Championing Filipino culture and female empowerment, Sydney girl group H3rizon are bringing back the sonic worlds of early noughties R&B.
Stream: “Soul Ties (Don’t Give It Up)” – H3rizon
As the first ever Sydney group to be signed at Epic Records, H3rizon may be up-and-comers, but they’re already trailblazers in their craft.
The band recently released their new single, “Soul Ties (Don’t Give It Up),” via Epic Records, an uplifting bop marked by shimmering harmonies and bubbling synths.
H3rizon – comprised of Tiara, Gabby and Bernie – are currently making waves in the international scene. Championing Filipino culture and female empowerment at the forefront of their work, H3rizon are the first girl group of this caliber we’ve seen in a while. They’re also the first Asia-Pacific group to ever be signed with Epic Records. For them, though, the journey is only just getting started. The band states, “There’s a common assumption that things get easier once you’re signed, but it’s still only the beginning.”
This love’s starting to feel just like we’re soul tied
East coast, West coast, down South, it’s worldwide
This ain’t no one night fling, this for life
Oh this one’s starting to feel just like a twin flame
Talking about same address, new last names
Locked in, tatted on us, we gang, gang
The world is currently celebrating the much overdue rise of female artists, but H3rizon have been collaborating and making music long before. It was instant chemistry whe Tiara, Gabby and Bernie met, all aged 10-12. Each with backgrounds ranging from classical training to music aficionados, the girls cover all the bases themselves when it comes to music. Their discography is instantly recognisable by their distinctive harmonies, polished to perfection, and the girls share that every single one is composed themselves. “Soul Ties (Don’t Give It Up)” was no exception, leaving its production to industry alumnes Tricky Stewart (Justin Bieber, Usher, Beyoncé) and Theron Thomas.
The new single, a feel-good tune reminiscent of early noughties R&B, is marked by definitive harmonies and irresistible pop melodies. Accompanied by fun visuals and choreography, the band maintains the upbeat lightness of connection.
And with you, baby, I could ride or fly
I ain’t gotta ride or die
And you know through it all I’ll set it off for you
So if I ever get to turn back time
Promise I’ma skip that line
‘Cause you know I would walk the fire if I had to
Don’t give my sh* to anyone else
Don’t give my kiss to anyone else
Don’t give my lovе to anyone else
Don’t givе it up, don’t give it up
They share, “Whoever you’re obsessed with, ‘Soul Ties’ is the summer bop you never knew you needed! As R&B girlies, we love adding our vocal sauce on our tracks. Listen out for all the harmonies and layering… you know this ain’t your standard pop track!”
H3rizon sat down with Atwood Magazine to discuss life and music so far, sharing more on the creative process of the single, and the importance of seeing women of color represented in the industry.
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:: stream/purchase Soul Ties here ::
:: connect with H3rizon here ::
A CONVERSATION WITH H3RIZON
Atwood Magazine: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us here at Atwood - we’re huge fans! Congratulations on the new single and all of your success this year! How has the response been on the single so far?
H3rizon: Thank you so much. We’re absolutely loving the response so far! We keep hearing how much of an ear-worm it is, and that it’s a track that makes people feel good! That was exactly the plan!!
Tell me what the creative process was like in making the song. I understand you worked with Tricky Stewart and Theron Thomas, both really established people in the industry.
H3rizon: Our team actually flew out from Atlanta to Sydney earlier in the year to work on some new material… Soul Ties was one of them!
Tricky has not only given us freedom in creating the harmonies, vocal arrangements, adlibs, but he has also given us valuable experience in the way we now go about our recording process. Traditionally, we would divide up the lead parts and harmonies before recording to what we thought suited our voices. Tricky wanted us to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. We now all record all the lead lines & adlibs from beginning to end, giving the production team more options to explore when mixing and putting it all together.
It’s such an honor to have Grammy award winners Theron Thomas who has written hit records for Lizzo, Doja Cat, Ciara, Chloe, Usher & Saweetie, and Tricky Stewart who pretty much created our childhoods working with every icon from Usher, Justin Bieber, Beyonce to Mariah Carey, Muni Long, Tyla and… We really could keep going! We can’t forget our vocal engineer Richie who just won his first Grammy for his work on Tyla’s ‘Water’ … A whole team of legends… We’re blessed and so grateful!
You’ve also recently signed with Epic Records as the first Australian and first Asian-Pacific girl group - that’s huge. What has that been like and how has life changed since then?
H3rizon: One of our biggest advocacies is to see more women of color, especially Southeast Asian women, represented in western media. So, to make history as the first Australian and APAC girl group signed by iconic superwoman Sylvia Rhone to Sony Epic International is a huge honor for us!
There’s a common assumption that things get easier once you’re signed, but it’s still only the beginning. We’ve always worked really hard but this new level demands a greater level of dedication and hustle.. We are here for it and we promise to not take our opportunity for granted.
The story of how you formed as a band is really special, can you tell us more about that and how your relationship with music has changed since starting the band?
H3rizon: We were all between 10-12 when we first met, and it was instant friendship!
The Filipino community in Sydney is strong and events happened often – with plenty of opportunities for our parents to put us in front of crowds to sing their favorite Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson or Celine Dion songs!
We loved it, but we loved hanging out backstage jamming and harmonizing with eachother even more! We were drawn to each other’s energy, and admired how each of us were all so different, yet still had the same passion and desire to create music. Eventually we decided to see if this group thing was a thing! Our parents helped us find a mentor to help get us started, and luckily we found a person who believes in us as much as we believe in ourselves! (It totally helped that groups and harmonies were HIS passion, working with artists Little Mix and One Direction for years in the UK). Our team has since grown and we can honestly say we have the most supportive and amazing team by our side, developing, mentoring and guiding us.
Since starting the group, we’ve grown a lot more confident in our sound because we learnt all the ways we could use our different skills in music to help create a unique sound for our group. We’ve all grown up surrounded by music and harmonies like singing in vocal groups and choirs, which help a lot in creating vocal arrangements for the group. But our differences in skills is what shapes the uniqueness of our sound.
Gabby, our high soprano and agile queen has classical music training and her technique is flawless, Tiara’s raw talent brings us our Pop R&B Diva vocals and Bernie is on the Bass & the Beat with her sexy Sade sounding tone and skillful music production knowledge.
From short covers to official releases, we’re proud of everything we release because of what we contributed to create it, whether it’s our own writing, vocal arrangement, or production!
As another Southeast Asian woman, I’m so excited and inspired watching you guys grow in all your success. Can you share more about the role your cultural background has in your artistry?
H3rizon: We feel so proud to have grown up amongst such a strong Filipino community here in Sydney that has been nothing but nurturing and supportive of our creative endeavors ever since we were little. Our community helped us prepare ourselves as performers and growing up, there has always been opportunities to showcase our talents, from singing karaoke at family gatherings to performing on stage as a front act for a big Filipino celebrity.
And although there is the stereotype of Filipino parents wanting their children to stay in University and eventually get a stable job (in the medical field), our parents were fully supportive of our decision to take this on full time (sorry for quitting Uni, moms!)
And we don’t just get support from our people here in the Filipino-Australian community, we also get it from around the world, from our motherland, the Philippines, to the US. We had the amazing opportunity to do a promo tour in the Philippines where we met, collaborated & performed with other Filipino artists, like BINI & Denise Julia. We also performed for the Filipino community in Orange County and San Diego, where we had the pleasure of meeting our incredible fans, many who followed our journey from the beginning. Our cultural background and community is a huge driving force behind why we do what we do!
What inspires your songs? Do you have any influences in terms of artists or genres you look up to?
H3rizon: We are three women with so many different music influences and stories to tell. Expect anything and everything from our releases.
Musically, we are all heavily influenced by 90s R&B, boy bands and girl groups like En Vogue, SWV, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Destiny’s Child. But our backgrounds, classical training, passion for intricate vocal arrangements, our individual love affairs with hip hop, neo-soul and afrobeats and not believing our music should have to fit into any box is what we think will eventually define us.
You haven’t heard anything yet… Still so much creative magic to come!!
How does ‘Soul Ties (Don’t Give It Up)’ compare, if at all, to the latest singles you’ve released?
H3rizon: “Soul Ties” was such a fun and interesting track to create because we decided to keep it laid back and put the focus on the groove of the beat and the message of the lyrics. In our previous releases, we’d usually go crazy with layers of harmonies and melodies, and the tracks were either anthemic, clubby, or packed with ethereal harmonies and big adlibs.
To keep the track stripped back was definitely something different for us and we wouldn’t change a thing about it!
I also love the lyric video you put out alongside the single, how did you come up with the idea for those visuals?
H3rizon: We actually have a super fun video we shot in one-take being released soon… Stay tuned for that one! The concept actually came when we were singing and dancing around this beautiful big house one day to our new single while our manager followed us around with the phone with Tricky on facetime! We were like.. Let’s get a camera and shoot this video exactly like this!! Let us know what you think!
What do you hope listeners take away from “Soul Ties (Don’t Give It Up)”?
H3rizon: It’s a carefree song all about connection, finding and holding onto your soulmate. And that soulmate of yours doesn’t always have to be a lover or partner, it could be your bestie, your sibling, your fur-friend… anyone you feel connected or tied to!
If you haven’t yet found that twin flame, we hope this track will keep you inspired for what’s waiting for you out there, somewhere… Just waiting to be tied up by you too!
Any upcoming projects you can tease for us?
H3rizon: Absolutely! We actually have our next single already lined up for release… a lot sooner than you think!
Get ready to hear (yet again!) a whole new side to us, and maybe even a cheeky little music video to pair with it.
To our fans: You can stay in the loop by following all our socials, especially our broadcast channel on IG, where you can get a sneak peek of what’s going on beyond the horizon, and all the latest updates. And lastly, we love all of you and are so thankful for your support!
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:: stream/purchase Soul Ties here ::
:: connect with H3rizon here ::
Stream: “Soul Ties (Don’t Give It Up)” – H3rizon
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© Nadia Razlan
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