Metro Chats: BEY Talks About All Things Music

In February, rising artist BEY stopped by the Metro Chats room on Kumu to speak with Metro Editor-in-Chief Geolette Esguerra about her beginnings in music, overcoming her shyness when it comes to performing, growing up in Los Angeles, and more.

BEY, who rose to prominence in January 2021 with her debut song “Crash Landing” (yes, inspired by the beloved K-drama starring newlyweds Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin), has released a couple more songs since then. That same year, she came out with “nevermind” and “Dahilan”—two ‘hugot’ songs that she feels are definitely closer to her heart.

Check out highlights from our conversation with the rising artist below:

On watching Crash Landing on You after recording the song

“Yes, I watched Crash Landing on You and it was so funny because the song actually came first before I started watching the K-drama,” BEY said. When she was approached with the demo, produced by Gracenote musician Eunice Jorge, it was what compelled her to check out the K-drama for herself.

On her earliest musical memories

“I would sing ‘Dancing Queen’ with my mom, or the Pink song, ‘Get the Party Started,’” BEY shared. “Those were the songs I would sing with my mom on karaoke. She was my singing partner. She was also the one who got me into boybands. I know that when she was pregnant, she was doing Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC choreography, she’d be at the concerts with her belly—one of us was in there, either me or my kuyas, and she would just be dancing and singing her heart out so I definitely feel like I got my musical side from my mom especially since she’s she into concerts and whatnot, so I’m very thankful that I was able to grow up in that kind of environment.”

On using music to express herself

“Once I got older, I kind of just used that as an outlet to express myself. But the thing is that I wasn’t the person who would volunteer myself to sing at parties, or sing in front of people, because I’m very shy. I’m a shy person when it comes to that. When it comes to talking I’m fine, I’m super madaldal, I can talk for hours with people, talk about anything and everything. When it comes to singing, that’s something that I wanna keep to myself and keep very private to the ones that are close to me in my life, like my friends and my family. My mom would always be like, ‘Sing for your titas, sing for your titas,’ you know that normal Filipino mom situation. But I feel like this was a great opportunity for me to kind of step out of my comfort zone, do something that I really love, so for me to turn that passion into a job or do something with it, it’s such a big blessing and I’m very honored to have that privilege.” 

On her musical influences

BEY, who was discovered via her cover of Moira dela Torre’s “Ikaw at Ako,” listens to a wide variety of genres and artists. She grew up singing “Bakit Pa Ba” on karaoke, making it the first OPM song that she learned by herself. She loves Ariana Grande, Jorja Smith, and Adele—and the latter songstress’s “Easy On Me” is a song that BEY loves to perform, because she likes the range it gives her voice. (She recently sang it at her first live gig, held at 19 East.) “Right now, I feel like I’m really leaning towards pop and R&B,” she added.

On growing up around the music scene in Los Angeles

“LA is a pretty big hub when it comes to entertainment,” BEY said. “A lot of genres, a lot of bands and artists get inspiration from there or go over there to become big or get signed and start their careers. Being born and raised in LA gave a lot to me growing up, just because there were the boybands that came along, there were the divas—Beyoncé, Britney Spears, et cetera—it was just very nice to have that variety so I can pick and choose from that. Either way I listen to a wide variety of genres and artists but it’s very nice to have that kind of selection, be open-minded. It’s very good to be in an open-minded environment where music [is concerned].”

Watch the full conversation:

Listen to BEY's latest singles:

Lead photo from @itsbeymusic