Singing in a completely different language is certainly a challenge. One has to take note of the pronunciation and accent of the target language in addition to the tune of the song. So when singer and TikTok sensation Just Stef found out that a lot of her fans came from the Southeast Asian region, she decided that singing in Tagalog was a challenge she could take on.
According to the Argentinian-American artist, the idea for “Miss You Miss Me” first came to her over three years ago after a breakup.
“There were a couple of songs sent over to me and when I heard ‘Miss You Miss Me’, it kind of made me feel the way I felt in the beginning stages of the breakup process. And it was about missing him and knowing he probably misses you too. I felt that it was super relatable,” she said.
Set to an upbeat yet sad tune, “Miss You Miss Me” is a plea for a second chance at love. It’s asking to make things right even though the situation seems hopeless. With the strong conviction in Stef’s vocals combined with the pulsating electro beat, it paints a clear picture of longing amidst chaos.
After posting the song on TIkTok, she noticed that a lot of traffic came from Southeast Asia, which led her to look into other TikTok influencers in the area. This was where she came across AC Bonifacio.
“I started looking into influencers on TikTok and my For You Page had a lot from Southeast Asia. I had seen AC over there so we decided to collaborate and make a Tagalog version of it,”
Along with acclaimed record producer Jonathan Manalo, Just Stef and AC somehow made Miss You Miss Me take a more hopeful tone in its Tagalog reincarnation. Along with AC’s sunny-sounding voice contrasting with Stef’s, the song’s upbeat tune becomes less of a “I miss you and you probably miss me too”, but more of a “though I miss you, I am going to move on” narrative.
For Stef, she found that the hardest part of singing in Tagalog was trying to perfect the accent.
“Jonathan Manalo was sending me demos so I can hear how it’s said correctly, and I also had a demo version sung in Tagalog. So I was going back and forth through both translations to hear the difference. It took a couple of hours, but I was able to get through it,” she said.
“In my mind, I’m here so the audience would most likely be here, I’m Latin, so maybe it would only be the Latin crowd, so when I looked on Spotify and saw where it was coming from, I thought: ‘this is crazy.’ I was able to open up my eyes a little bit more and start looking into the culture and I was able to open my mind to something completely different,” she added.
“Miss You Miss Me” by Just Stef and AC Bonifacio is available for streaming in all major streaming platforms.