always had known that her life would revolve around music. While she may have been born to a politically prominent clan up north, it was not her family's politics that interested her but its musical leanings.

Having so many brothers and sisters ensured that the Agbayani household would be thumping day and night with a wide variety of music. One brother was into heavy metal--Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. Another was into jazz and others listened to Barry White, the Bee Gees, Diana Ross and the Doobie Brothers.

''It was great, because as the youngest child, I was able to soak up all those influences,'' she says. Viktoria herself had a big crush on Paul McCartney and was into the Beatles. A brother was a drummer and would play jazz with Joey Albert. The Agbayanis had a full complement of instruments. ''When they'd leave, I would tinker with the drums and all those analog keyboards,'' Viktoria recalls. She learned to play keyboards, drums, guitar and flute. At age 10, she started writing songs.

Playing music for ''fun and art'' in her college days, she was discovered by Sandra Chavez, which paved the way for her introduction to Kuh Ledesma. After her Music Museum stint, she was managed by Dulce Lukban, Pops Fernandez's mother.

''I consider myself blessed to have known all these people,'' Viktoria says. ''Pops remains one of my closest friends and I learned a lot from her and Kuh. I have the highest respect for them.''

She cut two albums with a local record company before trying her luck in Hong Kong. When she came back, she looked around for an outfit that would ''believe in my music'' and would be ''compatible with my goals'' and knocked on Sony Music Philippines' doors. She would play her songs, they would listen, they'd make suggestions, she'd work on them. For a time, it seemed that all they were getting to do was hit balls across the net.

But Viktoria was persistent and she was willing to wait. She'd work on the suggestions, and rather than tap her toes waiting for a producer to fall from heaven, she would do the production work herself. Her single-minded determination paid off with the songs that make up the body of ''Deeper,'' and with it, a contract with Sony Music.

Now her mind and spirit is focused on the transformed Viktoria, the one who embellishes her narratives with wit and sly putdowns (''Plastikan nang plastikan, sosyalan nang sosyalan'' she sings of the show biz demimonde in ''Pwede Ba''), and songs that pay attention to craft and style rather than mere radio-friendly catchiness.

''I'd rather be humorous than be upfront,'' she says of her new voice. ''You have to read between the lines. But my songs are about me, where I'm at, allowing myself to feel and make observations about what I see around me.

''Like 'Pwede Ba.' It came out of this provincial tour I made. We were in this quiet town and across from the hotel there was this club. When you entered, it was like a completely different world! There were women with beehive hairdos, leopard print outfits, talagang ballroom dancing!

''They'd do the boogie, then swing, then tango, and in between you had this announcer going, 'Kung sino ho ang nawawalan ng lipstick, may napulot kaming lipstick sa dancefloor!' It was really something, but then that's what we have out there.

''There's also an edge of sarcasm in some of the songs, because for a while I was the victim of intrigues in show biz. It's a totally different culture now from the time I started. Then, when you appear in public, it was mostly just performances and shows.

''Now, it's like you have to be in a talk show, to have your life dissected. So I have lyrics like, 'Huwag mo na lang pansinin ang intriga,' or 'Di ba bagay tayong dalawa, parang pinagtambal sa pelikula?'''

There are also straightforward, wrenched-from-the-heart, journals-in-song tracks like ''Deeper,'' which Viktoria says is about letting go. ''Don't hold back, feel what you want to feel, do what you want to do.''

But while she remains defiant in some respects--mixing a ''bakla attitude'' with a devil-may-care outlook--Viktoria has submitted herself to the vicissitudes of show business. Fun and art have been replaced by an acknowledgement that she needs a certain measure of fame to make it in this business. She knows she has to reach out to a wider audience, to make her songs and her approach more accessible to the larger public.

''I am basically an introvert,'' Viktoria says. ''I can be very quiet at times. People think I'm snobbish but actually I am just shy. I am not really a show biz person. But I know that, to be popular, I have to go after fame.

''The thing I learned from Kuh Ledesma, who used to manage me, is this: 'If you want to be a star, start acting like one, dress up like one, and people will see you as a star.'

''Of course, the last thing I want to do is let fame get to my head. What is important is to create an image,'' she says.

Her transformations are greatly aided by her ability to change her looks. With her lithe physique, fair skin and almond eyes, Viktoria can get away with Madonna-like style turns, looking like a Japanese doll one day or a vamp-on-the-hunt the next.

Her great sense of fashion is also a big plus. Watch her shine in silver midriff top and mini and platform boots, or look enviably sporty-chic with a moss-green military jacket over a knit camisole and wide pants.

''I wear what I want to wear,'' she declares. ''It's funny, though, now people see me in sporty clothes and they think it's my new look. The truth is I have dance classes in the evening, and regular gym workouts. I have been so busy lately that I have to run around in my gym clothes!''

And even this is in the service of her music. She takes dance classes for the choreography she has to do for her songs, and martial arts to keep fit in a business that puts a premium on looking good and hearty.

It's difficult to imagine this wisp of a woman, with a softspoken voice to match, trading kicks and vicious turns on the exercise floor. But then, this again perfectly illustrates who Viktoria is.