With inputs from Zed Bisenio and Kai Buizon When you take a look at some of the biggest artists of the 21st century, the 60s squeeze themselves in every nook and cranny of music. Think of Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera’s “Moves Like Jagger.” Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor in “Marvin Gaye.” Even boygenius’ “Leonard Cohen.” From song titles to the instrumentation of the tracks itself, six decades later, the 60s is still alive and well.  The 60s was an era of revolution. In America, the civil rights movement sent shockwaves throughout the nation as they battled for racial equality. The Col ..read more

A version of this essay with citations can be found here. Glitchy, abrasive, noisy—these are just some of the words to describe hyperpop. Just as the name suggests, the genre pushes the limits of what “pop” can sound like. Think of high-pitched, modulated vocals; overboosted bass lines; loud and crass musical accents. Hyperpop tracks are dense in their production, which only reinforces its “hyper-” prefix. However, beyond the musical aspects of the genre is a unique, inherently gendered, and queer space. As described by Lucy March, “Along with challenging traditional notions of genre, hyperpop ..read more

Last May 18, CNN Philippines Life published a piece of notes on Katipcore and how we understand music, geography, and genres. In his essay, Jam Pascual discusses how music scenes evolve and are defined by “sounds, genres, [and] movements.” Pascual and Elijah Pareño of The Flying Lugaw talk about how the term “Katipcore” emerged as a conversational device to describe “The Ateneo Sound” or “The Katipunan Sound,” referring to a certain demographic of bands that usually, but not necessarily, come from the universities that line Katipunan Avenue.  To summarize the essay, Pascual describes the ..read more

There’s something magical about revisiting music you love–no matter how long it’s been, or how many times you listen to it mindlessly while cleaning–when you truly revisit a song, it always seems to take a different form. I stumbled upon Phoebe Bridgers in late 2020, just on the cusp of a new year. Immediately, it was as if I was stuck in a trance. My room was filled to the brim with Phoebe Bridgers’ music and nothing else. It was the soundtrack of my mornings, tearfully making tea and journaling at a time when I believed that New Years Resolutions were something I could actually commit to thi ..read more

I DON’T KNOW HOW, or why, but my brain processes things by way of music. My friends call me a walking jukebox – I make it my life mission to pull music recommendations out of anywhere, at any time. When my friends ask if I have any songs to fit a certain mood, I’m always ready with 2 or 3 recommendations up my sleeve. When anything remotely life-altering happens to me, I’m already chalking up a new playlist for a very specific mood. When I’m in the middle of a conversation, I’ll have this strange lightbulb moment where I suddenly go, “hey, I know the perfect song for this!”. This is precisely ..read more

18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo is this decade’s latest Disney teen actress to successfully break into the pop music world — and take it by storm. Rodrigo skyrocketed to fame with her debut single driver’s license last January 2021. Since then, it’s reached number 1 in multiple countries worldwide, fueled a Saturday Night Light sketch with Netflix’s Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page, and has cemented its place in social media history as a Tiktok sound, Twitter trend, and more. In the months since, she’s gone on to perform on multiple awards shows, be on the cover of Billboard, and maintain her growing ..read more

New year, new Monthly Mix entry! The less-than-merry holiday season coupled with the gloomy rainy season resulted in an interesting mix of mostly R&B and different subgenres of alternative (rap, rock, and the like). I guess it should also be noted that I’ve spent a large majority (and when I mean large majority, I mean extremely large) of January listening to Phoebe Bridgers’ discography on repeat. This leaves this month’s monthly mix at a sparse 18 songs compared to my previous entries. Either way, here are some of my top picks for January 2021 — a rainy-weather playlist for a gloomy and ..read more

Monthly Mix v12.20 marks the end of the terrible year that is 2020. This playlist reflects the state of mind I’ve had for the whole month — lethargy, confusion, and the search for an escape. These emotions more or less affected my music choices for the past few weeks, especially given the somber holiday season that was a crazy mix of COVID-19 related sadness and the finals week that waits for me in January 2021. Just like I did with last month’s Monthly Mix, here are some of the standout tracks that I had on repeat. Just A Little Bit of Rain by She’s Only Sixteen One of the new tracks off of ..read more

November 2020 was a rollercoaster of emotions. The Philippines was hit by a truckload of typhoons that devastated the northern part of the country. Civil unrest. The student body of my University reflected that same unrest the rest of the country was feeling and launched into a series of very controversial events that spanned the rest of the month. In short — it was a ride. This month’s monthly mix is a little over the place, which is more or less appropriate to the sheer over-the-place-ness of life in 2020. Out of 25 songs, here are some choice tracks that meant the most to me this month. Pri ..read more