Jean Kiley, singer-host revives music side with new original dance song “Te Amo”

Jean Kiley brushes up on her music and comes up with delightfully catchy and body-moving new song.

Former Pop Girl-turned event host Jean Kiley is back to making music with the recent release of her new original song titled “Te Amo”.

Said song is a 3-way collaboration between Jean Kiley, Social media personality and actress Ella Cruz and singer Krissha Viaje. This latinx-flavored song comes courtesy of Jean Kiley’s own songwriting, which adds to the handful of solo singles that the singer has released so far.

According to Jean Kiley, she went the direction of “Te Amo”, with its Latinx vibe because “dance music is my first love”. Adding that “I am a big fan for dance music”. Hearing Latin style sounds, reggaeton and the like makes people groove a little and dance. That’s the quality that attracted me to it rather than the usual solemn, mellow songs that we listen to now.

She also added that she went for her gut feeling when it came to choosing what genre to do next. “Dance music has always been a passion project that I always wanted to do.”

As to what led her to eventual collaboration with Ella Cruz and Krissha Viaje (both her fellow music acts at Viva Records), Jean Kiley said “I love K-Pop and it was my dream to do a collaboration with friends who share the same enthusiasm for it. So, I personally invited Ella and Krissha, because I know we are all big fans of K-pop”.

Jean Kiley first came with the draft for “Te Amo” in the early days of the Pandemic. “My demo was only an acoustic version. I reached out to a producer friend to collaborate. We arranged the song together and finally got the version we wanted. We arranged the song together and finally got the version we wanted.” Jean Kiley also revealed that the rap verse for the song ame together when she all ready to reord the song. “What came out is a really different song from my previous releases which tended to be slow and dramatic.”

As for the theme of “Te Amo”, Jean Kiley is doubling down on her Kpop influence. “I was inspired by a character in a K-Drama I watched on Netflix. After watching, I wrote down the lyrics about the character feelings, then got my guitar, found the right chords to back up my melody. After about an hour or so, I finished the song while I snacked on some dark chocolates.”

After that, it was all collaborative work with Jean Kiley and her friends. She had her guitarist fine tune the guitar parts, the used that demo to record her vocals. Sending files between them via messenger and email because this was during the height of the pandemic.

But it was only this year that they properly recorded the track at a studio. The work was fast paced. Eventually landed him her dream collaboration with ace songwriter Thyro Alfaro who mixed and mastered the song that became “Te Amo.”

As for her K Drama inspiration for the song, Jean Kiley revealed that it was from the hit drama “Itaewon Class”.

“The song is all about Kim Da Mi’s character Jo Yi Seo’s feelings”, Jean Kiley shared. “You know when you love someone, you get butterflies, you want ot say it, you want to confess, you want them to like you back, you’re kinikilig and all that, I just translated those feelings into words.”

“I was also fascinated with songs that incorporated different languages so I tried it too. There are Tagalog, Cebuano, Korean, Italian, and Spanish lyrics into the song. How can I personally relate to it? Maybe in the refrain part where it all says ‘I love you, I care for you, I miss you/I want to see you, you are very important to me’ (In English translation). These are the words we usually hear from loved ones, so I thought, why not make an entire song using those words?”

The new single from Jean Kiley featuring Ella Cruz and Krissha Viaje can now be streamed on all popular digital music platforms. The official music video for “Te Amo” was premiered by Jean Kiley at the El Calle Music Hall, at Newport World Resorts last October 21, 2022. Under Viva Records.

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