Say Now’s Ysabelle Angeli on the power of her sonic sisterhood
The Filipina British singer chats about her culture, R&B/pop girl group superstardom, their viral single, and more
Ysabelle Angeli of Say Now.
Tallulah Ballard
Words by Andre Lawes Menchavez
Ysabelle Angeli is one of three members who make up Say Now, a multiracial R&B/pop girl group who are continuing the legacy of British girl groups for the new generation.
Positioned as one of a dozen artists to keep an eye out for in 2025 by the Recording Academy, the trio had a number of releases this year that saw momentous success—including their single, “Brick by Brick,” that is about to hit four million streams on Spotify after reaching viral acclaim across social media. The group fuses smooth vocals with Y2K aesthetics, while also proudly having writing credits on their biggest hits.
We chatted with Angeli, the Filipina British superstar, to discuss how her musical Filipino roots helped craft her career and how the journey to finding the group’s individual sound and image was one that could only have been conquered through their found sisterhood.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
From left, Ysabelle Angeli, Madeleine Haynes and Amelia Onuorah of Say Now.
Tallulah Ballard
Andre Lawes Menchavez: When did music find a way into your life? Especially as a Filipina, were you belting Whitney Houston out of the womb?
Ysabelle Angeli: Yeah! [Laughs] I feel like at karaoke sessions you have at Filipino gatherings, the one thing that's whipped out is Whitney Houston or Celine Dion, and whether you're good or not you're just forced to do it anyway. Which is, I guess, how I got into it. But, this is what I wanted to do from the beginning, there wasn't really a plan B.
ALM: Do you take anything from Filipino culture specifically into your craft as a singer and songwriter?
YA: Yeah, definitely. I think of people like Morissette. I used to watch Wish Bus all the time. It was my religion when I was a kid. This culture and the community around being able to sing in the Philippines is such a warm environment. Whenever I go back home, everyone gets really excited, and they force me to sing on the karaoke machine and whatnot. It’s that sense of community and Pinoy pride that I love.
ALM: With Morissette being your reference point of admiration as a child, are there any Filipino artists you love at the moment?
YA: There's this R&B singer named Dylan Sinclair, he's a Filipino artist from London, and he's really cool. Obviously I listen to KATSEYE because of Sophia, the girl I resonate with the most. Bruno Mars has been in my childhood since he became a thing. I know his whole 24K Magic album, word for word, bar for bar. He’s my ride or die. Oh, and obviously, Saweetie. When she released ICY, I literally memorized every single lyric. That’s my sh*t!
ALM: Filipino aunties don’t play about that 24K Magic album! But on the topic of artists, the United Kingdom has a deep history of girl groups, including Nadine Coyle (from Girls Aloud), who made a cameo in your recent music video. Were you a stan growing up and how does it feel to continue the legacy?
YA: Girl group culture is such a big thing over here. I especially think of Little Mix, who recently went on hiatus, and groups like the Sugababes, who we are quite a visual representation of. Their song “Push The Button,” all the Filipino moms in England knew what that song was. And Spice Girls had such a big impact as a girl group too, globally. Everyone knew who they were.
I think the new generation coming through is so fun to see, especially when you're at the beginning of it. I remember when we first launched, it was literally just us and FLO at the time. And now we’re seeing boy bands like No Guidnce who have Josh Lomat, who’s also Filipino and a really good friend of mine. It is crazy and so good to see our influences on the music industry.
ALM: With that history in mind, what do you feel Say Now brings to this new generation?
YA: We’re trying to bring back recession pop. I mean, with the financial crisis going back up, it's only right to bring the music back up. And especially with “Can't Keep A Beat,” that song was so that era. It just brings back a nostalgic feeling. We also love bringing back the sexy Britney Spears era of her dancing and her concepts in music.
Also, when you think of girl groups, you think of being matchy-matchy and looking as one piece, even being media trained. I feel like because of the influence of TikTok and social media, that’s changing. We've really tried to lean into more of our cultures and our ethnicities and being different from each other, while also still being one unit, because we are still sisters who love each other and are best friends that live together. I feel like we are one body in that sense.
@saynow that man is lying to you girl 🙂↕️ Snippet on soundcloud if you wanna listen! link in bio💋#girlgroup #newmusic ♬ original sound - Say Now
ALM: Speaking of TikTok, we need to talk about your hit single, “Brick by Brick,” which went viral on social media. How has all this incredible reception to your music felt?
YA: It's crazy. When we posted the demo on our social media, we didn't really know what would get received well. And “Brick by Brick” was received so well and everyone related to the lyrics of building your ex brick by brick. And we just loved that concept and we ran with it. Seeing everyone love it and relate to it, and loving the visuals as well, was so important to us. It really did mean a lot.
It feels like our artistry is being appreciated, which I think is really important for us as a girl band especially. I feel like sometimes we get lost in all the chaos of life. As a girl band we need to do this, we need to do that. So, it was really meaningful to us when a song that we loved and wrote together meant so much to everyone else.
ALM: With writing credits on the track and its creative direction led by you three, what was the process like coming up with this song and its nostalgic visuals?
YA: When we wrote the song, it was an interesting day because we were going through so many ideas and concepts. We literally spent the whole day just going through songs that we didn't really gel or vibe with, and then in the last two hours we wrote a verse and chorus and it just hit. The first listen, we were like, “Oh my god, this is so good! We want this to be released so bad.” We showed it to our label, they loved it, but they were unsure because it wasn't similar to “Can’t Keep A Beat” and “Don’t Text, Don’t Call.” We were unsure as well until we posted it on TikTok. Everyone loved it and we were like, “Yes, thank God. People get it!”
With the music video, we love Y2K, and we love the 2000s era. That's like our holy grail. Low waist everything, short tops. When we came up with a concept with our director, it really was so easy to come up with because we love the Destiny's Child influence in the song. We wanted to pay homage to them, and we used the reference of their “Say My Name” music video with the different colored rooms. And everyone picked it up on Twitter (X) and stuff, so it was really good to see that everyone got our vision. Also, we really wanted choreo, and we did that choreo in a day with only one day to rehearse.
ALM: Your dance breaks in your discography are everything. Did you always know that you wanted dancing to be an integral part of your brand?
YA: Choreography is such a big thing for us. Especially when we started this, my biggest influence was K-pop and their dances. I just loved it, it was a thing that no one else was doing at the time. Everyone was just being artists and singing, but for K-pop girl groups, I feel like it's such an important thing visually as well. I'm grateful that we get to do that.
ALM: Related to the themes of “Brick by Brick,” and this idea of building something up, I wanted to ask, while building the band that is Say Now, what were some highs and lows in this process?
YA: We've been through a lot as a band. I started this when I was 17. I'm 21 now. Being naive to the industry, being so open-hearted, and feeling like, “Oh my god, everyone's doing this for us. They'll know what to do, because they've done this before.” It got manipulated in a way, they took that naivety and didn't let us show or represent the music we wanted to do.
I’m very grateful for everything that has been presented to me and the opportunities that we've had, obviously, like being assigned to a label, having management and all these opportunities, for sure. But I feel like there's a lot of stuff that comes with being in a girl band. It's a lot of budget. You need a certain amount of things to be able to make a girl band blow up, and that was something that we struggled with as a band because it's not all rainbows.
The sisterhood of Say Now has helped Ysabelle Angeli through the ups and downs of the music industry.
Tallulah Ballard
ALM: And how important was your sisterhood then through that process?
YA: Growing up together and doing this process together really helped because I wouldn't have been able to. I don't know how solo artists do it, I wouldn't have been able to do this without my girls. There was a point where we didn't release music for months and it was so confusing because we were doing things and getting demos and we just couldn't put it out. It was so hurtful for us.
But the highs now are that we are finally turning a new page, and we are releasing the music that we want to release. We get to do the visuals that we want to do and we write about things that we really believe in. Everyone receiving the music that we love is such a blessing. Being able to live together in London is also a blessing. They are my best friends, I couldn't tell you who else is my best friend apart from these two, so the biggest high is doing it with them.
ALM: You three should be so proud of the discography of music you’ve put out. With it being summer (at the time of this interview), what three songs of yours would you pick for a “JoySauce’s Hot Girl Summer” playlist?
YA: Obviously, “Brick by Brick.” That has to be on there. “Can’t Keep A Beat” has a good evening summer club vibe. And also, there’s an unreleased song we have called “God’s Gift.” It’s about how you're the it-girl and when you see a girl on the street and you’re just like, “Wow, she knows she's that b*tch.” You know? It’s a good summer song.
ALM: Adding to our playlists! And I wanted to end this interview with a fun little question. If you could have a kamayan feast with two girl groups of the past and present, who would they be and why?
YA: This is such an obvious answer, but I'd have to choose the Spice Girls! Their chaos would match my band’s chaos, and I feel like it would just gel so well. As for a recent group, it would be KATSEYE. I feel like we would just randomly get up twerking with each other and just eat all the food—and me and Sophia can explain what everything is to everyone!
Ysabelle Angeli has wanted to be a singer since she was young, with no plan B.
Tallulah Ballard
Published on September 22, 2025