Reflection first song that Moira learned

Believe it or not, but secular music was rarely heard around the house when singer-songwriter Moira dela Torre was growing up. She was raised going to church regularly, so she was understandably familiar with mostly gospel music, plus only the songs of Lea Salonga and Disney hits.

Interestingly, the song Reflection, from the Disney animated film, Mulan, was the very first song Moira ever learned in full since she had to sing it in their church’s second anniversary. The song basically opened the door for Moira to start loving music. Hence, it wasn’t really surprising that Mulan became Moira’s favorite.

“She’s the Disney princess that I felt most attached to,” Moira beamed. “I grew up in a broken family. Mulan inspires us to be true to ourselves and I love it. That is something that I grew up watching.”

Moira initially found it unbelievable when she was chosen by Disney to record the Reflection theme for the re-imagined version of Mulan, set to hit local theaters on March 25. She follows in the illustrious footsteps of Lea Salonga, who first recorded Reflection, and even Christina Aguilera.

The live action flick, filmed with a huge budget of $200M, topbills Chinese-American actress Liu Yifei, with a star-studded cast that includes Jet Li, Gong Li and Jason Scott Lee.

“It’s very cool because this happened,” Moira allowed. “It’s crazy. It really felt like a full circle (for me). It’s really such a great opportunity and I’m very, very grateful for it.”

Moira was taken back in time when she was brought to an auditorium with red chairs to shoot her music video for Reflection. “My first music video was shot in an auditorium with red chairs in Antipolo,” she fondly reminisced. “It was just my Tito who shot it. I couldn’t believe God took me to another auditorium with red chairs to shoot Reflection. It was just a memorable music video shoot.”

She was initially expecting the shoot to have a lot of detailed rules. However, when she got to the recording studio, Moira was simply told, “‘We just want Moira.’ And I didn’t even know how to be Moira.”

Yet, she was really thankful that Disney could be empowering with her as the talent. “They really encourage you and get the best out of you,” Moira declared. “When I was recording, that feeling of (being) inadequate and being terrified, I was reminded by the Mulan team to just be myself.”

Asked about the line in the song, Reflection, that resonated with her the most, Moira briefly sang, “Why must we all conceal, what we think, how we feel.” And how she wished she penned the beautiful Disney ballad, written by Matthew Wilder and David Zippel back in 1996, two years before the film was officially released in theaters.

“Everyone is so careful now,” Moira maintained. “The millennial generation makes us walk on eggshells. It’s so hard to be true to yourself. That’s really something that we should fight for.”

Shooting her music video for Reflection, Moira didn’t expect the production to be that big. “I was so flattered and at the same time, terrified. I’m really a scared, shy person. When I stood onstage, it didn’t sink in until the first scene. I had to stare at my face and internalize. It was not the main shot in the music video, just the first shot. It just felt like I had to look at myself again.”

Like Mulan, who’s a warrior fighting for her kingdom, Moira finds it “very hard” to be confident. “There are good days. There are bad days,” she admitted. “There are days when I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, so I had to take a good look at myself. And I actually appreciate myself. Battling depression and anxiety, it’s step by step every day.”

Her mom eventually saw it was a “useless rule” to make Moira listen to only gospel songs. “Every time I tried to sing, the first people I listened to when I got out of my gospel world were Christina Aguilera, Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, the Disney kids pa rin. There were other singers like Rachel Lampa, Rachelle Ann Go, Richard Poon.

“I have a really odd mix of CDs in my house. Every time I tried to sing their songs, it always felt like I was struggling. Nung hindi ko na maabot ang mga kinakanta nila, that was the time I started writing my own songs.”

The first song that Moira penned was After Your Heart, which she eventually recorded. Then, she wrote many other tunes, “a bunch,” after that. She never really thought that the songs she wrote in her room when she was only 12, would be sung by thousands of people one day.

“I really didn’t expect it. To me, writing songs was really a form of expression. Except the time I was going through my family splitting up. I was 12. I didn’t know I was going through anorexia and depression. I didn’t know what that was called. I didn’t know that I had to handle things. But I wasn’t doing it. It was very tough.”

Ironically, Moira’s anxiety attacks got worse when she became popular. “When I realized I never really expected to attain the fame that I had, I honestly thought that reaching goals would change a lot of things. The more you love, the more you’re afraid. I’m most afraid of not being genuine. Being onstage and not caring about a person anymore and just wanting to do my job. Thankfully, I haven’t reached that. But I’m scared as I go deeper into the journey.”

After tying the knot with Jason Hernandez last year, Moira cannot be thankful enough that she has been blessed to start a family. The couple has been married for 13 months now.

“I love it. It’s great. I never really had a solid home. When I was with my mom, I would think about my dad. When I was with my dad, I would think about my mom. So when I got married, it was in my vows how grateful I was to have my own home. It feels so great.

“My husband, Jason, he’s such a great guy. He loves God. He loves me. He makes me laugh so much. We don’t know half of the things that we’re doing and we’re trying to figure it out together. And we fight a lot. But it’s such a great blessing to be able to live with your best friend.”