Arthur Nery Interview

Arthur Nery was attending his cousin’s big debut event when he first found out he could sing. As is usually the case at Filipino birthday parties, the then-eight-year-old was asked to sing his cousin’s favorite song in front of his relatives and random guests.

The song was “Fly Me To the Moon,” and the way Nery tells it, it seemed like everybody at the party was impressed.

“My dad was a great singer,” the shy, soft-spoken Nery says when we catch up with him one day at his label O/C Records’ headquarters in Quezon City. “I grew up listening to jazz and blues. First, Frank Sinatra, and then later on, Michael Bublé. It was all his influence.”

Nery broke into the scene in 2019 when his album Letters Never Sent was released. It’s a captivating debut from a undeniable talent: an honest-to-goodness jazzy, R&B-tinged record from a skinny 23-year-old local with vocal chops that make you want to stop and stare. It even starts with a sexy spoken word missive, the aforementioned “letters never sent.”

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“Everybody was voting for me and you, but I guess we were short a few ballots,” he croons.

(Admittedly, I’m knocking myself on the head for missing “Letters Never Sent” when I did last year’s best OPM releases. It definitely deserves a spot there, if I could redo things).

PHOTO: Iya Forbes

A simple start

Nery grew up in Cagayan De Oro, and had what he says was a simple childhood.

“I grew up in the streets,” he says. “I liked playing basketball. Kalaro ko yung mga tambay. We used to steal fruits from our neighbors’ trees.”

Nery never had formal voice training, but says he joined the Glee Club at Ateneo de Cagayan, which he says helped develop his voice and his confidence.

He pursued Psychology in college, and spent time working as a call center agent and as an English tutor for Japanese students online. But all that didn’t last when he realized that music was what he was meant to be doing.

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“I followed my dreams,” he says. “It was in college when I realized that I knew how to write songs.”

But he had been writing since high school, songs mostly for and about crushes and teen obsessions. Friends were encouraging, telling him they liked what they heard, but the perfectionist in him couldn’t bring himself to actually finish any song. He joined the basketball team and says he did “other things” unrelated to music.

But when the realization hit—the moment when he strung words together and judged them to be good enough—he never looked back.

Path to stardom

Nery started out as most struggling musicians do—he performed at company parties, birthdays, weddings, and even beauty pageants.

“I serenaded the candidates,” he says. “That became my life.”

But unlike other performers content with singing other people’s songs, Nery longed to write and sing his own material. He knew he was destined for something more.

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It was at a gig in Bukidnon, where he sang what eventually became his first single, “Life Puzzle,” when things took a turn. A friend asked him after if he was signed with a label and when he answered in the negative, the friend passed his number to Kean Cipriano. The Callalilly frontman said he was immediately taken with Nery the first time he heard him.

“I just thought he had a refreshing sound,” Cipriano says when he heard “Life Puzzle.” “Imagine someone from CDO, this artist, with this sound. Na-capture ako agad. It was a pulse thing. Instantly I knew more people needed to hear him.”

PHOTO: Iya Forbes

It helped also that Cipriano’s fledgling record label and artist management company O/C Records was actively looking for artists outside of Metro Manila.

Cipriano flew Nery to Manila to meet him and eventually signed him to O/C. The label wasted no time releasing a brand new single, “Binhi,” a soft, romantic ballad that slowly builds into a sexy ready-for-the-bedroom anthem. Buoyed by Nery’s honey sweet vocals, the single proved “Life Puzzle” was no fluke and that there was plenty more that the young CDO native had to offer.

Five months later, in October, “Letters Never Sent” finally dropped on Spotify and on other streaming platforms. The album marked the arrival of a sharp, confident new talent that clearly stands out in a scene filled with too-alike bands and artists. It's hard not to like smart, heartwarming songwriting paired with a voice that sounds like the lovechild of D'Angelo and Daniel Caesar--and the fact that he’s from Cagayan De Oro is all the more reason he should be celebrated.

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Nery namedrops artists like Caesar, Jason Mraz and Bruno Mars as songwriting inspirations, as well as local talents like Ebe Dancel, Unique, Quest and John Roa.

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“It depends on my mood,” he says when asked about his songwriting process. “It’s really random; sometimes it comes while I’m sleeping or eating or when I’m showering. Daming pumapasok na ideas.

“Sometimes I ask for beats from my producers,” he adds. “Then I write over them. Sometimes nagpi-pitch ako na recorded lang sa phone. That’s where it starts. Most of the lyrics in the album are on the spot. I write the lyrics and the chorus, then we record it for the draft. Then when I listen to it from verse to chorus, alam ko na yung susunod. That’s when I know the song is working. And then I continue writing."

Nery is slowly building a small but hardcore fanbase which now includes other famous names in OPM.

“The first time I met Quest (at an event), I was walking by and he called me,” he says. Nanginig ako, kasi tinawag ako ni Quest. But I acted normal. Well I thought was normal. Sabi ng friend ko, parang awkward daw ako.

“(Quest said) he’s a huge fan and that I should keep writing. Of course I'm a big fan of Quest. When other artists that I look up to pay me a compliment, sobrang nakaka-inspire. It boosts my will to write more songs.”

PHOTO: Iya Forbes

Cipriano says the plan is to have Nery play more gigs, expose him to more audiences, and allow him to experience life as a musician. The O/C boss also says he feels responsible for Nery as his manager and wants to manage his expectations, especially since he comes from outside Metro Manila.

“There’s a lot of blinding lights, or external forces,” Cipriano says.

As for Nery himself, it’s all about the music, and perhaps figuring out new sounds and genres that might fit his remarkable songwriting and vocal talents.

“Actually now, I’m still not sure yet (about what genre I fit in). People also tell me I should do more R&B and more upbeat songs. So I’ll try that. But jazz music makes me so calm. Actually that’s the reason why I make music: to make people feel comfortable and relaxed.”

That and being a good representative of Cagayan De Oro.

“I just want to reach people worldwide,” he says. “The plan is to bring my city’s name to the world. There’s lots of other good artists there, and I’d like more of them to be heard.”

Arthur Nery: You Need To Listen To This Former Call Center Agent From Cagayan De Oro Sing

A simple start

Path to stardom

Celebrity fans