In 2015, on February 14, Filipino-American producer and singer-songwriter June Marieezy, who now goes by the artist name ((( O ))), was in a period of transition when she released Throwaway Love Songs — a collection of tracks that solidified her place in the electronic neo-soul music scene in the Philippines.
This was during the advent of independent music as audio streaming platforms like Soundcloud allowed producers to easily upload tracks online. Filipino music collectives like BuwanBuwan Collective and FlipMusic helped open doors for experimentation by going beyond just boom-bap drums and regular laidback production; influenced by dance and electronic music, they opted for a more heavily percussive approach.
Ten years later, the album feels even more resonant, filled with love and a lingering curiosity; its enduring impact is in patterns of artistic influence that paved the way for new sounds to emerge in the local scene.
Electronic Experiments in Soul
Throwaway Love Songs showcases a variety of instrumentation: future-bass drops, blissful vocal chops, and a hypnotic vocal performance that has become Marieezy’s signature, using her voice to transform mental cityscapes into island paradises with a shimmery and shambling choice of bass percussion.
But Marieezy isn’t just an “island girl” (she currently resides in Palawan) — she’s a versatile musician who isn’t afraid to see what sticks. Her eclectic choice of electronic blips and taste for remixes attest to an openness to evolve her sound.
Before Throwaway Love Songs, Marieezy released Heavy Eyes in collaboration with artists RBTO and RJay TY, followed by solo singles like “Summertime.” These early works, rooted in hip-hop and R&B, marked the start of a shift in her sound as she began experimenting with new styles and approaches, incorporating woozy synths, wonky basslines, and hard-hitting trap drums.
At a time when neo-soul was synonymous with laid-back, beachy vibes (think New York’s Phony Ppl, British pop-soul group Mamas Gun, or singer-songwriter Raveena), many artists — including Marieezy — were eager to push the boundaries by combining colorful, almost maximalist, synth-work with a stuttering vocal delivery that is simultaneously delicate.
Throwaway Love Songs is a notable marker in the neo-soul scene, which saw the release of seminal electronic music tracks by Filipino producers in quick succession. In January 2015, a month before Throwaway Love Songs, crwn and Jess Connelly released “How I Love” — a track that managed to be both incredibly massive and intricately tiny — wobbly kick drums creating a lofty sense of space, with crisp hi-hats that sound as exquisite as Connelly’s voice. Months later, B.P. Valenzuela’s album Neon Hour and no rome’s Hurry Home and Rest EP — released in March and July respectively — takes Marieezy and crwn’s minimalist production style, combined with bright, ethereal synths.
With all this music emerging within the same year, it’s clear that Throwaway Love Songs played a key role in the local neo-soul and R&B scene, while simultaneously contributing to the rise of dance and electronic music in the Philippines.
