Now, Angela Muji is singing more than one line
When you’re part of a 45-member group like Angela Muji was with P-pop Generation, it’s not out of the ordinary to never set foot in a recording studio. Or if you’re lucky, maybe you can get one solo line. Otherwise, the assigned singers did the recording; the rest just got to sing along in live performances.
Muji, at 16, knew she wanted more. “I was really hungry for song parts,” she says. “I wished—baka puwede pong dagdagan ang linya ko para naman makakanta ako a bit more.”
But in 2023, the group disbanded, and acting beckoned not too long after. “I didn’t think I would be able to sing and dance ever again,” she says. As she worked her way up from supporting to starring roles, singing came back into the picture.
Right—leading ladies are sometimes made to sing OSTs.
A huge jump
Now, after recording songs for the series “Seducing Drake Palma” (SDP) and the film “A Werewolf Boy,” Muji finally has her first proper solo single—a soft ballad titled “Is It Over.” “Dati pinapangarap ko lang na mas maraming lines, but now I have my own song,” she says. “Singing as part of a group to being a solo artist is a huge jump.”
The song couldn’t be more tailor-made for Muji, though perhaps unwittingly so at first. Director Crisanto Aquino wrote a portion of it while doing “SDP,” inspired by the foolish things the character Alys did for love. At the time, it never occurred to him that Muji, who plays Alys, could actually sing.
But upon learning about her secret talent, Aquino finished the song in time for its sequel, “Dating Alys Perez.” And at that point, who else could he give it to? Because yes, she might not have written the song—but if there’s anyone who knows the character the song was inspired by, it’s Muji.
“While recording, iniisip ko lang si Alys at kung paano siya sobrang nasasaktan kay Drake,” says the actress, who stars opposite her perennial screen partner Rabin Angeles. You can say she was acting while singing it. “I try to feel the words. Hearing them is already painful, so what more if you say them out loud?”
“I was like, ‘Bakit mo ginawa sa ‘kin ‘to? Paano mo ‘ko nasaktan nang ganito?’” she adds. “Then you feel the surge of emotions… you feel them in your voice. That was my process.”
Exploring her musical side
Muji wished she couldn’t relate to that part of Alys, but alas, she must admit she’s not really any wiser. “Oh gosh! Ayokong magmalinis,” she says, laughing. “Maybe it’s true what they say about love—parang nabibingi at nabubulag ka… at nashushunga nang konti.”
While acting remains her priority, Muji plans to further explore her musical side. She wouldn’t really describe herself as a “singer-singer”; she didn’t have any formal training besides her P-pop training. But growing up, she would watch singers on television and copy them. Her favorite was—and still is—Sarah Geronimo. And she did join the choir during grade school.
Given the chance, Muji, who’s currently in discussions with Ivory Records about possible future releases, says she would like to do lighthearted bops in the same vein as Nadine Lustre’s early hits like “Paligoy-ligoy” and Donnalyn Bartolome’s “Kakaibabe.” She also loves The Marías and Marina Diamandis—artists whose “music and lyrics resonate with me” and “feed my soul.”
And should she one day try her hand at songwriting, Muji already has the foundation. “I loved writing poetry when I was young. I have also written songs before. Sometimes, I hear a tune in my head and write them down,” she says. “I just can’t play instruments, so I just record my voice.”’
Trusting her gut
While “Is It Over” was intended as a heartbreak song, the title—at least taken on its own—captures how she felt during a difficult part of her career. Over its five-year run, P-pop Generation would see its ranks gradually thin. And as much as she didn’t want to give up, resisting the urge became harder and harder when she saw colleagues quitting, choosing to study or work in other industries.
“When people start straying away, parang gusto mo na ring sumama,” she points out.
She had to make a choice: start anew or be stubborn and not let the time and effort she had already invested go to waste. But she chose the latter: “My gut told me not to give up.”
Before long, only around six members remained, and she saw her breakthrough in acting. She doesn’t really feel famous yet, she insists—contrary to how others see her. But she knows she’s no longer where she started.
“Seven, eight years ago, I would think, ‘May mangyayari pa sa ‘kin?’” she says. “But I’m glad I didn’t stop. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have become Alys. Kung anong meron ako ngayon, ‘di ko mararanasan.”
All things considered, Muji realized that she’s stronger than she gives herself credit for. “Ang tatag ko rin pala,” she says. “I’m grateful na nandito ako ngayon.”
