Filipino singer and guitarist Chen is back with a new track, Youphobia, out now on all music streaming platforms. Cleverly titled, the song is about trying to recover from a failed relationship and how the mind, the heart, and the body battle each other to do what they want. Youphobia is Chen’s awaited follow-up to her recent release Damahan, which debuted at #83 on Spotify Philippines’ Viral Songs chart.
LISTEN TO YOUPHOBIA HERE
Coming Into Her Own
A rising artist in the local music scene, Chen has actually been making music since 2007, at only 16 years old. She first became known as the lead guitarist and one of the vocalists of Unit 406, the band behind the songs Kahit Na Anong Sabihin Ng Iba and Tanghaling Tapat.
Now, Chen explores her own sound with her solo tracks influenced by Billie Eilish, Armi Millare, and Cynthia Alexander, as well as female-led bands The Do and No Doubt. “These artists encouraged me to embrace my style, character, and sound. They proved that being different isn’t such a bad thing,” shares Chen.
Falling Prey to Old Patterns
True to Chen’s inspirations, Youphobia’s sound and style are a mixture of genres, showing hints of folk, jazz, and even hip-hop. The song starts strong, and gets right to its main message with the lines, “Kakaiwas, kakaisip, lalo lang lumalalim ang nararamdaman. Bakit ‘di makawala sa katotohanan? (The more I avoid, the more I think; the feelings just get deeper. Why can’t I break free from the truth?)”
The lyrics are brief with just two verses, but Chen proves that she doesn’t need much to make an impact. The hard-hitting lines from the chorus are repeated twice, and it interestingly mimics the perspective of the song: you know a relationship isn’t serving you anymore, but you just can’t help but keep falling back into old patterns, even if you know you’re just making up excuses to justify it.
“My inspiration for this song was my trauma from a past relationship that I wanted to fix. There are a few lines in the verses saying, ‘wag matakot o pagbigyan muli (don’t be scared or give them another chance),’” explains Chen.
The verses in Youphobia take the perspective of a lover who just can’t let go, written with a self-awareness of this cycle’s toxicity. The mind knows it needs to get away, but as the body distances itself from the person, the more the heart desires its love. It’s like the more you try to push them away, the more you’re pulled back.
With Youphobia, Chen shows promise with her lyrical skills, capable of weaving verses that smoothly flow into each other, resulting in a cohesive narrative backed by powerful melodies.
Chen also shows off her range with how she executes each verse–she sings with palpable frustration in the chorus, then employs a pulled-back, more mellow approach to the verses, which serves to amplify the lyrics and all their ups and downs.
“I want to connect with the people who are going through what I went through,” says the consummate artist about the kind of audience she hopes will connect with Youphobia. “Musically, I want to capture the people who are different. The weird, the outliers, and those who feel they don’t belong.”
As someone who writes music from experience, she even has advice from people who can relate to the song and are finding it hard to move on from failed relationships: “Take your time, don’t rush things. Just let it hurt, feel every pain. Trust in God’s perfect timing.”
Blazing a New Trail
For her longtime fans, Youphobia might sound like a departure from Chen’s softer sound in her tracks Paulit-ulit and Sana’y Alam Mo. But with 16 years in the music industry, Chen is no stranger to reinventing her sound and constantly trying new things.
“From songwriting up to the final product, creating Youphobia was really a very exciting process because this is the first song that I was able to explore my new sound and try something different.”
This experimentation with paving her own way seems to be the right move, with Chen receiving a nomination for Best Performance by a Female Recording Artist at the 36th Awit Awards for Paulit-ulit.
“It’s very encouraging to be recognized in this way and by a very established award-giving body. It somehow makes me feel that I am doing something right and I’m going in the right direction,” she says about what the nomination means to her.
As Chen teases more music and live performances to come, we can only expect the freshest songs from this unique female artist.
Listen to Youphobia, out now on all music streaming platforms.
Follow Chen on her social media accounts to stay updated on her future releases