Ruby Ibarra, JR Aquino and Kiana V performed at a special LIVE MYX taping during GRAMMY weekend. For the very first time, the annual GRAMMY awards will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fans and music industry professionals celebrated music's biggest week for the first time in Sin City. Our concert was held at 24 Oxford inside the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
The show was filmed to air on our MYX global TV network & multi-media platform for our “MYXtape” series that highlights the best in Filipino talent from around the world. Watch highlight videos of the performances this May, celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Catch Ruby Ibarra and Kiana V on the red carpet GRAMMY night:
More info on the performers below alongside videos of their performance:
Born in the Philippines, Ruby spent the first 4 years of her life in Tacloban City before her family eventually settled in San Lorenzo, California. Submerged in the melting pot of the Bay Area, Ruby’s adolescent years introduced her to a wide array of cultures, experiences, and most importantly: hip hop, which resonated at every corner of her neighborhood.
As a teenager, Ruby began crafting her own rhymes until she began to develop her own style and became comfortable with sharing her story. She quickly picked up music production shortly there after and eventually started performing publicly, starting in the college and local venue circuits.
Ruby's unmatched talent and work ethic has given her the opportunity to perform at large festivals such as Rock The Bells as well as at prestigious venues like the Smithsonian Museum and a headlining, sold-out two day residency at the Getty Museum. Three of her independently released videos even gained over 1M views in less than a week. Ruby's newly released EP Circa ’91 went on #29 on the iTunes rap/hip-hop album charts, next to the likes of Macklemore and Kendrick Lamar. Following a tour of the Philippines, Ruby was featured as part of the 60th annual Grammy Awards festivities in New York through a music collaboration and performance with Grammy nominee SZA. Ruby's music has been featured in several TV shows, films and documentaries (including the Sundance Film Festival premiered "A Thousand Cuts") and Ruby has even directed several of her music videos and behind-the-scenes documentaries.
In 2010, Ruby began releasing multiple videos on Youtube, which created a buzz after several of those videos were featured on XXL Magazine and Worldstar Hip Hop. Her videos, “Game Up” and “Dosey Doe”, each amassed over 100,000 views, eventually garnering the attention of DJ Kay Slay, who gave her the nickname, “Hip Hop”. On December 12, 2012, Ruby released her debut mixtape, Lost in Translation, hosted by DJ Kay Slay, which premiered that same night on Shade 45 Satellite Radio in New York City. Since its release, Lost in Translation has accumulated over 50,000 Soundcloud streams and nearly 100,000 digital downloads.
JRA pulled out his classics as well as covers that sounded better than the originals. For more, follow @JR Aquino .
ABOUT JR Aquino:
JR Aquino is a singer/songwriter born & raised in Anchorage, AK, who now resides in Las Vegas, NV. His love for music and performing has taken him all over the US and internationally in Asia and the UK. He has competed on singing shows such as season 3 of The Voice, where he was on Team Cee Lo, and on season 4 of American Idol, where he made it the “Top 44” out of over 100,000 contestants. He is on YouTube with over 550,000 subscribers and has gathered over 70 million views on his channel alone. With almost two decades in music, JR continues to write, perform, and share his story through song!
Kiana V is an R&B artist from Manila, currently based in Los Angeles. The successful release of her single "Does Show Know" in 2017 with currently 13M streams, debut EP “Grey” in 2018, "See Me" album in 2019, singles including "Corners" and "Safe Place" in 2020, "Dazed" EP in 2021 - and performances throughout Southeast Asia has paved the way to her current sound. The release of "Safe Place" in 2020 with Tarsier Records and 88Rising has generated over 2M streams. Kiana has been featured on SPIN, COMPLEX, Power 106 LA, Forbes, Earmilk, Acclaim Australia, HYPEBAE, PAPER, Grammy.com, American Songwriter, to name a few. She was awarded the People’s Choice Award for Best Female Performance at the 33rd Awit Awards in 2021 and this year has been selected to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Kiana’s recent release "Heartbeat On Me", has is caught the attention of NME, The FADER, Beats Per Minute, The Forty-Five, and VOIR Magazine. Tune in to Kiana V’s single on all streaming digital platforms and music video on Youtube.
Stay tuned for more info and watch previous MYXtapes featuring Albert Posis, AJ Rafael and more at www.myx.global/myxtape.
2020 was the year we discovered the podcast world. Seems like everyone has their own podcast from artists, athletes, to your favorite Youtubers. The content is great and with guests that carry meaningful conversations, podcasts are great to pass the time. One of the great guests to have on a podcast is H.E.R. The insight and introspection she brings into conversations expands one's perspective about life, career, and spiritual journey.
H.E.R. joins award-winning gospel singer, Kirk Franklin on his podcast Good Words with Kirk Franklin. They talk about staying true to yourself despite what others say and showing gratitude in the process. Another topic H.E.R. shares is the need to put more honest art out and the vulnerability that comes with that.
She also talks about her mixed background and how it influenced her style, sound, and musical direction. With her parents as her number one supporters, she's thankful for her family leading the way. H.E.R. even mentions the karaoke family parties where they sing songs by music divas like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin all who helped shaped her sound.
With Grammys under her belt and more success on the way, H.E.R. reflects on developing as an artist and how to be intentional when choosing projects. She's been keeping busy now by pushing out new music and getting expressive again after taking a break at the start of the pandemic. The goal is to take on the responsibility to create uplifting music. H.E.R. looks forward to when virtual shows will take the back burner and live shows are back again.
Cover Photo Credit: Sony Podcasts Twitter
H.E.R. snags two more Grammys at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards last night in Los Angeles. She won for Song of The Year with I Can't Breathe and Best R&B Song with Better Than Imagined! She posts a then and now photo from the 2019 and 2020 Grammys where she also won 2 Grammys Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance.
She celebrates her Grammy wins by showing off her #pinoypride. H.E.R. gives all her fellow Filipinos a shout out as she tells us what her Tita would think about her win. "Oh my God, I'm so proud of you, you have Grammys. Wow!...Even if you do not win, you are a winner." We may not all relate to winning a Grammy, but we can relate to having a supportive Tita!
I Can't Believe was written by H.E.R., D'Mile and Tiara Thomas and produced by D'Mile. Better Than Imagined was produced by Robert Glasper and features H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegéocello who performs the spoken word in the track.
Now the night after winning at the Grammys, H.E.R. and her collaborators Tiara Thomas and D'Mile are Oscar-nominated songwriters. They're nominated for best original song with Fight for You from the film, Judas and the Black Messiah. She was grateful for the nomination. According to ABC News, H.E.R. says, “I’m feeling crazy man..."
“This just doesn’t happen. It’s just a whole different world I’m stepping into. It’s just a crazy, crazy part of my journey. I never would have imagined this would even happen. I’m super, super grateful. That’s the foundation of how I feel. It’s just gratitude.”
Cover Photo Credit: H.E.R. Music Official Facebook
GRAMMY award winning artist, H.E.R. is back with another beautiful song to put on repeat. Listen to "Damage" below.
H.E.R.'s latest "Damage" is available now and she just announced that she will also be on Saturday Night Live (SNL) on October 24 via Instagram with Adele!
ABOUT HER:
Gabriella Wilson (born June 27, 1997), better known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced "her", a backronym for Having Everything Revealed), is a mixed Black/Filipina American singer and songwriter.
After initial music appaerances and single under her real name, Wilson re-emerged in 2016 with the H.E.R. persona, releasing her debut EP H.E.R. Volume 1. She then released subsequent EPs H.E.R. Volume 2 (2017), The B Sides (2017), I Used to Know Her: The Prelude (2018) and I Used to Know Her: Part 2 (2018). Her first compilation album H.E.R. was released in October 2017, consisting of tracks from the singer's first two EPs plus six additional songs. H.E.R. was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, winning Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album.
In 2020, she was nominated for five awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for I Used to Know Her and Song of the Year for "Hard Place". On September 20, 2020, she sang Sinéad O'Connor's version of Prince's song “Nothing Compares 2 U”, for the In Memoriam segment of the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
