Music
COMING HOME to a chorus of cheers sparked a different level of energy for beabadoobee, the Filipina-British artist whose Ilonggo roots extend far beyond the global stage. During the recently concluded Manila stop for her 2025 Asia Tour, the indie pop-rock star returned to a sea of voices singing every word, wrapping her in the kind of welcome only a hometown crowd can express.
Listening to beabadoobee, also known as Bea, can feel like unlocking a 2000s Original Pinoy Music (OPM) time capsule, where every wistful lyric and warm guitar riff echoes a quiet yet familiar comfort. Her tracks offer not just global indie stardom, but a sound steeped in soft-edged rock, raw emotion, and nostalgic warmth that feels unmistakably Filipino.
If beabadoobee’s sound stirs memories of half-forgotten OPM melodies within you, Vantage Magazine has curated a list of local acts you might want to tune in to.
Zelle
Photo Courtesy of MusicBrainz
Beabadoobee’s music is most known for hushed, enchanting vocals accompanied by hazy guitar notes. By no means is this soundscape a far stretch from her earlier works, but her debut album “Fake It Flowers” is blatantly more grungy, love-struck, and loud. With brooding lyrics that crescendo into a gratifying scream, her songs “Yoshimi, Forest, Magdalene” and “Worth It” carry the same emotional wavelength as the OPM band Zelle, which carries a signature violin-infused acoustic rock. Zelle’s lead singer Jeazell Grutas, who was only 22 years old when the band released its debut album “Search for Warmth,” mirrors beabadoobee as a young, female artist who turns snapshots of her personal life into songs–both declaring impassioned love, or woefully questioning the behavior of their romantic partners. Known for their song “Sabihin,” Zelle’s other tracks, such as “Lihim” and “Ikot Ng Mundo,” also deliver the same frenzied energy of listening to powerful vocals atop equally energetic instrumentals.
Imago
Photo Courtesy of Genius
Imago emerged into the OPM world with their album, “Probably Not, But Most Definitely,” offering listeners a novel blend of folk and rock. Their most popular song, “Sundo,” is a deeply contemplative, beguiling ballad, and is a prime example of the dynamic and alternative sound Imago is more known for in their later years. Listening to it fittingly provokes the image of wistfully staring at blurring streets during a long ride home on a rainy night. For kids of the 2000s, you have more than likely heard this on the car radio. Likewise, beabadoobee’s “Lovesong” is similar to “Sundo” in that both titles tell of love and relationships against the backdrop of commuting, with softly-sung vocals that lull you into a trance. If you find yourself helplessly thinking about a certain person, these two can create the perfect daydreaming soundtrack for all your yearning purposes.
Kiss Jane
Photo Courtesy of Spotify
Formed in the early 2010s, Kiss Jane emerged in the OPM scene with a distinctive blend of pop-rock and alternative sensibilities. Their track “Baliw” brings that same familiar, melancholic, guitar-driven soundscape as songs like “He Gets Me So High” and “the perfect pair.” With its spiraling guitar lines and fragile lyricism, Kiss Jane’s hit captures the emotional freefall of being hopelessly in love, slowly losing grip of yourself. It’s this same sense of intimate unraveling that runs through beabadoobee’s ballads, where the emotion is exhibited front and center. Like Bea, Kiss Jane makes yearning sound soft and just a little dizzying.
Prettier Than Pink
Photo Courtesy of Spotify
One of the first all-female pop-rock bands to break into the Philippine mainstream, Prettier Than Pink had made space for a kind of femininity that was breezy, expressive, and assertive. Tracks like “Cool Ka Lang” and “No Worries” pair rock with light and melodic pop. Their music created space for emotion and authenticity at a time when rock was largely male-dominated. That same spirit of being tender but unapologetic lives on in artists like beabadoobee, whose dreamy yet grounded sound feels like an extension of the emotional honesty Prettier Than Pink championed decades earlier. Tracks like “Glue Song” wrap vulnerability in warm melodies, while “Care” pairs confessional lyrics with a more defiant and upbeat edge, mirroring that balance of softness and self-assuredness.
Kitchie Nadal
Photo Courtesy of Genius
Emerging as a defining voice in the 2000s OPM, Kitchie Nadal brought a tender yet unflinching honesty to the local music scene. Her songs, often stripped down to their emotional core, turn vulnerability into quiet courage. In “Bulong !!!,” this sincerity deepens into an aching prayer—its sparse guitar and hushed delivery amplify the desperation between the lines, creating a stillness that lingers long after the last note. Beabadoobee’s “Charlie Brown” moves in this same emotional orbit but trades stillness for eruption, using a grungy distortion and crashing drums to mirror the chaos of intrusive thoughts. While “Bulong !!!” finds power in restraint, “Charlie Brown” discovers it in release—yet, both prove that fervor of feelings in music can be equally potent whether whispered or shouted.
Yeng Constantino
Photo Courtesy of Genius
With her signature voice and songwriting, Yeng Constantino has become an OPM mainstay since “Hawak Kamay,” crafting pop-rock anthems that capture the heart of the Filipino experience. Being the most mainstream—and arguably the most influential—among the list, her music bridges polished pop arrangements and bare feelings, resembling the heartfelt messiness of beabadoobee’s “10:36” or the soft ache of “Animal Noises.” Constantino’s tracks, such as “Siguro” and “Away-Bati,” pulse with the same raw lyricism and pop-rock edge, tracing the highs and lows of love, loss, and growing up with open arms. Where Bea’s storytelling plays like pages from a worn diary, Yeng’s feels more like notes passed between friends—honest, unfiltered, and full of heart.
A legacy of vulnerability
The emotional openness showcased by these featured artists isn’t unique to them alone—it runs through OPM’s history. In the same way, the sentimental honesty expressed in beabadoobee’s music didn’t come out of nowhere. Her presence as a young Filipina in alt-rock follows a lineage of women who’ve long made space for raw, reflective narratives in the local scene. More artists such as Barbie Almalbis and Acel Bisa (Moonstar88) were already challenging expectations in the music industry—writing with clarity, performing with edge, and leaving behind songs that felt just as intimate as they were powerful. However, Bea doesn’t just echo that legacy; she adds to it in her own deeply personal way.
During her first concert in the Philippines back in 2022, beabadoobee told a packed crowd, “I feel like I’ve always craved to look up to someone that looked like me, that played my kind of music.” Years later, she’s become that person—not just for herself, but for a new generation of listeners. Her records map out a coming-of-age shaped by both angst and nostalgia, by guitar fuzz and childhood memories, and by London flats and Iloilo roots.
Even when unintentional, Bea’s music pulls from a cultural palette steeped in memory and belonging. And, for many Filipino listeners, her sound can feel like a homecoming—proof that OPM and the voices that shaped it continue to reverberate far beyond our shores.
For more echoes of home, check out our playlist and let the songs carry you back to the sounds that shaped a generation!
