A conversation with Philippines-based musician, Ruru. She explained to us how spoken word poetry has guided her song writing, how she has grown as a self-produced artist, and how she’s found close friendships in the Philippine music scene. Q: Can you describe yourself? Denice: I’m studying in an art school in the Philippines. It’s called De La Salle. I’m taking up film. I’m just doing music on the side. Q: How would you describe your music? Denice: Well, people call it bedroom pop, but I just call it alternative RnB. Q: Are you recording all of the music yourself? Denice: I’m self-produced. So, everything is by me. I interned with a music producer in the Philippines. He does TV show jingles, and he was actually sort of my teacher when I was younger. When I was getting into music at the end of high school, I asked him if he could teach me how to produce music by myself, so he did. The software I’m using now is Ableton. Q: What is the music scene like in the Philippines? Are there a lot of other
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young people doing stuff similar to you? Denice: There are lots of people making music like me. It’s pretty diverse. But, when I was starting out, I wasn’t really friends with the young people. The music scene here is really a bunch of friends. We know each other, and we’re all interested in music. When I started out, I didn’t know anything about it. The person I’m really close to is Mellow Fellow because our main platform was SoundCloud and the other musicians don’t use it as intensely as us. Q: When do you feel like you started to build a following on SoundCloud? Denice: Last year in July, two people from the Philippine music industry noticed me and private messaged me. They invited me to their scene, and after that I started to get different messages. I received a message from Mellow Fellow. I was also noticed by Cosmo Pyke and King Krule. They messaged me and followed me, and that was really overwhelming. But I real-
ized that my music was actually being listened to by other people. Originally, I didn’t make it for other people. I only did it for myself. I never thought that anyone would care to listen to it anyway. It was just something I liked to do, and I would show it to my close friends who also like music. Q: Do you feel like now that you have a following you’re pressured to change your style for your audience? Or, is it still just you making music how you want to make it? Denice: Well, my style has changed, but I wouldn’t say it’s because of the audience. Overtime, I just felt like it needed to change. It changed naturally because of the things I listen to also. Q: Do you have specific artists that inspire your music? Denice: A few artists I really look up to are STRFKR, (Sandy) Alex G, Noname, Gypsy, and Chairlift. Q: What about their music appeals to