Singer-songwriter syd hartha wouldn’t want her personal stories to get in the way while writing a song. The 24-year-old indie-folk songstress has often been open about going to the beach, spending time by the water, and writing songs in that same space. At least, that’s what social media tends to show about the singer. But underneath that image is a songwriter who understands how to write with complicated emotions and translate them into something intimate. The beach may look like a place of ease, but the songs themselves hold far heavier reflections.
In 2018, her breakout single “tila tala” introduced another folk artist on the rise, one with a careful sense of phrasing where rap-influenced cadence meets the delicate movement of an acoustic guitar. The song placed her within the growing wave of Filipino indie-folk artists at the time, yet her writing carried a distinct interior voice — direct, observant, and often disarmingly honest.
There’s a duality to this, and syd hartha herself has learned to move between both sides. She understands that songwriting sometimes demands vulnerability, even when the subject feels uncomfortable to confront. She has never shied away from writing about those situations either. Past releases such as “ayaw,” “kung nag-aatubili,” and “3:15,” her writing explores the complicated pull of desire, the hope for reciprocation, and the darker realities that surface when trust is broken within a relationship. Beneath the softness of her arrangements is a songwriter who knows exactly what she wants to say, her willingness to sing what others often avoid.
syd hartha leans toward a more nature-bound routine while working through creative ideas. Whatever image people see online, the tree-hugging persona is not a performance but rather part of the environment that allows her to open up in the first place — the kind of vulnerability that feeds her songwriting.
“When I’m around nature, I feel most myself,” syd tells Rolling Stone Philippines. “Walang pressure kasi mama nature doesn’t judge, and we don’t need to perform around her. Like anumang itsura ko, anumang feelings ko, okay lang sa kanya. Pwede akong maging ganito ko vulnerable with my music.”
Zooming Out
In her latest single “ako naman muna,” released in November 2025, syd found a breath of fresh air after writing the song and its composition almost by accident. A bossa nova beat and groove play naturally with the singer’s delivery, all thanks to the unexpected moment of writing outside. The distance offered by nature does not erase the emotions she writes about, but instead helps place them in a wider frame. She allows songs to emerge from observation — the tide moving in and out, the stillness that settles after a long while.
“For the longest time, parang hiwalay ‘yong playful side ko at ‘yong music ko na mas personal at medyo dark,” she says. “Ngayon, nakikita ko na rin ‘yong playfulness at childlike side ko sa music.”
In that sense, syd hartha’s songs often unfold in small details: a moment of hesitation, a line that lingers after a conversation, the recognition that something in a relationship has changed. The beach becomes a vantage point for her eventually. From there, the songwriter is able to step back, examine the emotional terrain, and decide which parts are worth turning into a melody.
“Kapag nasa nature ako, napipilitan akong maging still at umupo with everything I’m feeling,” she says. “Pati ‘yong mga emotions na ayaw ko sanang ilabas, lumalabas sa songs.”
For syd hartha, songwriting in more peaceful settings would mean an artist understands where those feelings are placed in a larger world. She learns how to carry them without letting them swallow the song itself.
“Minsan kailangan mo lang mag-zoom out,” she says. “May mas malaking mundo sa labas, and that helps you see things differently.”
