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Photo credit: Timon Wehrli

Australian girl-group, H3rizon, stopped by OnesToWatch to give us the scoop on their newest singles, “Naughty” and “Wanna Love You,” as well as their journey to the R&B / soul / pop fusion powerhouses they are today. As both the first Australian girl group and the first Asian-Pacific girl group to be signed to Epic via RZ3 Recordings, H3rizon is already making waves. Made up of members Gabby, Bernie, and Tiara, the trio melds together seamlessly, in more ways than one. Their voices intertwine in glittering, lush harmonies, and the chemistry between H3rizon is palpable in the alluringly sultry music videos that accompany the new tunes. Read on for all latest on how this fiery group came to be, and what we can expect next: 

OnesToWatch: Who is “H3RIZON”?  

 We’re a 3-piece Filipino-Australian girl group! Our music is a fusion of RnB, soul, and pop. If you’re all about vocal arrangements and harmonies, then you’ve come to the right place.

We sense lots of baddie energy but what are your singles ‘Naughty’ & ‘Wanna Love You’ about? 

Both songs are all about that feminine empowering energy. ‘Naughty’ is the song you wanna play when you’re having a night out with your girls and you’re really feeling yourself, getting a little playful in the club and channeling that with everyone around you to join in. ‘Wanna Love You’ is the song you play at home to serenade your lover in the most sensual way, and you want them to know that you’re not here to play around. Being a girl group for over 6 years now, we know our fans who’ve been with us from the very beginning have watched us grow - in our sound, our voices and in our storytelling - and with this only being our second release as a signed girl group, we knew we had to kickstart 2024 with a taste of this new era of music we’ve been working on.

How’d you come together as a group?  

We’ve been friends since we were young children, doing a lot of the same gigs in the Filipino community here in Sydney. We wanted to start a girl group because we sensed an amazing chemistry together and we were drawn to each other’s energy and passion for music! And as Filipino-Australians, we also wanted to become big advocates for bringing more Filo/Asian representation into the Western media and inspire other Filo-Asians, and especially women of color, to keep pursuing music.

So, we sought out the right person to mentor us and help get us started, and from that we’ve grown into a group with a massive supportive and strong team behind us. The synergy we have between the trio and the team helps the vision come to life! 

Any collaborators on the singles? Who produced the tracks? 

Tricky Stewart and his amazing team have taken us under their wing and are part of the writing and production for our future album. We’re so privileged to be working alongside some of the biggest names in the industry! The fact that the team behind our song Naughty has creatives from the team behind Tyla’s Water blows our minds. Shoutout to Tricky Stewart (producer/writer), Believve (producer/writer), Mocha Bands (writer) and Ricki (writer) for the banger that is ‘Naughty!’ And the team behind our more sensual and soulful track, ‘Wanna Love You,’ are Tricky Stewart (producer/writer), Laney Stewart (producer/writer), Alex Jacke (writer), and Kelsey Merges (writer).

Ok so we are convinced Filipinos come out of the womb singing, but how’d you settle on your sound? 

We all definitely started singing as soon as we could form basic sentences! But we’ve all been brought up a bit differently in terms of our musical experiences. Tiara has a r&b/pop background, Gabby grew up with classical training and choral music, and Bernie has production and vocal arrangement skills. Our core sound is rooted in RnB but we always want to create music that is a combination of all our skills and is unique to us.

Can we expect more of this style in the future, or do you feel its a constant evolution? 

For us, we’re all about constantly evolving and creating songs that define each era of our music, yet bringing back vocal harmonies is what keeps our style of RnB music grounded. We’re so grateful to be working with Tricky because he immediately understood our vision and shared the same creative mindset. When we recorded our debut album with him in Atlanta early last year, he gave us creative freedom over our vocal arrangements to really make the songs our own, and with every song we cut we explored new aspects and unlocked a different side of us each time. 

Besides these excellent tracks what else should we be on the lookout for? 

We’re so excited to be releasing our debut album with RZ3 and Epic Records this year! Throughout the past year, we’ve been building an archive of original music, working hard amongst ourselves, and with other amazing producers like Tricky, Stereotypes, Brian Kennedy and ADN Lewis. After collaborating with an amazing team that shares our creative mindset, we definitely feel like our album will capture our unique sound and will perfectly introduce H3rizon as a newly signed group!

We’ve also had a taste of touring and performing outside our hometown last year in Brisbane, Manila, San Diego, Orange County, and Hong Kong, and we’re hungry for more of it! We’ll be working hard to travel a lot more this year and give more live performances around the globe! We’ve got big things planned for this year, so just keep an eye on the horizon ;) 

Besides music, what’s inspiring you right now? 

Bernie: I’ve recently returned from my trip to visit my grandmother in the Philippines, and I can definitely say she inspires me. She’s 91 years old, yet she has an infectious energy and youthfulness about her. I rarely caught her just sitting down chilling - she’s almost always doing something around the house, either tending to her lush garden, making something in the kitchen or floating around like the beautiful being she is. And she’s just a funny person to talk to, and I love listening to her stories about her past. I’m always wondering how I can live a long life, and she says it’s all from living stress-free, being a generous person, and being around her garden. I hope that I age as gracefully as her! 

Gabby: My family and my friends are my biggest inspiration by far, because honestly without them I wouldn’t be the person I am today. (cringe, I know) Every day they encourage me to be a better version of myself, they’ve taught me so many lessons within their own lives and in my personal life and coming into the new year I’m so so grateful to have such an amazing support system. I hope I make them proud <3

Tiara: 2023 was such a huge year full of amazing opportunities and achievements for us like being able to travel to new places with my best friends, meet new people and learn so many new things about different cultures. It gave me a new level of independence and freedom i’ve never explored before and it's inspired me so much in ways where i have gained this extreme fascination to want to learn everything about myself and the world around me, create new stories i can share through our music and hopefully encourage other people to live in the moment and not take this little life we have for granted. 

 Best food or drink to vibe out to your tunes?  

We’re massive foodies, so to be completely honest any food/drink combo will do it for us… but when we wanna have a good wholesome night together whilst jamming to music, Korean bbq + soju is the only correct answer.

Musically who is new but making all the right moves? Who are your current OnesToWatch? 

 There’s no denying that Tyla’s been making moves recently, (and subtle flex) we were actually in the studio in Atlanta when “Water” was being written and we knew right off the bat that it was gonna be a smash hit, AND we were absolutely right.