Filipino Americans inspired by today's headlines, write songs of defiance and love

Songwriters, rrom top left, clockwise: H.E.R., Jessica Sanchez,
Ruby Ibarra and Ella Jay Basco.

The younger generation finding their voice during the age of dual pandemics -- the coronavirus and hate -- may be the most self-aware and militant since the 1960s.

Four songwriters -- they happen to be all Filipino Americans -- released their songs reflecting what's happening around them, to them personally and with their friends and families.

H.E.R., aka Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson won an Oscar for her song "Fight For You." written for the movie Judas and the Black Messiah.

Although the movie takes place in another era, the aforementioned 60s at the height of the Black Panthers power, her intent and lyrics are applicable to today as it would have been for that time.

Read the lyrics and it could have been written for George Floyd or any of the other Black, Latino and AAPI who have died at the hands of the police:

All the smoke in the air
Feel the hate when they stare
All the pain that we bear
Oh, you better beware
Their guns don't play fair
All we got is a prayer
It was all in their plans
Wash the blood from your hands

[Pre-Chorus]
Freedom for my brothers
Freedom 'cause they judge us
Freedom from the others
Freedom from the leaders, they keepin' us
Freedom gon' keep us strong
Freedom if you just hold on
Freedom ain't free at all, oh no

"Musicians, filmmakers, I believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility, to tell the truth, and to write history the way that it was, and how it connects us to today, and what we see going on in the world today," says H.E.R. 

Ella Jay Basco is only 14 years old but she's trying to have an impact on the world of her future. The Filipino Korean American actress who debuted in Birds of Prey as Cassandra, the orphan waif who will become the future Batgirl, is a singer and songwriter, too.

She wrote the song "Gold " and collaborated with Filipino American rapper Ruby Ibarra, and Ella’s writing partner (and brother) Darryl J. Basco, the song is a love letter to the Asian American community. 

Sometimes I never win
but I was blessed with the Golden skin
Don’t stress about where you’ve been
Just look inside, find what’s within
Girl you know you’re beautiful
Stand tall, unmovable
It’s undisputable
You a Boss Bitch as usual, You a Boss Bitch as usual!

“GOLD ft. @rubyibarra is out now!!! Mainly streaming on Spotify, Apple, and BandCamp so go check it out!!! We wanted to make a song that speaks out to brown pride and the color of our beautiful golden skin,” Ella Jay Basco wrote on Instagram. 

“(The song) is about me taking ownership and power of my GOLD/Brown skin. Not everyone fits in the typical boxes. I asked Ruby Ibarra to guest on it because she is a Dope Filipino rapper,” she explains.

Jessica Sanchez, the 25-year-old singer, who performed on American Idol’s 11th season, wrote and composed “Us,” a song that she hopes can unite people together against the rash of violence against Asian Americans.

The hate directed at AAPI felt compelled to do something the best way she knew how.

"I'm all about spreading positivity," she told the San DIego Union Tribune. "but I'm a very quiet person at the same time, I'm not very good at talking. The way that I express myself is through my music."

Her lyrics go:

Done, I’m trying to numb the pain
That only we could ever change
Still we’re running everyday
I wanna know why we’re afraid
Can we believe again
If it was just for a day
Would we still feel the same
Can we believe in Justice today
Would we still be the same if...
All of us could see that
No one’s to blame
All of us realize
Our heart beat the same...

“It’s super important to remind each other that, like, we have to find a solution and the solution is to bring each other together, and to unite and to support each other no matter what color, what age, what gender,” Sanchez said. We all have to come together and love each other and support one another, especially when people are being pushed down.”

She hopes her fans will enjoy the song when it is released on May 7. In the meantime, she told the Union-Tribune, “I’m super happy that my first song I’m able to release is something bigger than who I am.”