Solo artist Cesca ‘happy’ to team up with BGYO’s Mikki

MANILA, Philippines — ABS-CBN music artist Cesca was delighted to have teamed up with Mikki Claver of P-pop boy group BGYO for the music video of What If, a track that the former wrote about her personal experience with a toxic relationship.

The recently-dropped short film was directed by Raymark King Bingcang and was part of Cesca’s debut EP Travel.

“Actually, we met before the shoot and then, I shared to him the story behind the music video,” recalled Cesca during the relaunch of her EP held recently.

She told Mikki, “Pwede na siyang mag-artista. He can do acting. I was really happy that I was able to be a part of Mikki’s first feature, where he’s gonna act like purely act.”

“And I’m just really happy that he was able to portray the kind of guy that I was dealing with before. I commend him on that,” she added.

The visual and multimedia artist admitted that it was “hard” for her to pen the What If ditty because “it exposes the most toxic relationship I have ever been in my 20 years of living.”

“It takes courage to admit that when you are in a toxic relationship, you are not always in the right that sometimes magkakahawaan kayo ng toxic traits and you become kind of copies of each other,” she acknowledged.

“I think that’s the most toxic relationship that you could ever be. I wrote this song for one person that I thought when I look(ed) at him before it’s like, ‘OK, the future is uncertain,’ but I know na ikaw nandidito ka whatever that future is.”

The EP Travel is comprised of Travel, a track of the same title, Lovesick (Pagmahalasakit), Pambihirang Harana, Dahlia and Her Name.

The songs that Cesca churned out in the EP are mostly about her high school journey. “Right now, I’m in college (and) I’m about to graduate. I wrote (all) this back in high school when I was younger and I felt everything twice like nothing was waitlist and everything was a defining moment for me.”

Lovesick, her debut single, is an ode to her high school crush. She recounted, “There was this guy in school (codename Mr. D). He would always go to our classroom. He (was) not even from my class. And then, I noticed he would pass by (in our classroom). Wala lang. Because you know his best friend (was) my classmate and he’d always visit the room. I just thought he’d visit him instead of me because I was assuming.”

“And you know one day, I just came home and every time I would see him, I (was) so nervous like I (didn’t) talk to him. Hindi ko siya pinapansin. It’s like he was just a shadow. If I like someone, I just don’t interact with them. I guess this feeling of puppy love and it feels a lot like being sick.”

Kapamilya music artist Cesca serenades the audience during the relaunch of her EP titled Travel.

Pambihirang Harana is still about Mr. D, who left abroad to study after graduating from high school. Three years later, Cesca found out through a common friend that the guy had a crush on her back then.

“This song is about what would be a song that I would have sung to him if I could time travel three years (back) at naka-pag-amin ako,” and hence, the lyrics of Pambihirang Harana were composed. The song was also featured in IWantTFC series Tara G!

The STAR asked what she would tell Mr. D if he was present at the relaunching event. “Wassup. How are you? How’s your life abroad?” she said with a laugh. “Actually, this high school crush knows that Lovesick was written for him. And he actually congratulated me about it. And then, hanggang dun na lang talaga yun.”

“I guess I would appreciate that he was here. But that’s the thing about happy crushes in high school, they’re just happy and they just stay that way forever. So, I’d like to preserve that as much as possible,” she added.

Further, the Kapamilya singer-songwriter offered the song Dahlia to someone she had hurt before. The apologetic tune was “one of the hardest songs” she had ever written. “Apologies are hard to write because you need to lower your pride,” she asserted.

“Dahlia” was a girl from her high school. “It just so happened that we love the same person. And that person loved the both of us at the same time. We never really confronted each other about it. Dahlia was a very sweet girl. She’s very approachable and very charming. She is beautiful,” she said.

The guy in Dahlia is not the same as Mr. D, she clarified. If “Dahlia” was also there at the music event, by any chance, she would tell her that she was sorry. “I feel that the song wasn’t enough. But also, it’s awkward if I just randomly message her online out of the blue after many years, but I guess if she was here, I would apologize to her face-to- face.”

Her Name, on the other hand, is about the memories she shared with her high school best friend, but she “had to let her go” because their “values changed” as they matured.

Lastly, Travel is what she considered as her “escape song.” She wrote it after going through “dramatic experiences” in her life. “It’s a song where sabi ko, ‘Ayoko na dito. I just wanna go home.’ After all the problems, you just want to go back to your family, to your comfort people and I wrote Travel for that.”

Cesca combines Tagalog and English lyrics in her songwriting. She cited Taylor Swift, Gary Granada and Neil Sedaka as her musical influences. She also performed one of Dirty Linen’s soundtrack Kung Makakapili Lang.