I can’t believe we’re already in the middle of Sound Off! season (patent pending). Today in our 2018 series, you get the pleasure of meeting the incredible Claudine Magbag.

In her own beautiful words:

“A woman needs a room of her own if she is to realize her creative potential. Claudine Magbag joins a long line of female voices reimagining the intimate as universal. With reverberant beats and layered, sampled vocals, Magbag creates her own company while giving shape to the vivid interiority of teenage life. The yearning to start while still bearing the uncertain weight of the present. Her songs play like the soundtrack to your most cinematic fantasies; the feeling of riding your bike up a hilltop under the perfect purple-pink sunset without going anywhere at all.”ť

Check out this video with Claudine, and then read the whole interview below!

What does being part of Sound Off! mean to you?

Being part of Sound Off! is my step forward in really recognizing myself as an artist and a musician. And [it's a way] to put myself out there more than I normally do. All I mainly do right now is upload my music online. I’m here to meet new people, and build a community and get involved in a community. I’m really looking forward to that.

Why do you make music? How does creating make you feel?

Self-expression, really. Being able to put myself out there. And just being me. I don’t know. Growing up you really struggle with finding yourself—that sounds so cliché. But to know who I am as a person, and that's just a part of me. So that’s what music is: just me.

What do you hope to achieve through your music?

To really just share how I feel with other people. I think that we all feel like we’re alone in certain aspects. I’d say I do write about some pretty sad stuff. But [I want] to be able to connect with people, too.

Describe your music using only emojis.

I feel like the straight-faced one. It’s the one that stares at you like [makes expressionless face]. The sad one. I wouldn’t say that my music is very energetic, but it’s very self-expressive and just honest about how I feel, because it’s coming straight from me.

Claudine Magbag plays Sound Off! Semifinals #3 on Friday, February 23. Don’t miss it. Get your tickets right here.