Meet Jikamarie, the Filipina R&B singer opening for Coldplay in 2024
Photos from Jikamarie/X
There’s no better testament to a performer’s growth than brushing shoulders with their musical inspirations. Some artists on the rise have shaken their role models’ hands at award shows. Others have gotten their remakes and covers noticed by the original singers on social media. Either way, there are no limits to singers’ manifestations of recognition and eventual stardom. In fact, they’re powerful enough to bring them to sold-out arenas and world tours.
These blessings have become an early Christmas gift for Filipina singer-songwriter Jikamarie. She has earned the opportunity to open for British pop rock band Coldplay at their two-night “Music of Spheres” concert in the Philippines next year. It’s a major fangirl moment for the R&B artist, who’s been listening to Coldplay since childhood.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Jikamarie will be joining Coldplay in Manila on January 19-20, 2024!#MOTSWT#MusicOfTheSpheresWorldTourPH#ColdplayInPH pic.twitter.com/Vvsl7pVKwN
— Live Nation PH (@livenationph) December 8, 2023
“It’s such an honor to open for one of the most iconic artists we all listened to growing up,” Jikamarie shared on her Instagram story. Watching Coldplay on TV was also a core memory from her elementary years. “I didn’t have a phone then, so I’d wait for their music videos to air.”
Besides Coldplay, Jikamarie has spent her whole life exploring other bands and genres to find her niche. She was one of the millions of teenage girls in the 2010s who gushed about boy band One Direction. In her high school and college years, she had Ruel, The 1975, Conan Gray, and BTS dominating her playlists.
Now, equipped with dream-pop and alternative influences in her repertoire, she has quickly joined growing lists of lauded new faces in the Philippine music industry. She penned her debut single “Lutang” in 2021 as an ode to her emotional challenges. After garnering over 23 million streams on Spotify, the smash hit stayed at the number one spot on the app’s Global Viral and Viral Philippines charts for over 20 consecutive days.
Following her musical breakthrough, Jikamarie has garnered over 300,000 monthly listeners on the platform. Her songwriting chops have landed her a feature on Filipino hip-hop and R&B singer JRLDM’s single “Eh Paano,” and now, the honor of singing for a crowd of thousands at the Philippine Arena.
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Jikamarie will join Thailand’s Valentina Ploy, RRiley and Jasmine Sokko from Singapore, and Indonesian pop singer Jinan Laetitia in the roster of Coldplay’s opening acts for the Asian leg of “Music of Spheres.”
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