Frederick Paragas is an emerging artist who is making fascinating music that is sure to distinguish itself from all others in the indie music scene. Paragas is a bit of a romantic and an artist who allows himself to be authentic and vulnerable, with a great sense of emotional expression and raw power. While he is at the beginning of his career, there is a lot to enjoy in his music.
Frederick’s work is mainly focused on being a vehicle for self-expression, and this shows in his music. He loves how it provides a conduit for his emotions, experiences, and sensations, building an experience for the listener; the stories and the emotions are deeply relatable and provide an enjoyable listening experience.
The artist makes work that feels very close to the listener’s heart. It’s deceptively simple, with instruments that he plays masterfully. However, the music also brings a lot of emotions through the artist’s performance and genuine style.
Often, the new tracks he releases are based on his experiences. Frederick Paragas builds on situations that have happened to him and transforms them into art without changing or shifting the essence that holds the feelings he feels and the deeper meaning of what is happening.
Words are a strong point of this musician. They flow with a natural cadence that is enjoyable, sweet, and pleasant. There is much to discover here with an acoustic style that distinguishes Paragas. He does not seek to make overproduced music, but this does not diminish the quality of the released work. It offers much more than many other productions, thanks to the earnest and sincere attitude of the artist.
In addition to his music, you can find Paragas streaming on Twitch. He plays many different competitive games with a fun, casual attitude that has attracted quite a few followers. The artist is just beginning to build a community on this platform as well.
Frederick Paragas is not just adept at making his own music, but he also has a collection of covers. However, he goes beyond just covering the song and alters it to add his personal touch to each of the tracks, with alterations to the words and the sounds to turn it and transform it into something with a different flavor and feeling. The emotions are always present in the artist’s work and can hook listeners, reeling them in through a sense of vulnerability and relatability.
This artist might interest those looking for acoustic performers with a raw, honest style. He offers a great sense of authenticity that is appealing to listeners from around the world. Frederick makes original music and creates covers that play with the classics in a way that makes them sound fresher and interesting, as his games with lyrics and music can excite and engage. While he is at the start, he is certain to go far.
We had the pleasure of interviewing Frederick Paragas. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
Hi Frederick, It’s Great to have you with us today! Can you please tell us about your musical journey?
Hi, my musical journey started way back when I was in the 5th grade. My mom knew that one of the teachers who was taking care of me at an after-school program knew how to play the guitar. Either she or I decided to ask him to teach me some simple guitar stuff while the other teacher was watching the other kids in the program with activities. At the same time, their parents or a responsible adult retrieves them before the end of the program. I was one of two kids who accepted to take guitar lessons from him.
It wasn’t until the summer before my sophomore year of high school that I considered making music a possible career path. I was attending a summer program at UC Santa Cruz, and I met a boy who had a unique style, plucking the guitar with multiple fingers. Before we met, I only knew how to play the guitar with simple strumming patterns and using my thumb. I would see him sitting at his desk, creating songs in a notebook, and we exchanged words. I learned that he created a few songs before entering into the program. He inspired me to start creating my own songs. During the program, I got to “finalize” one song that I played in front of a crowd during the graduation ceremony of all the people who completed the program (Math Science Upward Bound) with family who were able to attend the ceremony. I don’t remember the song’s lyrics, but essentially, it was a song of my time spent during my one-month stay as a mock university student. I even included some words about my knee injury during the program.
Please tell us about your music.
Similar to many musicians before me, most of my songs are love songs about someone I admired and thought of a potential partner opportunity for us to grow old together. Most of these song creations started during the near end of my high school life experience, and they were mostly instrumental, with three songs completed with lyrics which revised later in the future with updated words of how I conceptualize what will be the final product. These songs are “With You,” “Summertime,” and “My Life Challenge”.
The first song, “With You,” was essentially very depressing because after I graduated, I subconsciously knew that the potential to be with this one girl was going to end because I wasn’t brave enough to show affection in a “kinetic” sense. The original version is on my YouTube channel, and people can listen and see the amateur skills I have with song creation (I watch it sometimes to laugh and admire the growth and complexities of the songs I create today).
“Summertime” is essentially the same song I created many years ago with minor tweaks with the words for some parts of the song to convey a mature sense of the strong emotional feelings I’ve lived incapable of feeling when I was younger.
“My Life Challenge” was entirely different from when it was first created. It was originally created with the usual perspective of “falling in love” with someone and ending the relationship with hopes of being back together later in the future. The final product became more of a perspective with my life experience rather than a story creation from a “dream” alone (I put dream in quotes because there was no actual dream; it was lyrics that popped into my head when I couldn’t sleep). One inspiration I got with the finalized version of the song was this scene on “Drake & Josh.” when one of the brothers asked the other brother what word rhymed with “orange,” the other brother replied with “door hinge.” Well, in my version of the song, I felt that the word “Challenge” was a good word to rhyme with orange. You’ve probably heard of people talking about out-of-body experiences before, especially when they had a near-death experience. I had one of those experiences! I was a drug addict between the years of 2014 – 2019, and my favorite drug of choice is MDMA (ecstasy). When I consumed these drugs on my own with no one else around me inebriated, I overdosed a few times and fell on the floor woozy from a dizzying spin, sometimes blacked out and unconscious. None were able to help me, and no one noticed. One day, as I lay down on my bed in my old apartment with my family, I emitted a thought process to my family that I was ready to die. This life experience is the pure essence of the bridge of the song and the final verse before ending the song with an instrumental part that was originally created with the older version.
What are the strategies that helped you become successful in your journey?
I wouldn’t state a fact that I’m successful now, yet I have these perceptions that many of the songs I created are going to be really popular one day in my future. I believe that this is possible because most of my songs were inspired by many popular songs and EDM music.
I implemented plucking patterns that you may hear in multiple Rock songs with consistent strumming that many beginner to intermediate musicians can play if they decide to learn to play the guitar. The lyrics of the songs I’ve created are my true life experience. I started to learn that any day alive doing any life activity is a possible learning experience. Most of the time, it’s occupying time, but I will get this intrusive feeling that the current life activity is relatable to a previous life experience and that everything and anything is intertwined and somehow connected.
So when I create songs, I will be fooling around with the guitar (strumming and plucking with the same guitar chords I’ve learned with a few revisions depending on the mood I’m feeling for the day), the words will be knowledge I acquired through the years mixed with the life experience I have with people during real social experiences and people producing content from different websites. I even use the knowledge I acquire through school: Math, Science, English, etc. Part of my Middle School Years was spent in a Catholic school with one of the subjects that I implement with my songs being Religion.
Any message for our readers
One concept I would like the readers to learn from me is to be yourself! There are many artful expressions in the world, and many people use these interpretations to enjoy life! The more knowledge you acquire, the more capable you are of expressing yourself as an individual, and when people say “Ignorance is bliss,” they are telling you the truth, and if you are content with the life situation you are living, don’t push yourself to feel overwhelmed because a common phrase a lot of parents tell their children is “choose what is right and don’t choose what is wrong.”
Eventually, there needs to be an end to feeling happy with the family, friends, and stuff that you have. This is why I usually prefer a revised phrase of “choose what is good and don’t choose what is wrong” because eventually, there is a point where anyone can feel good and happy with what they got and can start enjoying life in the slow lane.
Fantastic! So tell us, how can people find out more about you?
People can find me on Apple Music and youtube as well as contact me on Facebook: frederick.paragas.7 and twitter: @guamanianrhythm.
Thank you so much, Frederick, for giving us your precious time! We wish you all the best for your journey ahead!
Get your story featured on Betterauds.com! We accept paid submissions for guest posts and stories, You can submit your article here.