Young Cocoa Pens a Love Letter to Manila and Jakarta in ‘Fadeaway’

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The promising rapper celebrates his dual heritage in a song that will be part of his anticipated debut EP.

As someone born in Manila and raised in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital that’s over 2,700 kilometers away from his birthplace, it must have been hard for Elyon Barrera to decide which place he was going to call home.

But for Barrera, known as Young Cocoa in the music scene, it’s a matter of coming to terms with having a dual heritage — and finding an outlet that will help him express his sentiments and, ultimately, bridge the two distinctively vibrant cultures.

“[My dual heritage] drove me to write more about and explore my identity. For a long time, I never knew which place to call home. But then, through my music, it’s kind of been a way for me to mediate that feeling,” he shared in a Wish 107.5 interview.

A tale of two cities

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In his newest single, “Fadeaway,” the 24-year-old act celebrates the two cities that he holds close to his heart.

“I wanted to try and integrate my experiences into the song and translate it into a message where I take pride in owning both places that I truly call home,” Young Cocoa said in a press release.

“J-town, Manila/ Live when I feel all this energy/ Hope all my memories don’t fade away,” he sings over a lush crossover production courtesy of his frequent collaborator, Trizzy.

In the same press release, he also talked about the dynamics that he has with the artist: “A lot of this track is carried by the production and melodies introduced into the song, as well as the work Trizzy put in to try to tailor the beat to certain dynamics of the lyrics I wrote.”

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“Fadeaway” can be considered the finale of a trilogy that comprises his self-penned odes to the cities.

In 2021, he released “Manila,” which has found its way to several playlists of South Korean acts, including BTS leader and rapper RM. As of writing, the song now has over 11 million streams on Spotify.

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Earlier this year, he also dropped “J-TOWN (PM)” as his ode to Jakarta.

“I made ‘Manila’ sort of as a tribute to Manila, right? And then, my time spent in Manila is probably six years. I spent about 16 years in Indonesia in total. So, it kind of didn’t make sense for me to make a song called ‘Manila’ but not make one about Jakarta. I’ve just been waiting for the right time to feel like giving that the justice that it deserves,” he shared in an interview with Wish.

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“Fadeaway” will be part of a debut EP called “Sari Sari,” which will be released under OFFMUTE, a Southeast Asian label under Sony Music.

Being part of the pan-regional label is in tune with Young Cocoa’s goal of collaborating with artists from this part of the globe.

“I’m really just focusing on dropping my EP this year… I hope it takes me somewhere that leads me to a bigger platform. But personally, for me, I think Southeast Asian artists, I really want to collaborate with them. We’re all in this little cluster [and] we should all work together. The West has the West. We got the East,” he further remarked in the same Wish 107.5 interview.

Last year, he was part of the ASEAN Music Showcase Festival, alongside other Filipino acts, such as Cheats, kiyo, Fern., and Ace Banzeulo.

Stream Young Cocoa’s “Fadeaway” below:

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Written by Emmy Borromeo

Editing by Pauline Bolaños

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