Monica Bumanlag listens to her idol and favorite artist, Ariana Grande, and feels inspired to pursue her passion of writing  music. 

“I feel calm, content and sometimes emotional depending on what the song is about, but definitely in a relaxed or inspired state that makes me feel motivated enough to write music,” Bumanlag said. 

Bumanlag started writing melodies at age four. Around 12 she wrote her first full length song; a song takes anywhere from an hour to a couple days to write depending on if she is feeling inspired or not. 

“I’m very proud of her. She’s such a perfectionist when it comes to her music,” mother Capella Bumanlag said. “I always record her when she’s playing a song on one of her instruments.”

Due to her love of music, Bumanlag decided to take choir. In the class she wrote a song and was encouraged by her teacher to post it and share it on youtube. 

“We had an assignment in choir as a unit project, it was meant to be a very generic, simple project with the four basic chords,” she said. “Me, being me, wrote a whole song with my guitar about the pros and cons of losing a first love and [choir director] Mrs. [Julia] Holt seemed to really like it, so she showed a few classes and they also really enjoyed it as well.” 

Though Bumanlag isn’t planning to go into music as a career or a job, she is still open to releasing music on the side. 

“I’m more leaning on finding a good, realistic and stable job, such as nursing or something in the medical field; but a job in music would be an absolute dream,” she said. 

As well as writing music for a hobby, Bumanlag writes on the days she needs a distraction as it calms her down.  

“It’s the only time that I really have the time to think for myself with no external factors bothering me,” Bumanlag said. “It’s quite therapeutic compared to other ways to calm myself.”