Kelady’s fiery “Barkada” is a tribute to chilling with your friends
When we last heard from Los Angeles-based visual artist/musician Kelady a while ago, she had just released her scorching self-loving song, “Papaya.” This month, she’s followed that up with “Barkada,” a similarly hard-hitting song that plays with Kelady’s penchant for mixing elements of her Filipina heritage with razor-sharp club beats.
Meaning “group of friends” in Tagalog, “Barkada” is the artist’s ode to the “sweet and rough times of adolescence while reminiscing with old friends.” While most might depict such rosy times with soft nostalgia, “Barkada” colors those memories with deviousness and teenage debauchery. “Belly out, lippie sweet / Glitter cheek, we the heat,” Kelady relays. “Strike ya match, caterpillar chillax / We in da lounge, we layback.” Based on the scorching beats and Kelady’s fiery demeanor on the song, good times are to be had in Kelady’s posse.
Concurrently released with the song is the visual for “Barkada,” which captures Kelady spitting verses amidst scribble-infested, glitchy projections. Once again teaming up with her artistic partner Danyo, Kelady brings you back into the trippy headspace she first inhabited on the colorful visual of “Hayop.” While there’s little more here than the musician singing along in front of the projector, there’s no doubt that she looks hella cool doing it.
Artist pages: BandCamp | Facebook | Instagram | SoundCloud | Spotify
Li-Wei Chu is the chief editor of From the Intercom. When he’s not editing drafts and searching for new artists to cover for the website, he loves watching cult films, cooking, and listening to his ever-growing collection of vinyl records. You can follow him on LetterBoxd and make fun of his taste in movies here!