Ylona Garcia has had a great start to her 2022.
Fresh from one of her biggest performances ever at Head In The Clouds last November, the Filipino-Australian act is kicking off the year with one of the most exciting collaborations she's ever had. To introduce VALORANT's newest playable character and their first-ever Filipino agent, Neon, Ylona released her latest single 'Entertain Me'.
Soundtracking the new agent's epic slides and electric zaps, the power anthem is also the 'Don't Go Changing' hitmaker's reminder to everyone to never settle and always trust your heart.
SURPRISE! excited to finally announce my partnership with valorant ! thank you vv much for helping me keep my mouth shut until now, @PlayVALORANT !
— ylona. (@ylona_garcia) January 5, 2022
NEON IS SO COOL! LOVE HER TASTE IN MUSIC! ⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/CvtknPmyV4
BANDWAGON TV
Following the release of 'Entertain Me', Bandwagon caught up with Ylona Garcia to talk about her new year goals, opening for Head In The Clouds, and partnering with VALORANT.
Hi Ylona! How has your year been so far? Did you set up any new year’s resolutions or goals for 2022?
My year has been amazing! Thank you very much for asking because I just love this question—the more you talk about [your goals], the more you're speaking it into existence. So, my goals are to get into acting and to put out an album or an EP. I've also been in this business for about five years so I feel like it's high time that I gift my family with the house that I promised them.
Before 2021 came to a close, you performed at your very first music festival, Head In The Clouds. What was the entire experience like?
Yes! It's actually the first festival I've ever done but it's also one of the biggest events that I've ever performed. It's surreal, I still feel like I'm reeling from a feeling right now.
My experience performing there is very different from any other events that I performed at. Basically, I opened up for the festival and I think we started off with just like 20 people because people were still like, entering, getting their tickets and wristbands and all that but I was quite nervous. Even though it was in front of 20 people I was worried whether people would still like me or not.
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As I was performing my second song, a lot of people, like about 300—I don't know how many there was quite a lot—they just started running. I was quite worried there because they were running but it was really, really cool to see that happen.
I was very nervous and talked a lot. And just to let you guys know—and this is the first time that I'm ever saying this—if I talk a lot, that means I'm very nervous (laughs).
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You just released ‘Entertain Me’ in partnership with VALORANT. How did that collaboration come about?
88rising told me about the deal, they told me about VALORANT and asked me if I knew about the game. I, you know, answered saying I do know VALORANT and that my siblings because they played it all the time.
They asked me if I was down to put my song 'Entertain Me' as the song for Agent 19, Neon. I was very happy about it, especially for my siblings to find out because they found out the day that it premiered because I wasn't allowed to say anything. They were very surprised and happy at the same time.
But yeah, I worked on the song with DNA back in Australia while I was staying with my family at Sony Studios. I remember I wrote the date down in one of my posts... I think it was February 10 at 7:54 pm, we did that session for like three hours.
Could you walk me through what 'Entertain Me' is about?
'Entertain Me' is basically about, as I always say to anyone who asks, knowing a situation and knowing exactly what you want to do with it. That's the short story.
The long story is... when I was writing the song, I was thinking of a situation or situations where I felt like I was pushed to do certain things that I would didn't really want to do. I knew in my heart that I didn't want to deal with it but my head was telling me just go through with it, just do it, get it over and done with even though I wasn't really happy with it.
Being in Australia and catching up with my childhood friends, they were telling me similar stories and you know, I got a little bit heated over that. You know, during your girl time and you hear your friends tell you stories about similar situations that have happened to you. At the time, you didn't really think anything of it but when you heard them say 'oh, that's not supposed to happen' and I'd get a little bit pissed about it. So, I decided to write a song about a person that my friends and I want to be.
This is the first time you've gotten to lend your song to a video game, one of today's most popular video games at that. What's the entire experience been like?
It's pretty amazing, isn't it? I mean, I did not expect it at all. I know the gaming industry is huge because I'm part of the community because it's my bonding time with my siblings, but I just didn't expect that the gaming community would love it that much. I feel very grateful.
At the same time, I feel like this is not really happening but my mom kind of reminds me that it is and then I have to get back to reality and just see it all.
soOOooo, you mean to tell me that…#ENTERTAINME HAS OVER 3.7 MILLION PLUS STREAMS ON @Spotify ?!?!!!! OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO HAS SURPASSED 795K VIEWS ?!?!!! OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO HAS SURPASSED 860K VIEWS ?!?!!!! ANDDD WAS FEATURED ON @billboard ?!?!!!!!
— ylona. (@ylona_garcia) January 15, 2022
THANK YOU !! THANK YOU !! pic.twitter.com/mbElvoL1ND
On Twitter, I usually see the really, really fun stuff. There's a tweet that does stick out to me—I feel a little bit embarrassed (laughs)—but there's a tweet from someone who's a really huge fan of VALORANT and they were saying that they loved my song and they were complimenting Riot on their choice and that they're now a stan of me. It was really nice to see. Thank you for appreciating my art and welcome to the Ylona Garcia fandom that doesn't have an official name yet (laughs).
What are some exciting things that you have planned for 2022?
I'd like to stick with my new year goals, I hope they happen this year—actually, yes, it will happen. Let's be confident about it, let's claim it.
Listen to Ylona Garcia's 'Entertain Me' here.
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