TELLING THE GIRLS TO SMILE PRESSURES THEM TO ACCEPT THE UNJUST STATUS QUO
Producer-songwriter fern. strikes on his own with new single.
FOLLOWING his collaborations and projects with big names such as Julie Ann San Jose and 88rising, fern. (yes, it’s stylized as lowercase and with a period) returns to creating his own music with his latest genredefying single, “Whatever This Is”.
Written just last December, “Whatever This is” chronicles the speaker’s messy feelings while in a relationship and not putting a label on it. The acclaimed producer-songwriter describes it as “embodiment of what I feel” and the first single he’s produced for himself in a long time.
“In anything that I do, it always stems from the things that I feel currently, and that’s why it took me so long to make another single, cause with quarantine I haven’t really been feeling anything,” he shared.
However, time is a strange thing, and eventually fern found himself refreshed and with a song in his head after a quick trip to Zambales. Finally away from quarantine in the city, the beach seemed to jog his memory and spark inspiration. Grabbing his phone, as he usually does, and starts singing the melody of the song that would eventually become “Whatever It Is.”
“I’ve been producing a lot for other artists last year so coming back to writing my own stuff really felt good and this is what came out from it,” he recounted.
An R&B jam that’s quietly powerful with its meticulously arranged quiet storm beats and sleek minimalism, fern admitted that the song was based on a previous experience of his, and the song also serves as one of the first times he’s actually sung his own material.
“The song was written about a personal experience of mine. Music has always been my way of facing my emotions and coming to terms with them. ‘Whatever This Is’ is one of those songs that was made just because I wanted to let go of certain emotions and be okay with whatever I was feeling at the moment,” he shared.
“I’m not really the biggest fan of attention,” fern further admitted, “I’d rather be the one producing rather than the one singing the song, so one of the challenges is the thought of people are going to hear me sing, there’s a music video coming out, and I don’t know what they’re going to say about it, and that’s the biggest challenge cause I’ve never really been comfortable being under that pressure,”
Despite his hesitation, the end result was slick sounding, deeply emotional song that blurs the lines between R&B, electro pop and OPM. With its experimental beat and electro pop style brought in by prolific electronic artist similarobjects and beatsmith VINCED, the song is fresh even in its use of language itself in its accompanying music video.
‘We wanted to have a sprinkle of culture there,” fern. said in reference to the Filipino narration in the beginning of the video despite the song being sung in English, “A lot of people always ask me why I write in English, and that’s why I’m not OPM because of it. But the way I think about it, I still do it for the culture, and the reason why I write in English is I don’t get why I should force myself to write in Tagalog just because it works more. And if English is the way that I can express my emotions more, then I should just stick to that. And the reason why we added the Tagalog narration is that we just can’t keep copying the west, we have to add our own. So we wanted to show people that it’s okay, it’s still OPM,”
The aforementioned music video, which was directed by John Olarte, gives off a free spirited indie film vibe with its relaxed, down to earth style brought about by the need for a smaller film crew during the pandemic. It was filmed by fern and his friends over a weekend around Batangas and Tagaytay.
“It’s really different, because in most of my experiences with labels and everything, they kind of just set up along the way but in this music video, it was just me and my closest friends, and it means a lot. It was really just us thinking about how we can capture the fun and mess around,” he shared.
“Whatever This Is” by fern. is now available on all major streaming platforms.
THE 18-year-old singer-actress has been on top of the heap for eight straight weeks now. Her song “Drivers License,” released January 8, is simply this year’s biggest hit yet. It touches deep down that the International Women’s Day fell exactly two months after its release, with its theme “Choose to Challenge” seemingly fitting the song’s crucial line “Now I drive alone past your street.”
The track, apart from its cool title, is carried well on the emotive singing of the “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” star who in the song admits to being insecure about the “so much older” blonde girl as she “drove through the suburbs.” The idea of a girl driving alone and feeling sentimental hits right through the hearts of today’s generation bent to embrace the hurting while putting up a brave front.
Critics shouldn’t be surprised that a ballad that sounds like you’ve heard it a hundred times before could capture the imagination of song streamers either really out there or just inside their homes imagining they’re driving out thinking they can’t move on and want to express that on social media.
Rodrigo’s video is closing in on 150 million times streamed on Youtube.
Wide open
A new band immediately exploded after releasing its debut single just last March 5. The
group, named Silk Sonic, has a member named Bruno Mars, and the song. “Leave The Door Open” starts grabbing one’s attention once his voice enters the frame in the refrain, singing “I ain’t playing no games/every word that I say/is coming straight from the heart.” No disrespect to the other guy in the super duo, .Anderson Paak. It’s just that Bruno’s too big a name and distinctive a voice to be part of a collective name.
Why just not do it as a collaborative effort with their names separately credited, like how “Uptown Funk” and “Billionaire” were presented,” is subject for debate. By this time Mars can come out in any form, like in the song’s music video where he with a moustache plays on a piano, and people will buy it as treasure. One thing’s for sure.
These two singer-musicians like working together that Silk is coming out with an album later this year called “An Evening with Silk Sonic.” Paak opened for Mars during the latter’s “24k Magic” Tour.
This new single was even preceded by a minute-long Silk
Sonic Intro, released a day before it, featuring the speaking voice of noted funk bassist Bootsy Collins.
In fairness, the song stands out for listeners to even feel bothered whether it should be taken as a collaboration, a band single, or just another Bruno Mars gem. It’s a throwback R&B with a stylized chorus line that sings “Imma” instead of “I’m gonna.”
Once the melody line sips through your head, it will be hard to undo the contraction when you have to say “I’m going to” in a sentence.
It should help Paak’s image that he appeared singing the verses while playing the drums in its music video that has already garnered 23 million views in just four days. Is this the first time a group song was vocally performed by two instrumentalists traditionally placed at the back of a band?
Mars is of course among the 21st century artists who consistently produces sexy songs with real catchy melodies. Here he once again leaves the door open.