‘Forgotten Island’ Has A Stacked Filipino Music All-Star Soundtrack

The animated fantasy-comedy film Forgotten Island tells the story of two Filipino best friends. As one of them prepares to leave for college overseas, the pair is transported to a mystical island filled with creatures. The film has a stacked voice cast headlined by R&B singer H.E.R. and actress Liza Soberano, who plays as the film’s main protagonists Jo and Raissa.

Speaking of stacked, the original soundtrack lineup is just as impressive, featuring some of the best contemporary and legendary Filipino artists we have. Here’s a rundown of who’s part of the Forgotten Island soundtrack. 

BINI, SB19, and Sophia Laforteza

Girl group BINI and boy group SB19 are among the local heavyweights enlisted for the film’s soundtrack. BINI did a recording of an original song titled “Parallel Worlds,” produced in part by Filipino-American electronic producer Shawn Wasabi. Meanwhile, SB19 did a cover of master rapper Francis Magalona’s “Mga Kababayan Ko.”

Katseye’s Sophia Laforteza performed a cover of the new wave band INXS’ classic “Never Tear Us Apart” for one of the film’s more delicate scenes. In an exclusive interview for Variety, senior vice president of Film Music at Universal Pictures Angela Leus says that Laforteza’s performance became the perfect fit for conveying the emotional weight of those moments. Leus explained further that the INXS song was important to the filmmakers and it encapsulated the film’s main characters Jo and Raissa.

“That’s where the idea to bring in Sophia Laforteza from Katseye — who’s a badass — came from. She put a new twist on it to signify the evolution of their friendship,” Leus says. “The song parallels their friendship and captures the journey from where they were to what they become.”

Salonga, Ibarra, H.E.R.: The Soundtrack’s Veteran Core

Leus confesses that researching artists for the project also became a way of reconnecting with her own Filipino heritage as a Filipino-American. 

“From the very beginning, I said, ‘I need to be aware of every Filipino music creator out there,’ so it was a deep dive and a lot of reaching out to our community in the Philippines and here,” Leus says. “It was about educating myself on who’s out there.”

Actress and singer Lea Salonga, who voices the dreaded manananggal in the film, also recorded a song for the soundtrack. Soberano and H.E.R. performed the centerpiece of the soundtrack, titled “BRB.” Femcee Ruby Ibarra did a recording of “Salbahe Ako” alongside rapper Carl Angelo.

“Many amazingly talented Filipino artists have come together to create this unified experience,” Leus tells Variety. “We couldn’t have imagined it coming together this perfectly.”