Radha rises

MANILA, Philippines - Those of us who grew up in the age of cassette tapes and trapper keepers remember Radha Cuadrado as part of the internationally acclaimed Filipino music group, Kulay. Most of us were surprised to see her take the auditions stage at The Voice of the Philippines, igniting the vivid attention of fans worldwide. This week, Supreme sits down with the powerhouse performer to learn about where she’s been, how she got here, and what it takes for a diva to rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

SUPREME: Have you always wanted to be a singer?

Yes! I actually got my first paycheck at eight years old. My Tita would bring me to VTRs for commercials. May ganung factor, but yung lola ko artista, so they always expected that I would follow in her footsteps. Hindi naman ako pinilit, but it came naturally to me. And thinking back, shit, I’ve been in the business for something like 27 years.

Having been in the industry for that amount of time, you’ve seen OPM evolve. What can you say about the current state of Philippine music?

There were so many more record companies before, and they each had about five artists they would push every year. So let’s say there are five record companies, that’s at least 25 different artists being pushed. So mas maraming produkto. That doesn’t exist anymore. What I’m seeing now is the role of social media, and what happens is the underground acts from before don’t exist anymore. They’re all being heard because they’re more easily accessible, and they’re finding their own niche markets. I’m glad about that, but it would be great to have support from the major (labels), to be able to have a wider reach towards bigger audiences.

But do you think that in the current market, there’s a greater lack of variety in terms of sound? Are we getting more acts that sound more or less the same?

I think the reason for that is that people need to earn money and people need to work. There’s less motivation to risk a certain kind of music. Those who are able to risk are those who do it independently, but not all of them are able to make that much money. The ones who tend to sound the same want to work, want to create jobs, want to bring in more revenue, and create more avenues where they can explore. Ang sakin, siguro for them, when they reach a certain point in their careers, that’s when they can explore more and take more risks. The modern artist is more exposed to marketing, branding, designing, whereas before, it was more about the art. Who cares what you look like, who cares what your clothes are? I mean, look at Freddie Aguilar! At awards shows, no one cares what he has on, because he’s Freddie Aguilar!

What kind of music are you looking to make now?

I want to go back to the sound of how the music was, how OPM was during the Seventies na it was so organic. It was about the art, it was about issues that were important as human beings. Yung art scene nung Seventies, grabe yung art that came out of us in every medium — music, poetry, literature. Art was everywhere.

Gusto ko rin Tagalog. I want it to feel more Pinoy, I want it to have an identity. The market that I’m looking at is not just the Philippines, but I want it to have a mark that’s Pinoy. Because of social media, the world is smaller. Even international artists can see and react to things that we do. For example, Patti Austin tweeted a link of my performance saying “this woman is amazing.”

Did you die a little?

(Squeals) Oh my God, Patti Austin. I love you. (Laughs) Pero alam mo yun, ganun lang kadali makita all over the world. So ang sa akin, dapat every time you perform onstage, world stage ang peg. Actually, ganun talaga yung mentality namin, kahit sa Kulay.

I was just going to say that when you were in Kulay, you had international acclaim. And you were doing it at a time when most things were analog, and reaching a wider audience was much harder than it is now.

Yes! At the time pa, when we went to the UK, it really felt like it was so far away. When you’d leave, there was absolutely no communication. And now, we’re on FaceTime with you (Gabbie) in New York! Things have changed.

What was that like for you, touring at that time and at that age? How was your music received?

I think during that time, I didn’t know what to expect, so I just took it as it came. I just accepted it as kind of the norm, and at times people found it kind of arrogant, that it was normal for me to be on a UK tour. Although I knew it was a privilege, and before that I’d only ever been to Canada and Hong Kong. But I had no idea how huge it was until we really started touring.

When we got to the UK, they were surprised at how we talked like Americans but said that we were from the Philippines. They weren’t very aware about where we were from, so we had those kinds of hurdles to overcome. We just concentrated on what we were there to do, which was to promote our music. We clung to our music and artistry, because they didn’t really know what to do with us.

After Kulay, there was sort of a gap where you laid low musically for quite some time. Was there a main struggle which kept you from pursuing what you loved doing?

It’s the weight, babe. When we started The Voice, all they talked about was my weight, and they’d compare my pictures from before to the way I look now. They knew me to look a certain way, and now I’m presenting myself and I look this way, and they wanted some explanation. They wanted to know why, and I’m like, “Life happened?”

But it was a struggle, because it really zaps your confidence. I couldn’t wear the things I wanted to wear or move the way I wanted to move. I imagined myself, at this weight, doing the moves I used to do when I was skinnier. There was that confidence thing that I really had to deal with, especially before the first live performance. I prayed a lot, and I offered all of it to God, because He led me here. Hindi ko hinanap to, so sabi ko, ikaw na bahala sakin basta kakanta na lang ako.

But you did have this great comeback through The Voice of the Philippines. How did that come about?

It took a lot of convincing. A lot of convincing from my manager, from the production. I really had to do a lot of soul-searching. Honestly, my family would tell me na “May pangalan ka na, hindi mo kailangan yan.” But my cousin told me something that really stuck with me, sabi niya, “Anlakas kaya ng loob mo to join. I admire you for having the humility to join something like this.” Honestly, my motivation was to inspire people, and to learn. Because I knew I would learn so much from this experience and I was right.

Would you say your confidence has improved after The Voice?

Even though I didn’t win, I felt like I won because I feel like a better performer. I gained a certain amount of confidence that I can go onstage, regardless of how much I weigh, and give a performance that I can be proud of. 

But you’ve become kind of an icon in that sense, especially for young girls who may not be the standard skinny Filipina, and are looking for someone strong, beautiful, and talented like yourself to give them hope.

I love that. I love when these bigger girls come up to me and say, “You’re fabulous,” and to me it’s like, “Holy crap, I’m inspiring people.” These are women who are beautiful, incredibly talented, and have just a little bit of extra weight. And I love that these girls who are so impressionable, who think that their options are more limited because of their weight, can see that if you’re good, you’re good. Period. It doesn’t matter.

The reason why I sing, the reason why I perform, is to impart a part of my soul when I sing. It’s like, I want them to know you’re not alone, this is what I’m going through, and we’re all going through something.

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Tweet the author @gabbietatad.

Photo by ROY MACAM

Produced by DAVID MILAN

Makeup by CHUCHIE LOPEZ

                of Maybelline

Hair by ALEE BENSON

                of L'Oreal Professionnel

Shot on location at Jagnus Design Studio