Sometimes we get to scroll down Facebook news feeds, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram and discover gems waiting to be found.
What’s your hot take on music today?
Today’s music influence is the combination of all genres. People are into jazz and rock lately, some stays with classics, while others are in the wild exploration of genres which aren’t much popular yet.
How about pop music with a different sound aesthetic?
Ena Mori is a half-Japanese, half-Filipino singer-songwriter under Offshore music—Ely Buendia’s music label.
She spent the first years of her life in Japan then moved to the Philippines at the age of 15. Ena Mori thought back then that she would become pianist because that’s how she loved music so much. But fate has other plans too. The impact of living in Japan and in the Philippines made her want to become the artist that she is—exploring the heritage of both countries which her want to dream big.
She was part of a band called ‘Dayaw’, an ethnic fusion band, and she really enjoyed having sessions with them. But then her idea of going solo came because she really wanted to do singing and song writing alone.
Her songwriting process starts with composing the melody. The difficult part is the part where you get to write the lyrics because as songwriters, you often times stumble on to idea—never proceeding. But with Ena Mori’s strategy, she writes if she feels like it at any time of the day.
Her songs are an introduction of mixing pop onto everything—the vibrant feeling as usual. To her, Pop wouldn’t exist without other genres like jazz, soul, classical, and many other genres. This is what her brand of music is in line with.
She said that, “Popular music is the first music genre that most people notice, so I really find the importance in pop music. For me, it is the most convenient form of communicating with the audience. So, us musicians, we have to take popular music very seriously and never abuse the power that it has.”
Ena Mori mentioned in one of her interviews that the people she looks up to with songwriting include Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, and Lana Del Rey. While her influences in the music world include Lorde, Robyn, Sigrid, and the pop band Muna.
Last 2020, Ena released ‘FALL IN LOVE!’ which was inspired by the ugly side of relationship, pride and ego.
Earlier this month, she performed her latest song, ‘VIVID’ on Wish 107.5 bus, an on-air and online haven for music aficionados.
