Ten years in, Ylona Garcia is just getting started
The 23-year-old Filipino Australian singer-songwriter on the lessons she's learned along the way, her inspiration and more
Singer-songwriter Ylona Garcia first shot to stardom via the reality competition show "Pinoy Big Brother."
Courtesy of Group Project
Words by Julienne Pal Loreto
At one point in my interview with Ylona Garcia, I tell her, “You’ve done a lot of stuff.”
“Mmm…mmm,” the Filipino Australian singer-songwriter, now based in Los Angeles, replies. “I did do a lot of stuff.”
It might seem odd to describe Garcia’s decade-long career so far as “a lot of stuff.” At just 23, a month shy of her 24th birthday, her achievements would astonish even people decades older. When she was barely a teenager, high-fashion magazines in the Philippines sought her for their front covers, redefining the country’s Eurocentric beauty standards. Since then, she has cultivated a strong presence across the globe—from inking a record deal with Asian American-led label 88rising, to serving as an official presenter at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Japan. As of writing, the cumulative streams of her five most popular songs on Spotify alone stand at more than 86 million.
But there’s far more to Garcia’s journey than her public success. So perhaps that’s really the best way to summarize it: She’s done a whole lot of stuff—and this is just the beginning.
Garcia's new singles “Question Mark” and “Could’ve Been" came out on Jan. 16.
Courtesy of Group Project
Behind the fairy tale
At 13, Garcia shot to stardom in the Philippines via the reality competition show Pinoy Big Brother. “It was definitely intense, exciting, nerve-racking…especially ‘cause it felt like I was being given this unspoken responsibility at the ripe age of 13,” she tells JoySauce. “It was a lot of pressure, and I didn’t want to let anything get to my head. Most importantly, I did not want to let anybody down.” Behind the scenes, not everything was as magical as it seemed. She was on the reality show “for a longer time than I was told,” she says. At the time, the adults around her assured her that it was a good thing. “The cameras captured every single moment of it,” she says. And without proper guidance, it was tough for a child to process. The constant surveillance inspired the cover art for her new singles “Question Mark” and “Could’ve Been,” which came out on Jan. 16.
Some aspects of Garcia’s newfound fame did bring her joy, though. One was becoming an icon for morenas (girls and women with tan or brown skin) in the Philippines. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she was acutely aware of the region’s favoritism towards “porcelain white” skin even before moving to Asia for work. “It was actually really awesome, ‘cause who knew the thing I used to be bullied for is the thing that people admire me for now?” she says about being a role model for darker-skinned Filipinos.
Inner child
Since the release of her single “Sick of It” in 2025, Garcia has been exploring a grittier pop rock sound. On the surface, “Question Mark” appears to be about romance, but dig deeper and you’ll find themes of parasocial fan-celebrity relationships. The song starts out as a mellow piano ballad, but when the chorus kicks in, Garcia belts her heart out to a backdrop of fuzzy electric guitars. My jaw actually dropped at this. When I mention this, she tells me, “I love that this was your experience, because this is what I told the producer I really wanted people to experience when they heard ‘Question Mark.’”
The soft rock tune “Could’ve Been” deals with unanswered questions, the poignant “what ifs.” Garcia’s music this past year has been a far cry from not just the bubblegum pop of her early releases, but also the pivot to smooth R&B-pop that she made as she was coming of age. Make no mistake though, she’s not abandoning the girl she used to be. When asked what sparked this change in musical direction, Garcia says, “I actually have a list!” In fact, her mentor encouraged her to reconnect with her inner child for her new songs, and pull inspiration from her favorite media growing up. For “Question Mark,” she lists off Paramore, Adam Sandler, and Rebecca Sugar. At the mention of Sugar, I can’t help whispering, “Oh my god, I love Adventure Time.”
Garcia gasps at that, “I love that you love Adventure Time and Rebecca Sugar!” She adds that Olivia Olson, who voices rockstar vampire Marceline in the show, was another influence on “Question Mark.” An interesting mix of horror media like the Scream franchise and Five Nights at Freddy’s games and romance films like The Wedding Singer and Materialists further shaped the song and its accompanying visuals. There’s also The Truman Show, which influenced both “Question Mark” and “Could’ve Been.” Garcia lists more than a dozen other eclectic inspirations for the latter, ranging from Imogen Heap to Lost in Starlight to Call of Duty.
However, she says that the main inspiration for “Could’ve Been” is her older brother—and just leaves it at that. But the emotional song does a lot of the talking with lyrics such as, “If I choose change, maybe I could’ve saved your life.”
More to come
Garcia says one of her favorite moments in her career has been taking a leap of faith and pursuing a career in the United States. She had no idea what would happen, but it was a “testament to (her) dreams.”
Another was touring all over the Philippines as soon as the reality show ended. “That just felt like I actually did something for the people, and that what I went through was not for nothing,” she says.
Garcia speaks fondly of the province of Cebu in particular, as she enjoyed the locals’ “pleasant” accents and their world-famous lechon (hog roast). It was a breath of fresh air—literally—compared to big-city Metro Manila, where the “heavy, heavy pollution damaged (her) health permanently.”
She also relished feeling like “the coolest sister ever” when her song “Entertain Me” became the official launch song for Neon, the first Filipino character on Valorant, a video game her siblings love. She credits her friends at content creation crew 100 Thieves (co-founded by Filipino American game streamer Valkyrae) for helping her with games, admitting she’s not that good at them.
One of Garcia’s “biggest breakthroughs” happened behind the scenes: surrounding herself with people who help her achieve goals without compromising her freedom, autonomy, and wellbeing. “I used to put a lot of people around me in both my personal life and business life who were just very, very controlling over what I do,” she explains. “I didn’t know how to articulate or communicate properly. I don’t know that I was in the right headspace either to even figure out what the problem was. But now it’s different.”
She acknowledges that her journey is far from done. Like any other young 20-something, Garcia’s still figuring things out, namely: “what I want, who I want in my life, what I want for my life.” But she’s excited. Beyond music, she has other projects in store as well. “Sooner or later, you’ll see,” she teases, giggling. “Not me being mysterious!”
Published on January 26, 2026
Words by Julienne Pal Loreto
Julienne Pal Loreto (they/them) is a writer and university student. Their work has appeared in various publications across countries, such as Positively Filipino (United States), The Line of Best Fit (United Kingdom), and The Philippine Daily Inquirer. You can find them on Instagram at @julienneloreto.