When you feel overwhelmed and drained over life’s tireless toil, picture yourself in a lush forest, surrounded by nature and fairies. Then, you get carried away, literally and figuratively, in a magical fantasy prism and you hum yourself a tune with lyrics that go, “Ah basta gusto ko lang namang magpalutang-lutang/Magpatangay sa banayad na ihip ng hangin nakakapagod ang puro pangangamba/Kailangan ko yatang matutong huminga.”
This was how emerging artist Angelica Ponce, also known as Jikamarie (stylized as jikamarie), conceptualized the music video for her single Lutang, which is about voicing out one’s feeling of tiredness that escalates into fatigue, coupled with anxiety.
She wanted the official video to be as “cartoonish and tacky as possible” to convey the main sentiments of the track.
“Yung concept po kasi niya is about the song, it’s about fatigue and emotional, physical and mental stress that we go through every day with work, with school and how it makes us want to just float literally,” began jikamarie in an exclusive Zoom chat with The STAR.
The video also featured a girl that was being held back by her father because she is an artist and her only way to express creativity is turn her paintings into origami.
“Being called into the forest is quite, literally, in my opinion, the best portrait of escaping. Parang desperate na siya for an escape, she wants a place, where she can be free. Be the artist that she is. Be herself and that escape happens to be fairies calling her to be in the forest,” explained jikamarie.
The young artist herself can somewhat relate to the situation with her dad, who wanted her to focus on her Architecture course rather than music.
“My parents would tell me, ‘Architecture student ka, bakit ka nag-uubos ng panahon na magsulat ng kanta,’” shared she. “Mga ganung comment but I kinda exaggerated that a little bit because I know that a lot of Filipino kids are gonna relate sa ganung aspect po nung video. Especially here in the Philippines, parang ang pinaka-ayaw ng parents na maging career ng bata is anything art-related, which is sad, and I wanted to emulate that in the music video.”
Jikamarie, nonetheless, plans to pursue both fields now that she is on her last year as an Architecture student and at the same time, building a career in music.
The singer-songwriter never expected that Lutang would gain so much attention. The track, under Warner Music Philippines (WMP), has generated a 10 million consolidated streams on Spotify.
“I wrote Lutang at 5 a.m., after I just finished a major architectural plate and I was so exhausted — physically, emotionally and mentally. I felt so defeated, like I had no choice but to do my tasks because I simply needed to — not because they made me happy doing them,” she shared in a media release.
“This tiredness escalated into fatigue, combined with anxiety, because aside from the academic career that demanded so much of my time and energy, I also wanted to pursue music — my childhood dream. Really badly,” added she.
She continued, “I was deciding whether I would continue with architecture or shift to a music-related career, maybe even drop out completely to work on my music. The pressure of deciding between the two very risky options triggered me to just want to, quite literally ‘float’ instead of having the burden of deciding. When I made the demo, I showed it to my brother and him having the skills to produce music, I trusted the song to him.”
Jikamarie comes from a family of musicians. Her brother is a drummer and her parents used to be bandmates in college, where her dad was the lead guitarist while her mom was the vocalist. Her “rockstar” image is heavily influenced by her mother’s penchant for hard rock, such as Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses, and father’s preference for Original Pilipino Music (OPM) including Eraserheads. She is also a fan of IV of Spades and is a BTS ARMY.
The artist was discovered by WMP Artists and Repertoire manager Kelley Mangahas, who showed interest in her work after hearing Lutang which had 100,000 streams at that time.
Maintaining good relationship with her followers is what jikamarie wants to be known for.
“I just want to be the artist that works with my followers,” said she. “I like that reputation. I want to keep that relationship with my followers and I want them to be as involved as they can since they are the main consumers of my music and my content. They are the reason why I’m here. They stream my song, they promote my song and it’s only right that they get to be involved with my songwriting process.”
“I think that’s one thing that I can be proud of,” added she. “One thing po na parang nag-blow-up yung iba kong kanta, I do livestream on TikTok and then I write songs with my followers. Ako nagsusulat ng (initial words), tapos nag-bibigay sila ng suggested lyrics. I’ve made a lot of songs with them and it’s very, very fun,” she said.
Although it’s not a new concept, “I’m just glad I get to do that and people know me for that,” she added.
She likewise believed that the “Filipino music scene is active” and told The STAR that “if you embrace the Filipino music industry, it will embrace you back as an artist.” One way to do this is to “contribute to the culture of promoting each other” through supporting and streaming Filipino artists’ music.
Now is a good time to debut as an artist, according to jikamarie. “Filipino listeners are smart and they know what they wanna listen to. Hindi sila namimili kung sikat ka, kung gaano ka na katagal sa industriya, or sino ba ang connection mo, wala silang pakialam sa ganun. (If) they like your song, (if) they like your stuff, they will support you. I love that very much and it’s very exciting for new artists like me and mga susunod po sa akin.”
Her advice to fresh talents, who want to give the music industry a crack, is to “establish who you are first (as an artist) before they (listeners can) recognize and support you” and “set up a platform, connect with your fans and followers because they are your partners.”
The music newcomer has just put out Lutang: The Mixtape, featuring producers, such as, Timothy Run, Squid 9, DJ Young and LUSTBASS and fellow viral sensation Paul Pablo. She is currently working on her next single about “yearning for affection and time from someone.”