Ylona Garcia: The Filipina Gem of 88Rising
(This article was written in January 2022.)
“The stage is yours, so why don’t you take it?” Ylona Garcia sings in her futuristic and phosphorescent music video for her newest single, “Entertain Me”.
In two weeks, her music video garnered more than 2 million views in YouTube. In comparison to her earlier music videos, this was her fastest video to reach that number of views.
Indeed, this young Filipino-Australian artist is now standing on the stage. All the lights point toward her as she signals the beginning of the next generation of bolstering Filipino identity and representation in the international music scene.
Now, if you’ve been an avid watcher of Pinoy Big Brother six years ago, you might have heard that name before. In fact, Ylona was one of the Big 4 winners of the reality competition on its 2015 edition, placing second.
At a young age of thirteen, Ylona built a fanbase who loved her for being bubbly, a mature thinker, talented, and a girl filled with promising charm. She had been invited to play guest roles in TV drama series and host in TV in several occasions.
During her days in the reality competition, the now nineteen-year-old Ylona would show off her singing skill to her fellow housemates at Bahay ni Kuya. Certainly, not only the housemates found something on her voice, and not only the audience of the reality program or Kuya, but also, the New York-based music recording label 88Rising, which aims to shaping and endorsing Asian and Asian American talents to the world.
Ylona is now a part of the growing roster of artists under the similar company that manages big names, such as Japanese-Australian singer Joji, Indonesian rapper Rich Brian, and Hong Kong rapper Jackson Wang. She would be handled by Paradise Rising which is an 88Rising project with Globe Telecom, that focuses on Filipino talents.
On March 3, 2021, her debut single “All That” was launched the same day she was revealed as the newest artist in 88Rising.
According to Bandwagon, “All That” is Ylona’s “anthemic celebration about moving forward past the negativity and toxicity of 2020.”
In September, her next single “Don’t Go Changing” followed, which is a part of 88Rising’s soon-to-be-released compilation album, “Head in the Clouds III”.
Then, she began her 2022 by releasing “Entertain Me”, which is also a theme song for the first Filipino and Southeast Asian character named Neon in Riot Games’ first-person shooter game Valorant.
Valorant players undoubtedly enjoyed Ylona’s single, saying that Neon has a good taste in music. Comments under the music video shows that some commenters viewed it after hearing the music from the game.
Her Filipino fans expressed their pride for the young artist, citing that Ylona was not able to reach her full potential when she was under the management of a local recording label. They believed that 88Rising would lay down the perfect platform for her, where she could not only hone her talent by being herself but also build her global fandom and relevance in the mainstream music scene someday.
What her achievement means to aspiring young Filipino artists is representation. The unique and captivating voices of the Filipinos are no stranger to the world. With names like Lea Salonga, who performed one of the most loved Disney songs of all-time, ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin, and Charice Pempengco (now Jake Zyrus) who made several appearances in American musical television series Glee, and countless other Filipinos who dominated international and foreign singing contests and even internet algorithms, there are already plenty enough footages to inspire the next generation.
However, Ylona hails from the newer and more modern era, and that is what she represents. Ylona also amplifies the voice of those Filipino morenas who have always received the disapproval of the society and Philippine media for not being fair-skinned enough to earn a place in the local entertainment industry. Ylona carries both the world-famous Filipino flair in singing like a diva, and the exotic Filipina beauty and charm.
With the unmatched and authentic passion of 88Rising to grow their talents and creatives and spread them across continents and internet platforms, Ylona found her place just right for her. — CDFF
