If you’ve seen him perform live, you have most likely heard his fans singing along to whatever song he’s performing, down to every word. Whether he’s serving smooth RnB with the chart-topping single “Pano” or groovin’ to touches of soul and funk with “Akin Ka,” Zack Tabudlo demands attention with his words and his music.
He speaks the language of his generation through his song, but it is a language that much older listeners can understand. And because his songs speak of love and heartbreak and everything in between, the themes and messaging tend to appeal to a wider audience, too. Zack writes unabashedly in Filipino, says “O trip mo lang ba ako saktan?” in one song and “Oh ‘tang ina, iba ka talaga,” in another. And just when you’re wondering if he’s just some kid with musical talent and a penchant for tongue-in-cheek lyrics, he confuses you, making your heart melt by singing, “I’ve always seen my future in your eyes.”
It’s not just the lyrics, of course. Zack can whip up catchy melodies and create hooks almost as if on cue. Blame his musical ear, perhaps, on his roots and the people he grew up with. His father had a band in college and his mother, before she passed on, was a hotel singer who belted out songs by Alicia Keys. His sister, whilst not one to perform in public, also sang, like his grandmother. His grandfather, on the other hand, shared his love for the Beatles.
“When it comes to the whole music, then I feel like it’s always been there. It’s, it’s kind of like a growing phase where it just comes out of you and it’s the right time. And I feel like that’s what happened to me,” Tabudlo said in an online interview with SoundStrip.
“I mean, I grew up listening to a lot of artists that my family members also listened to. It just took a bit of time for it to really come up with me and how I was fascinated with performing and just reading.”
Tabudlo might seem like this big, bright ball of energy bouncing on stage and this glitzy persona in his music videos, but up close—scratch that, online—and personal, he comes across as a soft-spoken, introspective, brooding artist who is just too passionate about making music.
Like many aspiring recording artists, he started his journey as a fan; in his case, strumming an acoustic guitar to his own rendition of Ed Sheeran’s songs, and letting artists like John Mayer and Charlie Puth influence him, too. He eventually learned to mix his own music and became a ghost producer in Los Angeles. His foundation, music-wise, is deeply rooted in pop and hip-hop.
Zack has so far released two studio albums, produced tracks for other artists, and performed with quite a few of them on stage. The Voice Kids alumnus mentioned Moira dela Torre as one artist who has provided him with guidance along the way. He credits Jonathan Ong of Sonic State Audio and Cleng Saturno, Vehnee Saturno’s son—as his mentors in music production.
Tabudlo explains, “They kind of guided me when I was very young. So, I feel like in terms of the knowledge that I have now and when I make my music, it all came from them. And they’ve been probably the most important people in my life when it comes to the screen.”
The 21-year-old singer-songwriter was quick to mention that he is grateful for the opportunities to work and perform with so many artists throughout his career, so far.
“They’ve always been there and they’ve always had a bag of stuff and so I keep the closest people and like the I guess the closest people to heart and people who have meaning to me the most,” he said.
At the time of the interview, Zack said that he had gotten back to his roots and working on yet another song about heartbreak—something he is known and loved for. His stories of heartbreak, as told in his songs, are straightforward, in-your-face, and unpretentious; they easily capture the essence of every heartbreak in a simple yet endearing form.
He is also collaborating on a secret project involving hip-hop artists, and he is excited about this, too.
Among the songs he’s written, “Habang Buhay” is Tabudlo’s current favorite, and compares it to the music of a well-known OPM band.
“It’s something else for me. I remember finishing that track. I was like, dang this is really this is a pop RnB track that I know a lot of people vibe into. This is some VST & company shit,” he said.
He loves performing as much as he loves making songs and compares the value and satisfaction he gets from both.
“The performance side gave me the confidence of who I am on stage every time. Stepping on stage does satisfy me in terms of giving the energy back to the people and how I can make people jump put their hands up and stuff like that. And just overall giving the people the love that I have. Just seeing them sing it with me as a surreal kind of feeling.”
“When it comes to writing it’s kind of like the same thing but the difference is I’m inside my closet, inside my turf, when I create it. No one’s really around. No one really knows how I make my music and how I created it from scratch and that’s kind of like my comfort zone as well just doing everything in my space and it kind of feels like a safe, protection, circle type of thing.”
Zack is no stranger to online criticism and admits to having bashers despite his growing pool of followers. He takes everything in stride although he does listen to constructive feedback.
“It all sounds the same by now and yeah, I’ve heard a lot of diminished comments and at the end of the day, to a certain extent I would get part of it,’ he said. For Zack, however, something is much more important than all the external noise from his critics.
“At the end of the day, again, it’s just the joy in the songs that I create.”
He expanded more on the joy of creating music, saying, “The amazing part of creating music is once you put it out there, it’s not about you. Creating songs for yourself for me is something that you want to really publicize, and share to like Spotify. You create music and you put it out there. That’s about connecting people.”
“My take on it when every time I perform and every time I write these songs, there’s a certain reason with it that comes with it, that I want to connect with these people. So that vulnerability that comes along with it, that is just pure satisfaction for me that I can help out in like 10,000 people, as long as I can help one person who’s been acting really strangely and acting really sad and acting really happy or like different types of emotions towards the songs that I create.”
“That’s how I know I’ve done my job as an artist and as a musician.”
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED | Zack Tabudlo on doing his job as artist and musician
Source: News Paper Radio
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