Even before penning hit songs for TV shows and becoming the voice of some memorable commercial jingles, singer-songwriter Barbie Almalbis-Honasan was used to tackling the melancholia and playfulness of Filipino life. From her days fronting the popular bands Hungry Young Poets and Barbie’s Cradle, Almalbis has given audiences the means to express their inner awkwardness and woes. Unvoiced yearnings and uncomfortable moments are given life in her lyrical stories—from frustration with cowardly suitors (“Ayoko ng torpe, pero gusto kita!”) to admiration for household creatures (“Lagi kitang hahanapin”), the nuances of the Filipino experience have informed her solo output. Growing up in Roxas City, Almalbis nurtured a sweet and lilting singing voice while listening to Joni Mitchell and Suzanne Vega, eventually picking up the guitar and falling in love with the folk genre that she’s shifted towards comfortably. From her collaborative 2006 album Parade, meditative and largely acoustic, to 2019’s slickly progressive three-song Tigre EP—also reminiscent of vintage Almalbis where she riffs the blues with an electric guitar and croons about her cat—Almalbis draws inspiration from life's universal experiences: heartbreak, faith and finding yourself.