Catriona Gray turns her love language into music

Catriona Gray just celebrated the third anniversary of her being crowned Miss Universe.

Three years after her reign as the fourth Pinay Miss U ended in December 2019, the 27-year-old host-singer and motivational speaker continues to break new ground — but now outside the world of pageantry.

Just recently, Catriona further explored her burgeoning music career with the release of the first song she wrote herself titled Love Language.

The song formed part of Warner Music Philippines’ efforts for its Global Pinoy Music collaborative movement to showcase Pinoy musicians through borderless platforms, while creating opportunities for them to team up with other artists around the world.

For her first foray into songwriting, Catriona found a collaborator in fellow Filipino-Australian Cabu. He is an artist/producer known for tracks landing on globally known music channels such as Majestic Casual, Lofi Girl and Lo-fi on YouTube.

“It was written (this year) while I was in quarantine in Australia, waiting to see my parents. It was the first trip going to visit them since the pandemic started. Of course, they live in Australia but I did a sidetrip to Sydney where Cabu resides and it was where we actually ended up recording the single. But we were just corresponding via Zoom and it started with him sending the tracks and then I worked on it,” said Catriona in a virtual one-on-one.

Cabu sent her a total five tracks and what spoke to her had a warm, jazzy feel and some R&B flavor, which also best suited her voice. In one interview, he said that Catriona practically wrote the song in about 24 hours. Apparently, she did not have to look far for lyrical inspiration; she only had to dig into her personal musings she kept on her phone.

Catriona may be seen as a greenhorn in the recording scene but she was a musician first even before becoming a beauty queen, in case you don’t know. She holds a graduate certificate in music theory from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

Songwriting may be unfamiliar territory for her, but expressing herself in writing isn’t.

“I always say that my hindrance when it comes to songwriting is that I don’t know how to play an instrument. I’ve taken up music theory as my college course, but when it comes to creating chord progressions and a melody, it’s not something that comes easy to me. However, I would consider myself as a very deep thinker and someone who thinks a lot about different things. And usually what I do to process is I write them down on paper.

“So, I guess if anything, what I’ve been doing for a very long time is writing my feelings, observations or just thoughts — trying to make sense of the world around me. It’s quite therapeutical for me so that is really how Love Language came to be born.”

Nevertheless, Catriona considered the whole experience of dropping her self-penned single as nerve-wracking.

“I think that fear comes along with a lot of firsts and this is a very public thing to do — to put out music and invite other people to interpret it, pull it apart and do with it what they will,” she said.

‘I would love to put out a body of work in the form of an album that really just showcases who I am as an artist, which is quite daunting and exciting, because I don’t fully know who Catriona is as an artist just yet. I think it’s something that’s going to really take shape as I continue to learn and grow in this space.’

“But I felt very supported by both Warner Music and my management Cornerstone. To be part of the global OPM campaign was a very special and great way to launch my first songwriting and composing debut. It’s been quite a whirlwind of emotions.”

As she now goes all out in music, Catriona is looking to do more collabs. She has a lot of names on her mind, including Moira dela Torre. How about her boyfriend Sam Milby?

“Of course! If someone can convince him to get back into music hahaha. I’ll be more than happy to. It is not me who needs convincing, it’s him hahaha.”

Catriona is also set to make her acting debut in 2022. If music has long been a “theme of my life,” acting isn’t that she feels it will be her most “fish out of water” experience.

“But I’m a huge believer of putting yourself out of your comfort zone because that is where the real change happens.”

Here are more excerpts from the exclusive interview with Catriona, who also shared her love languages — acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time and physical touch:

On what her song love language is about:

“The aspects around Love Language are talking about different love languages because we all experience love but not necessarily the same way. A way for this being communicated is through love languages and there are five. In the music video, we explored this theme in very visual ways, you have gift, touch, words, time and service.

“Its whole concept as a song is just kind of exploring the theme of two people who love each other but they express and receive it in different ways. It’s not a heartbreak song, it’s more of a tampo kind of song (laughs), like I would love to receive love this way, won’t you give it in a way that I understand?

“It is a little bit deep, not a very easy song to grasp... And it’s a very vulnerable song because to put yourself in a place where you ask for something can be a very vulnerable position to be in. It makes you feel very exposed. And that’s what Love Language is about.”

On the sound she was going for:

“It so funny but wala akong naisip na ito ang sound na gusto ko. It was actually encouraged by Warner and the GLOPM campaign that when they told me that I could collaborate with Cabu, they didn’t give me the parameters which the song should be created. They didn’t give me a genre or direction or a sound I needed to fit into like a box. They just said create and we will see where it goes.

“That was very liberating for me being a first timer because going in, I didn’t have any idea like whether I wanna do a love song, a vibey song, or I wanna do this. Absolutely not. It just kind of compiled unto itself and became what it became. It wasn’t intentional at all which I think is the magic of this song. It was really a creation as well as a collaboration with Cabu.”

On what she learned (third voice) from the entire process:

“I really shouldn’t let fear define what I do. You would think I would know that by now (what with my pageant journey). I was a newbie, not knowing anything, never had done it before. And I was able to obviously reach the Miss Universe finals. And it brought me great joy being able to traverse that.

“But now, you would think going into music and starting as a newbie, I would have a little bit of confidence in what I’m doing because I’ve overcome things before. But I still do have my own share of self-doubt and fear. However, I think, as I continue to grow, as I continue to experience something new, that’s only going to continue getting better. That’s definitely something I’ve learned about myself – to just not let myself be too sidetracked by the doubt and the fear because everyone starts somewhere.”

On her next big goal for her music career:

“I would love to put out a body of work in the form of an album that really just showcases who I am as an artist, which is quite daunting and exciting, because I don’t fully know who Catriona is as an artist just yet. I think it’s something that’s going to really take shape as I continue to learn and grow in this space.

“I really would love to be able to perform my music for people live. I know that there’s a lot of restrictions, but when it comes to live performances and concerts, it’s just something I would really love to experience. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve sung for audiences before, but I’ve never sung something I’ve written. I’m sure that’s going to be very, very different.

“That’s something I really look forward to — putting out my music and having people say that my music either touched or affected them or that they love the message. And it’s really about the lyrics for me because I’m a very lyrical person and I put a lot of intention in my lyrics. It’s not to rhyme or fill up space, it’s really to say something. That’s my hope, going forward with my music — that I’m able to create art in the form of music, not with the intention to be the most liked or most played music. Just to be given more opportunities to grow and really just showcase my music.”

(Check out Catriona’s Love Language on her YouTube channel.)