coast2coast

In March, I got the opportunity to interview Davao-based R&B singer-songwriter KREY. She had recently gotten back to the music industry after a three-year hiatus with her latest single, “Meet Again,” which is a hauntingly eerie, yet beautiful dream-pop cut in which KREY laments losing someone close to her and reminiscing her fond memories with them, hoping to one day see them again in the future. After listening to the single a few times, I decided to check out her other songs, namely “Surface”, “falling”, and “meant to be”. Suffice to say, I was surprised to find that those songs were closer to a more radio-friendly R&B sound, while “Meet Again” was a marked departure from that style, with KREY taking a more distorted and fragmented dream-pop direction with the single.

Rhythmic roots

KREY first took an interest in the music industry back in 2020 because she grew up in a family of musicians. “I pretty much grew up around music and playing instruments, making songs and stuff. During the pandemic, that’s when I really got to connect with songwriting so I ended up doing just that. Thanks to that,I published my first single, ‘Surface,’ back in 2020. I was 19 back then and since then, I have released a song every year. Luckily, I went to a good place to start my music career during the pandemic.”

Despite being consistently active during her first few years of writing music, KREY made the decision to go on hiatus in 2022. “I stopped making music for around three years because I was in university at the time. I prioritized my career and getting a degree, and I ended up exploring another side of me. After being sidelined with all of that, I came back this year, 2025.”

Meant to be?

KREY’s return to making music was marked by her latest single, “Meet Again.” In our interview, she went in-depth about the single, the creative decisions behind it, and its writing process. 

“When I was writing ‘Meet Again’, I took a lot of inspiration from the movie La La Land. That film also deals with feeling great love, in the sense that it is so good that it lets you feel the most genuine, real, and wholesome type of love, as well as support and care.”

KREY further delves into the parallels of themes of love in both the song and the film. “In La La Land, the couple did not end up together because of the way things turned out, which is how things turn out sometimes. Similarly, the song is about finding someone that you need to meet at the right time of your life, even if it’s just for that moment. Maybe it’s to teach you lessons, how it’s like to be loved or how to love. And then you can share what you’ve learned from those experiences with other people.”

With this explanation and my personal understanding of the song’s lyrics, I could not help but think that KREY wrote the song from a personal angle as well. I asked her to describe the headspace she was in during the songwriting process. “Yeah well like I said, the song is about experiencing something good and having it taken away from you because that’s just how life is sometimes. Personally, I wrote that song in the midst of going through such experiences, wondering what would have been, stuff like that. I’d wonder what went wrong, I’d have flashbacks, reminisce, and be reminded of that someone when I see things.”

KREY proceeded to delve further into what she was feeling when writing that song, stating, “I mentioned in the lyrics that I was gonna try to convince myself that it was all in my control, that moving on was part of my plan. It’s just that if I saw the separation coming, maybe it would have been easier for me to accept it. That it just happened and if we don’t match, it’s simply that and we will no longer be together anymore.”

A different lane

After listening to “Meet Again” repeatedly, I decided to listen to KREY’s previous singles to get a better idea of what her previous work sounded like and noticed a gradual shift in tone. While her first few singles were much more vibrant and warm, they seemed to get subtly more somber and muted as I listened to them chronologically, which eventually culminated in the fragile and melancholic sound and tone of “Meet Again”. The decision behind the stylistic shift was made out of a desire to explore a sound that was novel and seldom explored. “I wanted to go for a sound that, to me, was fresh and new. Something that was not very common to one’s ears. Back when I started off my music career, I mostly made songs just for fun. At the time, I wanted to go for an R&B sound because I was listening to a lot of that stuff back then.”

KREY further stated that after coming back from her break, she found that the dream pop sound resonated with her songwriting. “I figured that I liked songs that had this kind of sound and it was also easier for me to write songs like this. I was in the studio with my producer, Kyle [KYLEGOTSCREWED], as well as other producers and thanks to them, it was easier for me to hop on a beat and come up with lyrics off the top of my head or make melodies. Deep down, this is where I want to be musically. This kind of sound also lines up with my personality, the tone of my voice, and the melodies I write anyway.”

KREY went on to say that her friends have pointed out her taste in music being unique to them. “They’ve commented on the music I’ve listened to recently. Since it wasn’t a genre that they normally get to hear, they’d typically just comment that my music taste was ‘interesting’.”  

Beyond the desire to explore a fresh and new style, the foray into dream pop was also a reflection of KREY as a songwriter currently. This also applied to her R&B sound in the past, which was her primary influence back then and reflected her more carefree and relaxed nature and emotional state. “The R&B and hip-hop that influenced me at the time was what got me to write songs to begin with. It’s not that I never enjoyed writing R&B, I absolutely did. It’s just that it was simply a different phase in my life. I was more… laidback, in a sense. Like maybe a ‘cool-ish’ type of person, not really up in my emotions.”

With her current style and artistic vision, her songwriting approach became a lot more emotionally candid and earnest. Gone is the bubbly and carefree disposition found in her previous singles in favor of more raw and transparent emotional expression that reflect KREY’s depth and maturity as a songwriter. “There’s no sugarcoating anymore. I hated being vulnerable at the time, and I’d have this attitude of, ‘you hurt me, but I don’t care’. Now, I’m more upfront about my feelings and open to writing sad songs and being vulnerable. In a way, I’ve become more mature with my feelings and writing songs about them.”

Much of her newfound maturity as a songwriter came as  a result of the events that transpired during her three-year hiatus from making music. The fresh experiences she had gone through during that time, such as traveling monthly to see what lies out there, allowed her to discover herself once again not only as a songwriter, but also a person. “When I took a break from music, I felt a bit drained and I was also pursuing other things in life. In a way, I was exploring, seeing what I really liked and didn’t like personally and as an artist. I also went traveling every month just to explore what’s out there, opened up my mind to other things.” In addition to going through new experiences, KREY also challenged herself to be more socially active and engaged with other people to rediscover herself. “I’m an introvert, for sure, but I wanted to break out of that, meet more people, explore, and see how far I can go. So yeah, it definitely made a difference when I took a break. That’s when I really found out who I was, as cliche as it sounds.”

While KREY’s monumental shift from R&B to dream pop may imply a more experimental and fringe approach to making music, she ultimately decided that for the time being, she will stick with her current style for future releases as it is what she likes most currently and aligns with her current artistic vision. “I’m currently not sure if I’m able to venture out to other genres at the moment. That’s actually one of the reasons why I chose to join Diorama FM, the label I’m currently under. To me, they align with my vision as an artist and the type of songs I want to put out so it has been great working with them. So yeah, I’ll definitely stick to what I like and who I am for now. Maybe that will change in the future, but I don’t really know.”

Inspiring individuality

With KREY’s current plans as a singer-songwriter set in stone, her modus operandi for the near future is to just keep writing and releasing songs, alongside performing in upcoming shows in Manila and keeping abreast of any artistic opportunities that will come up, especially with her current label Diorama. “There’s a lot of fun stuff to look forward to with Diorama and all. I’m not sure if collabs are open currently, but I’m also interested in exchanging ideas with other artists as well. So yeah, a lot of exciting possibilities.”

KREY closed the interview with a heartfelt and sincere parting message in which she addresses songwriters and music enthusiasts altogether and tells them to stay true to themselves and write about what connects with them because to her, those aspects ultimately reflect them as a person and that no one can judge them for being different. “As an artist, it’s really important to know who you are because that’s the brand you’re going for, the type of person you want to be, and the kind of inspiration you want to be for young artists to look up to.” Having agreed with her sentiments, I further added that a big mistake that many artists make is that they chase trends and whatever sound is popular at the moment as it eventually wears thin and no longer works out for them in the long run, especially if the trends they’re chasing don’t align with their vision and who they are as a person.

Ultimately, KREY’s latest single “Meet Again” does not only signal the return of a singer-songwriter doing what she loves most, but also serves as a manifestation of her journey and growth as a person while being preoccupied with other matters in life. Thanks to the interview with her, I’ve come to realize that how one is as a songwriter will change drastically even outside the music industry. Her growth and development as a person in three years reflected greatly not only in her stylistic shift, but also in her more emotionally honest and transparent lyricism. I am completely grateful for the opportunity to speak with KREY about her latest single, “Meet Again,” as I got to learn about a lot beyond just the song itself and I look forward to whatever she has to offer in the future.