HEALTHY BOUNDARIES

Aussie artist BIRDEE 王煒 on music that connects with people

By John Eiron R. Francisco

RISING Aussie artist BIRDEE 王煒 recently visited the Philippines as part of her “On My Own” tour in Southeast Asia - Manila, Jakarta and Singapore, and recently launched her new single ‘Best Mistake I Never Made’ on a different digital music app via Disruptive Entertainment.

Birdee Sideris (BIRDEE) channels and merges her Chinese, Greek, and Russian origins to create her own names, sound and stories. Birdee’s artist name, in particular, is a direct celebration of her English and Chinese given names.

The Chinese symbol in her name is basically translated as Wang Wei, which means “to take pride in my culture and who I am as a person.”

Adding that she also experienced a lot with racism growing up as being a mixed cultured person, so as an artist, she wanted to take that into just being proud of who she is.

As she flies from Sydney, where she spends her time as a dedicated and emerging artist and an Aged Care Worker, she’s ready to spread her wings and connect her voice to the Filipinos. As she described her newest single as a story that can resonate and gives inspiration to her listeners.

“I just want to create music that connects with people, helps people, resonates with people, and makes them feel like they are understood and that they’re not alone,” BIRDEE told SoundStrip in an online media roundtable.

According to the alt-pop singersongwriter, her newest electro-pop track is primarily about the past relationship she had with a man who sought a second chance but whom she ultimately refused to give one. She clearly describes that at that time of her life, she needed to choose herself and set up good internal boundaries.

“You can call it a diss track, but to me, it’s being selfishly confident in having healthy boundaries. We tend to focus on the mistakes we have made, but we never reflect on the mistakes we narrowly avoided,” BIRDEE explained.

The song begins with a dreamy and ambient soundscape, with BIRDEE in reflective mode, considering what has come before:

“Should’ve had everything, it would’ve been all mine, could’ve, but we didn’t try; you were the best mistake I never made.”

The chorus suddenly slams in with an electronic immediacy, forceful synths, and thundering kick drums, creating a euphoric sense of a great escape.

She believes that the style and genre of her most recent song are extremely different from those of her previous singles.

Whereas most of her songs are more of alternative indie pop and electronic pop, “I would say it’s a lot different in the sense that it sounds very crunchy with the instrumentation, but also very clean and modern with the vocals that are in it.”

In terms of the songwriting, the courses are more short and sweet as compared to her other music which feels very metaphorical, figurative and with a lot of seemingly underlying messages in it.

In the music industry, each artist has their own unique identity and is known for, including their style, music and look. In her case, BIRDEE just wants to spread love, goodness and connection to all kinds of people, regardless of gender, sex and race, in order “to bring people together as one.”

BIRDEE expressed her thought about when people come and see her, she wanted “to feel inspired and to feel like they can chase whatever dreams and goals they have in their life,” as she gradually built her name in the industry.

The only takeaway that she believes people can grasp from her songs is “to just enjoy life through the ups and downs, the good and the bad.”

When asked if she has future plans of collaborating with a Filipino artist, BIRDEE says that she’s very much open to the idea. “I would like to work with a lot of Filipino artists here,” she declared Sideris has already been invited for a couple of media interviews and stage performances in the country as part of the ‘On My Own’ tour, which she previously performed last August 9 in Arcana Lounge and Usok Bar and Grill; August 11 in Venice Grand Canal Mall; and August 12 in Lucky Chinatown Mall.