Singer-songwriter ORIGIN builds his own universe through music

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Growing up, Yzlvikxen Angkahan would never be caught without a sketchbook and art materials in hand. Drawing was his favorite hobby, and he made sure everyone else around him knew that. 

“I made drawing my personality,” he confessed in a mix of English and Filipino. “‘At school, people would say, ‘That’s Yzl drawing over there.’” 

It was what his peers associated him with all the way up until high school. Even when he transitioned to photography in his late teens, things didn’t feel too far off from the Yzl who liked to draw as a kid. He was still a visual creative through and through. 

These are the markings of someone who would eventually go on to become an artist in adulthood. It was true for Yzl, but not in the way you’d think. 

These days, you won’t find him hunched over a canvas, but behind the mic as singer-songwriter ORIGIN. 

One and done? Not quite 

Like most (if not all) Filipinos, ORIGIN was a music fan who just liked to sing here and there. He had a microphone at home, but he had still never thought anything of it. As far as he was concerned, music was just something he enjoyed and never took all that seriously. 

But things would change when the pandemic hit. He would join Discord servers where people would just sing and play around with vocal effects, and from the confines of his bedroom, he would teach himself audio mixing. Before long, he’d finally gather the courage to sing into the mic. 

“The moment I heard myself with effects for the first time, it was like an ‘Oh shit’ moment for me. Kasi parang, ‘Uy, gagi, ang angas pala ng tunog ko ‘pag may effects (Because it’s like, ‘Hey, my voice sounds pretty cool when there are effects),” he told Rappler. “It gave me a boost of confidence.”

ORIGIN. Photo courtesy of the artist

And when he took things a notch further by making his voice heard on those Discord servers he joined, he would soon realize that he could actually sing. 

This is where his artist name would come to be, too. It’s a funny story, really, and there isn’t anything deep to it. He needed a Discord username, and remembered that he had just bought a new pair of shoes in the colorway “Origin Story.” Since then, it’s stuck. 

Everything would quickly follow from there — including the heartache that would pretty much kickstart his music career; he just didn’t know it yet. 

On May 19, 2022, ORIGIN would get his heart broken, and while romantic letdowns are always unfortunate, it had led to him writing his first-ever song, “NINETEEN.” When he wrote it the very next day, he pieced together that not only could he sing, but he could write lyrics pretty well, too. 

“I never stopped writing since. I fell in love with songwriting after finishing my first song,” he said. 

He released “NINETEEN” in early 2023, and that was supposed to be the end of it. It was all meant to be a one-time thing, where he had just wanted to check releasing a song on Spotify off his bucket list. 

But when people actually started streaming it and adding it to their playlists, ORIGIN thought it wouldn’t hurt to drop another song, and then another, and another. 

“I was confident about music from the get-go,” he said about finally sharing his work to the public. He had yet to figure out what his sound truly was at this point, but even then, he knew this was his moment, and he wasn’t going to let anyone downplay that. 

Even more releases and three years later, ORIGIN has never looked back. 

A storyteller

Now based in Hiroshima, Japan, the 27-year-old artist finds joy in creating a sense of nostalgia for those who listen to his music. In his lyrics, he dives deep into the small details of the past. He zeroes in on the little things you likely wouldn’t take notice of in the moment — but only when the memory has long passed. 

Reality and fiction blur in his world. ORIGIN is a storyteller who knows how to build a whole new universe around him by taking pieces of real-life moments and letting his imagination do the rest. 

Just listen to his song, “Distraction.” Here, ORIGIN goes back to the time when he was talking to someone who suddenly got busy. He was still vying for her attention, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was a distraction to her. 

He confessed that not everything he says in this song actually happened in real life. What he does is add color to the otherwise mundane, and perhaps that’s the charm behind his music. He prefers to keep his lyrics simple, and just lets his creativity do the talking. 

“I’m not a fan of using flowery words when it comes to writing,” he shared. “How you’d say it in real life, gusto ko gano’n ko rin siya isusulat (I want it to be written that way, too).” 

As a human being, though, there’s another interesting quality to ORIGIN. There are light spots that envelope parts of his skin, and while he had desperately tried to cover these up when he first got diagnosed with vitiligo some years back, it turned out to be what helped him gain confidence like no other. 

“In ‘EARLY SLEEPER,’ the cover art is showing my whole face. Nung napost ko na siya, parang okay lang naman pala (When I posted it, it turned out to be okay). People actually didn’t care about it,” he recalled. 

His skin condition isn’t something he wants to be defined by, but it also isn’t something he’s going to push away. 

IN HIS OWN SKIN. Because of his vitiligo, ORIGIN has learned to become confident with who he is. Photo courtesy of the artist

“Siguro kung wala akong vitiligo ngayon, I wouldn’t be as confident,” he told a friend. “I wouldn’t be forced to put more love sa sarili ko. Maybe that’s why I have this.” 

(Maybe if I didn’t have vitiligo now, I wouldn’t be as confident. I wouldn’t be forced to put more love on myself. Maybe that’s why I have this.) 

Big dreams, even bigger possibilities

Beyond all this, however, one of ORIGIN’s most striking qualities is that he has faith in his own music, and is well aware of the village it took for him to get to where he is now. 

He credits his success to his producer, Corrgtd, who he had collaborated with to put together many of the songs on his catalogue — “2021,” “Mirror You,” “Kalamidad” with El Manu, and his latest single, “maliliit na bagay.” 

“My producer Carlo Oraya (Corrgtd) has been really helpful with shaping how my music sounds. This guy trusted me since day 1 nung dalawa pa lang songs ko (when I only had two songs) and we just clicked after doing our first song. All of my songs are collaborative work and I’m very hands on with the process. That’s why every song is personal to me,” he said. 

ORIGIN can vouch for his own body of work, and isn’t afraid to aim high. He dreams of becoming one of the Philippines’ top songwriters, and while he knows it’s a big dream to fulfill, he still believes that nothing is ever truly impossible.

“This guy never misses when it comes to releasing songs. It’s always catchy. It’s always radio-friendly. That’s the type of stuff I want people to feel,” he told Rappler. 

He’s well-aware that there’s a long way to go, but he maintains confidence that his music can reach the people who are meant to hear it. – Rappler.com