Ouida Shares Video for "Coffee (Ride With You)"

We’re super excited to share the first music video from Ouida, an American Irish/Filipina singer, songwriter, producer, and visual storyteller from the San Francisco Bay Area. Written during the first lockdown in Dublin, Ireland, "Coffee (Ride With You)" is a jazzy, soulful jam about vulnerability, confrontation and breakthroughs in relationships; it’s already getting airplay locally and on the two largest radio stations in Ireland.

Directed by award-winning music video director David Dutton, the dreamy visual features a diverse all-Filipinx cast and Filipiniana fashion courtesy of brands like AMAMI and Vinta Gallery.

When I asked her via email about why it was important for her to work with Filipinx/Asian American creatives and designers on the video for her first single, Ouida responded:

”The Black Lives Matter movement has prompted necessary dialogues within Filipino/a/x households on anti-Blackness, colorism and decolonization in our communities. Within that larger discourse are discussions around the very nature of Filipino/a/x identity, mainly in the U.S., and how we as a community may uphold white hegemony as both the oppressed and oppressor, policing how one embodies their Filipino/a/x-American identity to fit or survive within the confines of colonial value systems.

Through my own journey of connecting with my Filipinx heritage, I found little representation — especially positive, celebratory representation — of Filipinx culture(s) in local Asian Art Museums, mainstream U.S. media or music…I wanted to dive deeper into understanding the experiences of feeling like our Filipinx identities were invisible in the context of the larger "Asian" identity and in many biracial identities in the diaspora.

By centering my visual art around positive and empowered representation, I wanted to create a space of visibility and community to explore Filipinx identity in the diaspora and celebrate our love for the heritage that connects us.”

Check out the beautiful video for “Coffee (Ride With You)” below!