My Music Journey

Although I'm not an artist or a musician and music doesn't seem to like me, I love litsening to music everyday. It's what keeps me alive and always inspired. 

 

MY MUSIC INFLUENCES

In music, I care more about the beats and melodies than the lyrics of the song. And I think this is the reason why I appreciate classical music such as orchestras, quartets, and solos (violin or piano). For modern stuff, I like rock songs in general and I also enjoy listening to pop songs. 90’s music is the most influential era for me since it is when I started to like music. I was born in 1992 where a lot of radio stations and music video channels already exist. I would often have my siestas while listening to the radio, that’s why I have a lot of familiarity to songs from the 90’s. My horizons in music expanded when my cousin stayed in our home to study college. She likes listening to popular bands such as Backstreet Boys, A1, Westlife, etc.. and always watches MTV to fangirl. I can still remember her room was full of posters of her favorite group. But my first favorite song was not from those bands but was from Eric Carmen’s “Love is All that Matters” I don’t know why but this song has a huge impact on me that whenever listen to it I felt like crying. It’s not even a sad song but the melody just tugs your heartstrings (I was just in kindergarten when I first heard it BTW😅) I do have some favorite songs from Backstreet Boys, A1 and Westlife like “As Long as You Love Me”, I Want It That Way”, “Uptown Girl” and “Take On Me”. Aside from those that I have mentioned I have a long list of favorite songs from the 90’s.

MY FAVORITE GENRE

My most favorite genre to listen to is rock. The sound of drum beats just gets me into the mood everytime and bass sounds are just what I'd like hear in full volume. I mostly listen to pop rock, alternative rock, punk rock, funky rock and a little bit of hard or metal rock songs.  I may be exposed to a lot of western rock songs since I was young, but my first love of rock culture came from Japan. This is because I also love watching anime. The melodies of their songs speaks a lot of stories that make your soul uplifted whenever you hear them. Japan's taste in music is also out of this world that I consider some of their music that I like from them weird and unique sounding. And this is probably the reason why when I was reintroduced to the old famous band Queen, I quickly fell in love with their music.

MY INTRODUCTION TO QUEEN

I've known the existence of the rock band Queen for a long time because of the music video Bohemian Rhapsody which was popular during the 90's. And I do have a favorite song from them since I was in high school which was "I Want to Break Free". But I did not bother to look them up since I'm not really one to stan on music bands. I just casually liked two songs from them not knowing I have heard a lot of their music growing up. Their hits were always played on radios which features classic songs from 60s to 80s. When I got reintroduced to them through their biopic in the early year of 2020, I realized that I already knew 11 of their songs without knowing it came from them. These were:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody (I discovered this on MTV and some radio stations)

2. I Want to Break Free (I discovered this on a comedy variety show being played as one of the act's backgrokund music)

3. Another One Bites the Dust ( this was played on the radio countless of times)

4. We Will Rock You (this became one of our favorite go too songs in cheering competitions)

5. We are the Champions (aside from cheering competitions, I always hear this being sung in singing competitions)

6. Bicycle Race ( I always hear this on radio stations that showcases classic songs)

7. Love of My Life ( I always hear this on radio stations. I thought it was woman singing and I sang this song hundreds of times with feelings)

8. You're My Best Friend (I heard this in one of the TV commercials)

9. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy ( I always hear this on radio stations that showcases classic songs)

10. Too Much Love Will Kill You ( This song is overplayed here in the Philippines even in karaokes)

11. Somebody to Love ( I heard this song on a kid's variety show)

It was mind-blowing how well received their Live Aid performance was and how many hit songs they made through out their discography. The more I discover, the more my interest of the band grew. I started searching their actual Live Aid performance on YouTube and was again blown away. I then started to search for more live performances and it pulled me in deeper and deeper to what most Queen fans call as "The Queen Rabbit Hole". To my surprise I discovered a lot of their hidden gems which made me love them even more. These all became possible since I've been stuck here in the house for almost a year because of the CoVid pandemic. I can definitely say that Queen is part of the reasons why I survived the year 2020.

MY NEW FOUND HOPE IN PHILIPPINE MUSIC

Since being a fan of Queen, I have learned a lot about the history of music. I discovered how musicians value artistry in their craft and that's what made them legendary for many music lovers such as myself. Living here in the Philippines, I have longed for the same level of artistry to exist. I enjoy listening to OPM but most of what I like are old songs from the 80's and early 2000s. I also noticed that we have a lot of talented singers but their music are not thriving globally. There are so many factors I can think of why it has been this way for many years.

1. Filipinos enjoy more ballads and novelty songs

2. Most Filipino artists are obsessed with covers

3. The government and even the entertainment industry doesn't really like to spend more money on artistry.

4. Crab mentality

5. Afraid of change

But since I found out about SB19, they gave me hope.

Discovering SB19 since 2019 was not a love at first sight thing. I was one of those people who labeled them as trying hard K-pop wannabes. I first found out about them on an online TV show. They were guest performers and they danced some of their "Go Up" era songs. To be fair, most of the music in their first album were composed and produced by Koreans (except for the lyrics) since they were under a Korean company. They were obviously marketed not only for Filipino audiences but also for K-pop supporters. You can easily tell just by observing their get up and them doing the typical catch phrase which Korean idols mostly do. Because of that, I easily brushed them off whenever they pop-up on my feed. I kept holding on to my prejudice until they have finally entered their "Pagtatag" era. Their song "Gento" became viral and it was everywhere. Some of my relatives are even fascinated about them and kept questioning me why I don't know anything about them. I finally gave in and checked what was the fuss all about. That is when I saw their Gento music video. I was in awe because I  haven't seen any Philippine artist do their MV's in that kind of caliber. The artistry is overflowing that I enjoyed watching YT reactors evaluating their songs.