Being live musicians is a different struggle amid the ongoing pandemic, and this is something OPM power couple Mike Villegas and Bayang Barrios can attest to.
In an interview on The Howie Severino Podcast, Mike said that after making a career out of being live performers, adjusting to the lack of audience is “hard.”
“It’s depressing,” Mike told Howie.
“Depressing, yes. I was looking for that word earlier,” Bayang added in a mix of Filipino and English.
Mike said that he “feeds off” energy during performances, which he defines as everything including the laughter and cheers.
However, he said that this experience was “humbling.”
“We’re glad, we appreciate everyone who watches, we appreciate what little they can give,” he said. “It’s really humbling.”
“It’s a startling realization how important the venues are, how important the infrastructure was before just so we could perform,” he added.
He also said that the pandemic is “forcing” them to learn how to adapt in this new world.
The couple also shared that their relationship has been smooth-sailing amid the lockdown.
“We haven’t been fighting during the pandemic,” Mike said.
Bayang agreed, only recalling one incident that caused a fight. Despite their differences, they’ve long since learned to accept each other.
“We got used to being together at home,” she said. “Like I’ve said before, Mike likes spaghetti, I like pancit. I like fish, he likes meat.”
Mike said that the reason behind this change was their daughter, Mayumi, who was born in 2006.
“I call her a baby but she’s 15 now. But our daughter has special needs. She’s has mild autism,” he said.
“And her condition and her being, taught me so many things about patience, taught me so many things about letting things go, finding what’s important in life,” he added.
He went on to explain that he simplified his life, and that most of his decisions revolve around Mayumi.
“It’s different, having a child with special needs. I’m sure your viewers and listeners who have siblings, who have children who have special needs understand it,” he said. “Suddenly, you can never have a locked room in the house, everything changes.”
And while he considers the year 2002 as the high point of their careers, 2006 was the time everything changed “for the better” because of their daughter.
Mayumi is also the name of Mike and Bayang’s record label for independent OPM artists. —JCB, GMA News
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