Sapphic OPM blooms with Pixie Labrador
OPM continues to evolve to encompass different experiences, allowing more and more Filipinos to find their crowd. While OPM explicitly about the sapphic experience is still finding its footing, artists like Pixie Labrador place queerness at the forefront of their artistry.
Pixie Labrador started creating music that talks about her experiences as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in 2017 and has continued to grow with her music until today. Young STAR interviewed Pixie about the importance of telling queer stories through OPM and how her third EP Someone is a testament to her growth as an artist.
Queerness involves a lot of self-discovery. Representation takes the loneliness out of that journey.
YOUNG STAR: Why is it important to have songs that highlight the sapphic experience in OPM?
PIXIE LABRADOR: Representation matters, especially in a country like ours where same-sex marriage is still illegal and we’re still fighting for SOGIE equality. It’s so disheartening and dehumanizing to our fellow queer Filipinos. Because of that, we’ve been conditioned for decades to hide who we are and whom we love, and to keep quiet about these things that matter to us. No one should have to live inauthentically like that. So highlighting the sapphic experience in my music is an unlearning of all of that. It’s an invitation to accept yourself wholeheartedly, and to know that we all deserve to be represented through art. Queerness also involves a lot of self-discovery, and representation takes the loneliness out of that journey.
Your music includes tropes like having crushes in school or yearning for someone who likes the other gender. Why do you think these common experiences among sapphics should be shared through music?
A lot of the time, we hear about “healing our inner child” ‘di ba? But I like to describe my music as “healing our inner teenager,” and I talk about the experiences I had in high school and college. I feel like that’s the peak age where we explore our sexuality and romantic love for the first time, and it can be terrifying and confusing.
I want my music to act as a big sister to (my listeners) who are that age and experiencing the same scenarios I talk about. I know Varsity Crush has been that Ate to students in my audience. It goes back to me writing the songs I wish I had when I was at that age; I feel like songwriting is my way of healing my inner teenager.
You recently completed your master’s degree in songwriting and production at Berklee NYC. How has this experience molded your creative process?
My biggest takeaway was learning to depend on other people. I consider myself a hyper-independent person and for the majority of my career, I was an independent artist. I didn’t have label support or management; I had to navigate the OPM scene on my own.
At first, I always felt like I needed to prove something. Every time I had to present something in class, I thought it needed to be perfect right off the bat. But what it did was close me off to some of the most valuable and helpful insight and advice I could ever receive from other people. When I started putting down my walls, asking more questions, and opening up about the challenges and difficulties I faced while writing a particular piece of music, I felt a shift in my creative process. The process was easier to trust because it involved a lot of love and care from people whom I trusted had my best interest at heart.
What can we expect from your upcoming EP?
This EP, compared to my previous work, is elevated in so many ways. It’s my first concept EP, so everything from the visuals, the order of the tracklist, to the premise of each song are all interconnected. They build a world that the audience can feel immersed in. I’ve never thought about my previous EPs in that way so I feel like this is the most intentional I’ve been with a release.
Both sonically and lyrically, I think this is my best work to date. This was basically my thesis at Berklee, so you can imagine the amount of revisions it had to go through. There are new types of production and new stories to be told. But even with all these developments, I think this EP is a more realized version of myself. It feels like me, just better and bolder. I think you can tell by the themes in the songwriting that I’ve done a bit more growing up.
What message do you have for sapphics who want to share their experiences through music?
When you share your art with the world, you contribute to the unlearning of having shame around who you are, and you give billions of people the opportunity to resonate with that message and maybe even inspire their art with the world as well.
Queer art by queer people shouldn’t be hard to come by. Keep sharing your art with the world without judgment and trust that it will find its way to the people who need to hear your stories the most.
***
Pixie Labrador’s third EP Someone will be out on March 28, 2025 via Offshore Music Philippines. Keep up with Pixie at @FairyFunFwee.
