Sing along with Yumi

These days, singer-songwriter Yumi Lacsamana is known more for her work behind the scenes, crafting hit singles for other artists. But she actually made her music debut as a performer when she released a song titled Kiss (Never Let Me Go) in 2011 with her significant other and songwriting partner Thyro Alfaro.

?Yumi has been performing for most of her life. It was only when she turned 18 that she started writing songs. “I started late,” she says. “I’m not like the other songwriters who wrote their first song when they were really young. Thyro started writing songs when he was 10 or 12 years old. Ganun talaga if you have the gift of writing; you’ll discover it early on in your career.”

?She adds that she probably wouldn’t have turned to songwriting if some friends hadn’t prevailed upon her to do so. “They are songwriters. They told me I have a good voice and advised me to try writing my own songs. So I said, ‘OK, I will give it a try.’”

?One day, when she was alone in her room, inspiration struck and she ended up writing her first completed song, Come Back Home. She reveals it was from the point of view of someone desperate for closure.

“I wrote it about someone who I wished would come back. The lyrics say, ‘Why don’t you come back home and tell me I am yours because for me, you’re still mine. We said we’d last forever but look what happened?’”

?After that, Yumi kept writing songs with Thyro as her partner. In 2013, they won the Philippine Popular Music Festival (PhilPop) with the bouncy R&B/Hip-Hop hit Dati, interpreted by Quest, Sam Concepcion and Tippy dos Santos. Two years later, Thyro and Yumi co-wrote a song called Triangulo and got former The X Factor Philippines contestant Jeric Medina to sing on it with them. They entered the final product in the 2015 PhilPop and it bagged the grand prize.

?Together with Thyro, Yumi went on to write and produce hits for James Reid and Nadine Lustre. JaDine’s studio albums, as well as the soundtracks of their movies and teleseryes, are littered with songs by Thyro and Yumi. Remember JaDine’s single No Erase from their first movie Diary ng Panget? That was a Thyro and Yumi composition.

?“They are our babies,” Yumi says of James and Nadine. “They haven’t changed. But they are just busier now. We still text each other when there is time. In the recording studio, James knows what he wants. As for Nadine, she’s no Sarah Geronimo, but she can sing and if you guide her, she will follow. She’s open and obedient. The good thing about her and James is that success hasn’t gone to their heads.”

?Her partnership with Thyro works because they complement each other. For example, she likes writing sad songs while he always injects a dose of happiness into everything he writes.

“I am the emotional part in songwriting. If you will notice, my songwriting looks happy but it’s not. The happy part Thyro did it. I don’t like happy endings in songs,” Yumi admits. “I’m a Filipino and we are hopeless romantics. In every song that I do, I want the hopeless romantics to feel they are part of the song. I want them to say, ‘This is my song.’ I don’t know why I write the way I do. My love life is a happy one. Thyro and I have the best collaboration because we are two different writers.”

?Yumi reveals that when she and Thyro sit down to write, the first thing they do is come up with a unique concept. They always make sure their songs offer listeners something new. “We first come up with a concept. We always try to find a new yet relatable way of saying something.”

?They spent the better part of their careers helping others shine, but they’re set to return to the spotlight later this year with a new EP of original material.

“I’m excited because with the EP, it’ll be our time na,” Yumi says. — With reports from Almed Garcia and Julian Mauricio