Malang, Indonesia -- For years we have seen the world sing songs in different languages. We have seen how KPOP dominated the global seen and made everyone learn their language. Utada Hikaru made us learn nihongo. Or Larusso making us go french during the early 2000 with On Ne S'aimera Plus Jamais. For us Filipino's, this is the day.
MRLD performed at CONNX: Off the Weekend Festival in Malang, Indonesia as the only Filipino artist. Performing with acts from different nations, MRLD was surprised as the Indonesias sang in her mother tongue. Not just OPM but in pure Tagalog. Songs like "Ikaw pa rin" and "Ligaya" are chorally showcased with thousands of fans gather and made the venue to a sea of music.
"Fun fact: I actually ran and went to the pit and it was the craziest thing I did in my entire life." MRLD mentioned in her latest IG story.
Fans from all over Indonesia went to see the Filipino act with some even traveling 5 to 12 hours.
For a while it made us think how we can penetrate the global scene and what specific formula does International artists have to make the crowd crazy about their songs.
"You just need to connect deep with the people who truly listens to your music with what you do best and for us musicians, with our songs." Uttered by Kean Cipriano, MRLD's manager. "You don't have to be in an international record label to do this. You just need to be with people who strongly support you and push you to be the truest version of yourself." he added.
But now, as this night happens, MRLD just proved that it is possible to bring not just OPM but Tagalog songs to the world.