On her debut EP, the singer-songwriter turns uncertainty, overthinking, and the pressure to have life figured out into a soundtrack for finding stillness.
There is a particular kind of uncertainty that comes with growing up: the feeling that everyone else seems to know where they are going while you are still trying to read the map.
For Keanna Mag, that uncertainty became the starting point for Saan Ba Pupunta?, her debut EP released September 25. Across seven tracks, the singer-songwriter traces the questions that have followed her through different stages of life — where to go, what to do next, and who she is supposed to become — while slowly arriving at the realization that perhaps there is no single answer.
It is a fitting progression for an artist whose music has long been rooted in the intimate details of becoming. From her debut single “to the bone” and fan favorites “Takipsilim” and “Walang Sigurado” to her collaboration with Cup of Joe on “Lahat ng Bukas,” Keanna has built her catalog around songs that give shape to feelings that can be difficult to articulate.
Now, with Saan Ba Pupunta?, she turns that inward gaze toward the larger question of what it means to move through life without knowing exactly where it leads.
The title itself came from a line that stayed with her after releasing “Sasabay.” “That line just stuck with me,” Keanna says. “I resonated with it because all my life, I’ve had these questions about where should I go, what should I do next, or who should I be?”
That questioning, however, often came with an instinct to control what could not be controlled.
“I spent every second of my life planning and overthinking about my future that I forgot to be in the moment; to live, to pause, to breathe,” she says. “I tend to compare myself and ask, ‘When will it be my turn?’ that I forget to celebrate and neglect my own accomplishments.”
Those thoughts eventually became the emotional framework of the EP. What began as individual releases, including “Babalik” and “Sasabay,” gradually evolved into a larger body of work — one that mirrors the unpredictability of figuring things out in real time rather than following a carefully mapped-out plan.
That sense of discovery also extended to the people who helped bring the project together. Keanna wrote and created music alongside her friends from 12th Street and her partner, Raphaell Ridao, many of whom were among the first people she met when she began navigating the music industry.
“They were some of the first people I met when I started being in the industry, so it’s a full-circle moment,” she says. “I’m happy they got to be with me on this journey.”
The EP also brings together the production work of Jean Paul Verona and Migz Haleco, while visual artist Antoinette Tejada, known as @ankulitmoh, helped translate the project’s world into its cover art.
Musically and narratively, Saan Ba Pupunta? is structured like a journey without a fixed destination. The newer songs — “Dulo,” “Palaisipan” with 12th Street, “Hahanapin,” and “Red Light” — sit alongside the previously released “Babalik” and “Sasabay,” creating a sequence that moves between uncertainty, movement, reflection, and release.
At the center of that journey is “Red Light,” a song Keanna intentionally wrote for the EP and positioned midway through its tracklist.
“I placed it in the middle of the tracklist to remind listeners to pause and breathe for a moment in the middle of their journey, especially when they’re going through something,” she says.
The pause is essential to the EP’s larger message. If its title asks where life is going, “Red Light” offers a different proposition: maybe the answer does not always have to come immediately.
That idea also makes “Sasabay” particularly meaningful to Keanna. The song, she says, carries the deepest personal resonance because of the people who have surrounded her throughout her journey.
“I’m blessed that I am surrounded by so many people who love and support me in everything that I do,” she says. “It also makes my heart warm and fulfilled when people tell me how much my music helps them with their healing, because that is one of the main reasons why I started making music.”
For Keanna, that is ultimately what she hopes Saan Ba Pupunta? can offer: not answers, but a place to breathe while searching for them.
“I want people to find stillness in my art,” she says.
And perhaps that is where the EP finds its clearest sense of direction. Rather than presenting uncertainty as something that needs to be conquered, Saan Ba Pupunta? makes room for getting lost, taking the long way, changing course, and arriving later than expected.
“I dedicate this EP to those who are figuring things out, taking the long way, and getting lost,” Keanna says. “I hope you find comfort in these songs and learn how to live with no regrets.”
After spending much of her life trying to anticipate what comes next, making the EP gave Keanna a different perspective on the future — one that does not demand certainty before the journey can begin.
“I realized while making this project that you don’t have to have it all figured out or have all the answers right away,” she says. “Some things are not meant to be planned; you’ll just figure it out along the way. Sometimes, you just have to go with the wind and see where it takes you.”
For an EP built around the question Saan Ba Pupunta?, Keanna Mag’s answer is refreshingly open-ended.
Maybe the point is not always knowing where you are going.
Maybe it is learning to be present while you get there.
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