Asian Music Review | Asian voices matter

Moving and full of fireworks!

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Welcome to Asian Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.

Pjansein is a talented young musician from the Philippines who started composing music as a hobby in the early 2020s. He began producing music in 2021 through the Philippines-based Certified Prism Recordings. Martin Garrix, R3hab, Marshmello, and other musicians influenced his EDM and pop tracks heavily. He wishes to work with local artists to grow and broaden his music in order to connect people all over the world.

Anj Jimenez is a singer-songwriter from Laguna who started writing songs at a young age. Her influences in writing are IU (Korean musician), Yui (Japanese musician), and Yeng Constantino. Her genre is mostly Pop/PopRock, but while enjoying her journey as an indie musician, she met various artists that helped her to get a taste of different genres, especially EDM.

Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?

Released March 3, 2023. The Goblin OST has been a huge source of inspiration for our newest collaboration, “Memorya.” I’m taking inspiration from the soundtrack’s use of musical elements and applying some of those concepts to our song.

Memorya was produced and mixed by Patrick Añite under Certified Umbra Recordings.

What lessons would you like to impart with your audience?

Anj says, “I wanted to describe our life journey as individuals. Like how people just come and go. On this long road we are taking, people will walk with you, laugh with you, and even cry with you, but not everyone will stay until the end.

There’s a line that I wrote that says:

Kung sasabayan o lalagpas lang,
Sa aking memorya ay tatandaan

People who stayed and those who only passed by, I will remember everyone in my memory.

In the second verse, this song also encourages the listeners to reach their goals in their lifetime:

Hihintayin or liliparin ang ligaya sa himpapawid,
kung di mo gawin at di abutin, maglalaho ang bituin”

This talks about if you only wait nothing will happen, you gotta work on it to reach it.”

What is your favorite part of this body of work?

Anj answers, “All of it. I love the song as a whole especially the way I wrote it. I am even surprised with my choice of words to be honest. I’ve always been a huge fan of IU. I admire her writing style on how she present her songs like a poetry.”

What’s next on your journey?

Pjansein shares, “I’m thrilled to announce that next month, I’ll be releasing a collaboration with another up-and-coming artist who’s also debuting their first single. We’ve been working on this project for a while now, I can’t wait to share our music.”

Anj answers, “As always, more song releases. Please anticipate my future music releases. Thank you.”