five local songs written for cats
Stella
Caring for a cat involves feeding, litter upkeep, chin scratches, and, most importantly, making up little songs centered around them. I'm especially guilty of the last part. I love replacing song lyrics with cat names or just incorporating them into any given vocal stim. Singing songs about your cat is common;The Scriptures Say So, and So Does Reductress. Most of these songs never get recorded and fizzle in obscurity (sometimes for the common good), but not the songs on this list.
Below are five lovely songs written for and/or about cats by local artists. They capture what it means to interact with an entirely different creature, how they change our lives, and how we interact with the world.
Reflections After Salem - Salem and the Stellar Cats
Cats are not perfect creatures which is why this song starts with a pissed off paragraph on how Salem keeps lead vocalist Yones in trouble for shitting in the wrong places. The band takes you on a journey of how complex animal and human relationships can be–there's disappointment, adoration, and some playful fiction. I love monologues and songs that swell with great emotion before fizzing with a ":*"
Blackie - The Purest Blue
Hearing someone process different kinds of loss through skepticism and sentimentality over a chair and a street corner is heartbreaking and relatable. Pauline starts the song by talking to her cat like an old friend and ends with her repeating "I am so blue" in a flurry. This track feels like a resounding reminder that grief is blinding, but you'll see it through.
Umo - Cream Flower
This is a strong contender to my bedrotting playlist. It's written from the perspective of a cat planning to wake their humans up as he yearns for kibble at an ungodly hour. This song echoes the eerie loneliness you felt when you were 11 years old, watching TV at night while you're the only person awake in the house. There's nothing like the feeling of abandonment as you rewatch cartoons for the nth time.
Boogeyman - Irrevocable
"I don't mind if I can't breathe sometimes as long as you feel safe" and as a cat owner with allergic rhinitis, I get it. This upbeat song makes me run up to my cats and hug them. Our time together is finite, and that's why I always stock cetirizine. On a semi-related note, Irrevocable is one of the local bands I discovered after following a cat on IG (such was also the case for Cream Flower and Bowling Night). I swear there's a secret convergence of communities on cat Instagram.
binenta ko na ang cat tower ng nawawala kong pusa at ngayon ako'y nag-iisa sa sulok ng aking kuwarto - tilapayaso
I heard this song during a gig in Baguio, and I'm glad I did because I can't find it online. The vocalist, Aaron, shared how they wrote it for their cat Oreo. The song gets progressively heavier as the band screams, and the vocalist wishes "sana nandito ka pa rin" over and over. I know how it feels to lose a best friend. It feels like this.