Filipino Artist Luis Villanueva Releases Single Called ‘Pécho’
In his most recent project “Pécho,” Luis Villanueva explores new, disco-centric influences from his residency in New York City. The song taps into the 2020-2021 preference for disco, techno and electronic music with references to 70s discotheque culture from Paris and New York. “Pécho” is part of the Nu-Disco movement, a musical movement representing the modern expression and resurgence of disco music along with its associated iconographical and musical motifs. The movement isn’t strictly geographically tied to a single origin, though the scene is centered in New York and Paris and the rest of Europe.
Luis Villanueva is a Filipino producer, multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker based in Columbia University, New York who was formally educated in video production and music theory. Initially, Villanueva’s style of production was influenced by US, Canadian and UK R&B and electronic music. His first two singles “Selfish” and "Cloud 9" from his EP VOL 1 have accumulated 1.3 million streams on Spotify alone, while “Cloud 9” has been featured on multiple international playlists.
The music video for “Pécho” is an international award winner at the IMDB qualifying film festivals in New York, Paris, Cannes, Napoli, Rome, London, among others. The film was also an inclusive production, with Asian, LGBTQIA+, Black, Female and Disabled representation in both the cast and crew, breaking boundaries and forging new pathways in music video production.
In the video, Villanueva references the iconography from French new-wave cinema as well as the works of Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai. However, the music video still breaks new ground in international Filipino representation as Villanueva, along with Wilchai and kakie, is a Filipino artist living in New York City. Through direct exposure to the forefront of popular culture in one of the world’s most important centers of filmmaking and art-media, they hope to represent Filipino artistry and make an impact on the international music scene and art market.
Villanueva, along with Jeune Pascal, is one of the founding members of 908A, a filmmaking and production collective based in NYC that promotes AAPI filmmaking and music production; “Pécho” is their first project, and the collective hopes to release an NFT piece related to the video in collaboration with London-based NFT artist Dario Rizzuto. 908A is also hopeful the music video will create a market and increase the demand for the upcoming NFT – one of the first of its kind as an extension of a project in a different medium. 908A is also an events-hosting entity – the collective hosts events for students at Columbia University, Parsons and NYU to promote new releases and proliferate Filipino art throughout New York’s cultural consciousness.
