
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
MANILA, Philippines – It was in 2023 when REIKO’s name entered public consciousness.
He was then a contestant on THE FIRST, the Japanese survival show where SKY-HI and entertainment company BMSG would, together, debut their first-ever boy group, BE:FIRST.
REIKO entered the audition bright-eyed as ever. The Japanese-Filipino artist came into the show with no formal dancing or singing experience, merely trusting in his lifelong love for music to get himself through it.
While he did not make it to the final lineup, he was right to trust in his natural inclination toward music, because, in the same year, he was able to make his debut as a solo artist.
“I always say that it’s because I’m Filipino, and my love for music just wins over any obstacle that comes with being a professional artist. I don’t have to be the best in the room. My love for music wins over my insecurities, my fear, and all of that. That’s what got me going when I signed with BMSG, and that’s what makes me get through everything, even when I have hard days,” he told Rappler.
Two years since starting his career, REIKO’s set out to further make his mark in Japan and the Philippines with a growing catalogue of R&B tracks.
Fresh off the release of his latest single, “LOVE DEEPER,” the 22-year-old artist sat down with Rappler to talk about his musical beginnings, what it was like navigating his craft in between two cultures, and how he molded the music he now puts out.
Finding his groove
REIKO came to Japan at the age of 2, learning how to speak Japanese when he was in Kindergarten. It was clear early on in REIKO’s life that he would have to juggle his Filipino identity with his Japanese one, and growing up, it was anything but easy.
“I wouldn’t fully understand what my classmates were talking about or doing. Especially when they were talking about the TV program that they just saw the night before. I couldn’t get it because sa bahay (at home), we were watching Disney Channel in English, and TFC,” he shared.
He struggled to find a common thread as easily as he thought he could among his Japanese peers in elementary school. It was lonely, REIKO admitted. But that was when music came into the picture.
“Making friends was kind of hard, but when I started to sing in music class, that’s where people noticed me and really actually saw me. That was my first ‘Oh, wait, maybe I love music’ moment,” he explained.
That’s where I started to feel known and feel like I exist as a person. That’s one of my core memories as a Japanese-Filipino kid.
From there, REIKO would go on to join the kids’ choir and explore all kinds of music genres, from J-pop to K-pop, until he finally found himself back in the sonic world of R&B, which now colors his work as a recording artist.
Despite pursuing his music career in Japan, REIKO’s Filipino roots are still very much present in his identity as an artist. Apart from crediting his Filipino blood to fueling the discovery of his own singing abilities, it shows in his music, too.
In his 2024 Debut album, tucked between several song titles in Japanese and English was a single in Filipino, “Hanggang Kailan Pa.”
Beyond the lyrics — which he really worked hard to do justice to because he wanted to make sure he “didn’t say anything weird” — REIKO knew every aspect of it had to be Filipino.
To put the ballad together, REIKO worked with Matt Cab and Saraj — Filipino producers and composers who grew up in the same circumstances he did. Matt Cab was raised in Los Angeles, and Saraj was raised in Japan. Right off the bat, there was a common thread between the three musicians that made the song extra special.
REIKO, Matt Cab, and Saraj intentionally produced the song to have it be reminiscent of classic Filipino ballads that were always successful in amping up the emotions of those who listened to and sang them in videoke sessions. Think slow tempo, vocals that start out soft and eventually build up to extremely powerful high notes, and of course, a melodramatic piano instrumental that lingers through it all.
“We did that on purpose,” said REIKO, smiling when I pointed these qualities out. “We wanted to sneak something in.”
‘I will embrace your tears with love’
Now, REIKO is back with “LOVE DEEPER,” the last installment of his R&B trilogy, which is already made up of songs “Take it Back” and “Kimi no Sei.”
REIKO wrote the first part of the trilogy, “Take it Back,” for his sister.
“If you translate the lyrics, the message is to live your life the way you want to live it. Because my sister, she’s such a people pleaser. It really stresses her out. So, I wanted to empower her,” he told Rappler.
For “Kimi no Sei,” REIKO wanted to go back to the 2000s R&B sound he grew up listening to around his parents — taking these sonic influences to create a bittersweet love song that zeroes in on a person’s hurt.
With “LOVE DEEPER,” REIKO wanted to cap off his trilogy on a more positive note — an apt ending to a series of releases that explored the depths of pain and how to navigate it.
“I purposely made [“LOVE DEEPER”] really sweet, flirtatious, and funky,” REIKO explained, almost as if he was trying to show that this upbeat feel was the outcome of long periods of enduring all the hurt.
But all this is just the beginning for REIKO. As more people begin to find solace in his music the same way it did for him in his formative years, we can be sure to expect even bigger projects from the Japanese-FIlipino singer in the future.
For now, though, REIKO is keeping himself busy with enjoying his craft. – Rappler.com