Performing for a large audience for the first time. Responding to a good deal of interview invitations. Witnessing their social media followers spike.

These are just a few of the events of a rising career reminisced by fourth-year Music Technology student and Tunog Tomasino Champion, Sean Archer Abareles, who is more commonly known as Sean Archer.

The beginning

Sean Archer came from a family who has always been in love with music, which then became the spark within him. Playing instruments and making music never felt like a job or just a usual hobby for him, it became something that he learned and kept on doing willingly.

"It was never boring or tedious for me to play or make music," he said.

He was in senior high school when he decided that he would pursue a music career. Since then, he started making his own songs and dedicated much of his life to producing various ideas for his songs.

Sean Archer, a singer-songwriter, first wrote his song in October 2022 which was entitled Mamaya Na.

Mamaya Na talked about going out with that special someone and still not wanting to part ways even if it has gotten so late at night and was originally inspired by his personal experience on dating, specifically narrating his red-letter moment with his ex-lover.

"I did not want the day to end so I'd ask her to go home a little later than usual," said Sean Archer.

According to him, it was made in a short span of time and marked as the most rushed song among all his pieces. He initially wrote the song for a Song Writer's Night event of the UST Conservatory of Music last year.

Many firsts

Sean Archer's victory in Tunog Tomasino led him to the UST Paskuhan 2022 stage, which marked the beginning of a memorable ride. He started this journey with no knowledge that this would be a start of something incredible in his musical career.

Despite having a bunch of experiences in performing for crowds, Sean Archer still felt a different kind of fulfillment after getting more recognition from the Thomasian crowd.

It was his first time performing on a TV set and getting interviewed by many, "Kahit sa mismong day ng Paskuhan may mga nag i-interview," the musician said.

Sean Archer has been performing in gigs in various places. In fact, he received and played in a few gigs before performing in the Paskuhan stage. Talking about firsts, it was the first time that he felt like his songs are much loved by the crowd.

"Nakakatuwa rin na madaming natutuwa sa songs ko kasi kung iisipin trip trip ko lang yun isulat," he said as the songs that he made for fun are now being demanded to be released.

After his Paskuhan stint, his social media followers spiked and many of them are requesting him to release his songs.

Sean Archer also added that more people recognize him now and have been sending their support through social media.

Rising above setbacks

Like any other artist, Sean Archer also faced troubles and challenges from his Tunog Tomasino journey up until Paskuhan but as a Music Technology student, he faced it and eventually found solutions.

According to him, one of the troubles that he had to face were technical difficulties. Since Tunog Tomasino was streamed through Facebook, it was much harder to retain the natural sound of the music produced by their instruments.

It might also affect the sound quality from the microphone. He and his bandmates already thought of having this kind of problem beforehand so they proceeded to ask the event organizers about it.

Sean Archer also mentioned that he felt overwhelmed by the large crowd. It was a challenge for him and his bandmates as they are used to performing for a much smaller audience.

"Halo-halo yung audience. Kailangan mo rin kasi talaga i-take account yung audience mo," he said.

Despite facing a few challenges on his way, Sean Archer successfully delivered and served. In fact, he is already cooking his new song releases in the upcoming months.

He has been working on his song, "Red Flag," after being demanded by his followers to release it. Evidently, it is the crowd's favorite.

His single and future releases can be streamed through Spotify, he is Sean Archer on the platform. "Mamaya Na," has gotten more famous as it now has thousands of streams.

The journey to the top has not been easy for Sean Archer, but he proved his nonbelievers wrong.

"Kung gusto mo talagang mag music, if yun yung calling mo, go lang. Pero at the same time kailangan mo ring galingan. Very possible na maging successful ka, kailangan mo lang maging persistent and wise," he advised.

His parents have always been supportive of him in his career, but of course there were people who did not like the idea of pursuing this path.

"Obviously there were some who were opposed to it, but I did not mind them dahil matigas ang ulo ko," Sean Archer said.

With big and ambitious plans, Sean Archer is surely an artist to look up to. Today, he is set to perform at 12 Monkeys in Pasig and at Simon's Place Supreme in Quezon City on Feb. 18.