PhilPop 2020 Finalists

This year's finalists from Visayas, Mindanao, North and South Luzon, and Metro Manila

MINDANAO

Kasadya

by Christian Chiu

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  • Christian Chiu aka "XT on Sax"

    XT on Sax is the saxophonist of the band, Matcha, which has released two singles this year. He spearheaded the Ilonggo Pop movement that started in Koronadal City, South Cotabato, and debuted the album of the same name last December 21, 2019. He wrote two songs in the Ilonggo Pop album; Hinambalan which featured EJ Parsacala, and Buy-An, which featured a duet of two champions: Ferdinand Aragon, Champion of Visayas Music Awards 2019, and Mau Ria, Champion of Mindanao Pop Music Festival 2020. In the same album, he contributed to the works of Don Flores and NatNat on their songs Amo Gid Na Ya, and Nonoy sa Alunan, respectively. He appeared as a guest artist in the country’s first all-sax concert, S.I.L.A (Saxophone Idols Live in Action) last 2018 at Music Museum, and last 2019 at Resorts World Manila, together with the other saxophonists: Archie Lacorte, JB Javelosa, SaxSerenade, Nicole Tejedor, and Josh Espinosa. His most recent achievement was with their version of Nobela, sung by Jay-ar Vaño, which as of today has garnered over 1.6M spotify streams.

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Pahuway

by Sherwin Fugoso

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  • Sherwin Fugoso

    Sherwin Fugoso is a songwriter who is also a member of the band Oh!Caraga. He has been a finalist for several Songwriting Competitions such as VISPOP 4.0 (2016), Santa Kasingkasing (2018), and MinPop Festival (2020). He has written a few songs interpreted by other artists such as #BUANG by Jewel Villaflores and Baga Ka’g Face by Malaya Macaraeg.

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Akong Bililhon

by John Cadeliña

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  • John Cadeliña aka "The Marshland"

    Back when John was in 3rd grade, he has already accompanied his local parish through the children’s choir and playing the keyboard/organ. Since then, he has began to develop his talent and confidence in music. Having no formal training in music, he plays it by ear. Fast forward to college, his band decided to join a TV talent show, called PGT2, and we made it to the Grand Finals. They were able to perform as a band for year before they separated. John then started joining local songwriting competitions before joining regional and national level contests. Recently, John started his solo project called The Marshland, inspired by Owl City, Five for Fighting, City and Colour, etc.

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VISAYAS

Ayaw Na Lang

by Jerika Teodorico

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  • Jerika Teodorico

    Jerika is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Cebu City. She writes songs exclusively in the Cebuano language, and has been joining songwriting competitions since she was 17, with most entries centered on the advocacy of uplifting Bisaya music. At the same time, she has also been performing around Cebu City and other Bisaya-speaking areas. She is currently working on her debut album.

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Hinungdan

by Michael Caterina

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  • Michael Catarina

    Michael started writing songs in 2017. Hee has joined a few songwriting competitions and so far qualifying for PhilPop is his biggest songwriting event. He still considers himself an amateur as he hasn’t fully produced any of his songs yet and has only begun to develop himself as a songwriter.

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Suyo

by Noah Alejandre and Reanna Borela  or “Reon” 

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  • Noah Alejandre and Reanna Borela of “reon”

    "reon" (麗音 in Kanji) meaning "麗" is beautiful, "音" is sound. “reon” is a Filipino indie music duo formed in 2020 which focuses on making bedroom pop music. The band consists of Noah Glynn Alejandre (singer-songwriter, producer) and Reanne Julia Borela (singer-songwriter). The duo band embraces it’s simplicity and rawness of its tracks by telling narratives of different experiences which captures the ears of many. Upon exploring different genres to delve in to, “reon” identifies itself as distinct, with its take on different genres on each of its releases. “reon” started releasing songs since January 6th of 2020 with its debut single “Off My Mind”. The band released their 5th and 6th single namely “Better Off Without You” and “I Really Like You” gathering almost two hundred thousand streams on Spotify on both of the songs.

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NORTH LUZON

Agsardeng

by Abegail Esteban and TJ Paeldon

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  • Aby Esteban and TJ Paeldon

    Aby Esteban and TJ Paeldon are both fellows of the 2019 Philpop Songwriting Bootcamp in Batangas. While TJ has been a musician singer and keyboardist for events across the Metro since 2008, Aby has been a choir member/theater actor in her earlier days and has just started singing and playing her original songs in 2016. As individuals, TJ and Aby write songs about relatable themes based on their experiences, mostly of the pop genre. This year, they decided to experiment on their capabilities and honor their roots by writing an advocacy-driven Filipino-Ilocano love song together. In the future, they hope to continue exploring this niche in the music scene and create their own brand of Filipino-Ilocano songs for the world to hear.

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  • Lolito Go

    Lolito Go is a poet, broadcast journalist and singer-songwriter from Olongapo City, once the entertainment capital of the Philippines. Lolito was a sponsored fellow at the 2019 Philpop Bootcamp in Batangas. He wrote songs for Moira dela Torre, Juris, Garrett Bolden, among others. He writes commercial and campaign ads, and once in a while, gets invited as a resource speaker for songwriting workshops. His song satires and parodies have gone viral in national news programs for their bold and scathing socio-political commentary.

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  • Angelic Mateo “AIM”

    Angelic, also known as AIM, is a 21 y/o Singer-Songwriter from the Sunshine City of Ilocos Norte. AIM started to record stories through songwriting when she was 12 and began building listeners independently at 13 by posting song covers on social media. She grew up having ‘music’ as her sister and ‘songwriting’ as her bestfriend. Everyday, she continues to fall deeper in love with songwriting because it makes a way for her to give people a chance to travel back in time and feel the emotions of the saved memories behind each song she makes. The first time she entered a songwriting competition was when her song, “Paro-Pero” made it to the Top 100 of PhilPop Songwriting Festival 2018. This inspired her to keep on going and trying. A year later, she was a Semi-Finalist of Bombo Songwriting Festival 2019 with the song entitled, “Plastik”. As 2020 came, she released her first-ever single “Sintonado” on Spotify and other digital music platforms, which was also part of the Top 12 Mock Finals when she joined the PhilPop Songwriting Bootcamp 2017. Therefore, the dream of becoming a part of PhilPop’s Songwriting Festival someday has always been alive inside her heart— this gave her more strength in writing songs to deeply communicate with souls and to show the universe that Music can truly break borders.

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SOUTH LUZON

  • Kulas Basilonia

    Hailing from Dasmariñas City in Cavite, Kulas Basilonia is known for his wordplay. His songwriting journey started as a kid, and ever since, he hasn't stopped writing - especially about the things he's a fan of. Kulas is also known for his song BaeYaya - a song about AlDub written in 2015. He has written songs for artists like Elmo Magalona and Solenn Heusaff. Outside music, he is a financial literacy advocate and a faithful servant at The Feast (Light of Jesus Family).

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  • Chochay Magno

    Chochay started out as as a vocalist and songwriter of UPLB band, Kartoon Chemistry. Her Songs "Icebag","Ngayon O Bukas Man" among others are the soundtrack of UPLB stage play, “Icebag”. She also Wrote 'Saya Ng Buhay",TVC jingle for Jack & Jill snacks brand. She wrote songs for Tawag Ng Tanghalan Grand Champion, Janine Berdin (BIYAYA) and finalist Eumee (Bratatat). She is the songwriter behind the TNT Boys' single "TOGETHER WE FLY" launched in WishBus USA Hollywood and was performed in San Francisco Bay Area, L.A., Edmonton and Vancouver Canada. Chochay's "Together We Fly" got 7 nominations in the Awit Awards 2020 including Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Inspirational Recording.

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  • Princess Roselle C. Germina aka “Keen”

    Keen is a Filipina singer/songwriter raised in Puerto Princesa, Palawan from a family of musician/artist. At the age of 10, she embraced Soul/RnB music, competed solo and often with a group of young artists/musicians. She first started writing her own song with her acoustic guitar when she was 13, entitled "Paano", which speaks about life goals. Year 2019 when she started on YouTube. Keen currently signed as the first lady artist of Big Ace Records (London, United Kingdom based distribution label under Ace Taruc) with first single release, "All Night".

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METRO MANILA

  • Christian D. Aballa “Kian Dionisio”

    Kian Dionisio is a singer-songwriter with a self-titled EP Album under his previous label, GMA Records, where he was nominated at PMPC Star Awards for Music as (1) Acoustic Artist of the Year, (2) Acoustic Album of the Year, and (3) New Male Artist of the Year. He also wrote songs for singers like Bugoy Drillon (Namo), Macoy Fundales (Bakit Kita Hahabulin), and Loisa Andalio (Isasabay sa Ulan). Kian has been a part of the country’s best songwriting camps such as Elements Batch 5 (2014), Filscap Songwriting Camp (2018) and Filscap Songwriters' Night Select Year 2 (2019), and of course, PhilPop Bootcamp (2019), where his song “Mactan” was chosen as one of the songs produced for 500th Anniversary of Victory of Mactan.

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  • Aikee

    Aikee is a rap artist, songwriter, host, and DJ for 95.5 Pinas FM. He released his first album, “Aikee, Ang Bawat Bata” under Alpha Records in 2005 with his hit song “Kahit Bata Pa Ako.” He is also known for his song “Dota o Ako.” Aikee has been a PhilPop finalist in 2016 with “Pabili Po” and a semi-finalist in 2018 with “Promise Sorry Note” and “Oka.”

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