BINI Celebrates Historic Coachella Performances at The GRAMMY Museum
Following their history-making appearances at Coachella Music Festival, Filipina girl group BINI visited The GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles for a candid conversation and a few special performances. The group, dubbed the Philippines’ Nation’s Girl Group, spent the evening with their fans, BLOOMs, talking about their Coachella run, and sharing fun anecdotes. In a way, this simple mix of topics was the perfect representation of who BINI is—world famous superstars who are still simply a group of best friends enjoying life together.
The conversation consisted of spilling TMIs with the crowd. The girls shared who spams their group chat (Stacey) and what she sends (memes and funny photos of Jhoanna), and who ignores the group chat (Mikha), kicking off the comedic and natural conversation flow. Continuing to share more funny stories and demonstrate their close bond and friendship, each member also gave the one sitting next to them a “warning label.” Maloi warned fans not to enter Mikha’s heart, Mikha warned fans that Jhoanna is very loud, Jhoanna warned that Aiah has deathly visuals, and Aiah warned that Stacey laughs and screams very loud. Stacey warned that Colet is too blonde to handle, Colet warned not to disturb Gwen, Gwen warned that Sheena has a dolphin laugh, and Sheena warned that Maloi is very small. As each member went through their warnings, the others would chime in with little remarks and stories, all sharing laughter. The comfortable atmosphere almost made it feel as though BLOOMs in attendance were at a sleepover or casual hangout with the group.
Over the past two weeks, BINI became the first ever Filipina girl group to take the stage at Coachella. The eight members proudly represented their country, singing songs in Tagalog, and even incorporating Filipino culture within their outfits. “During weekend one, we wore Salakots, or traditional Filipino hats,” Aiah began. “And in weekend two, we included Baybayin, or Filipino script, in our outfits as well. There were a lot of words like BINI, and talking about women empowerment written on our outfits. We really tried to incorporate our culture into everything, and we didn’t just want it in one outfit, so we did multiple different outfits for each weekend.” Thinking back to the history made with these two forty-five-minute-long sets, the group remembers how emotional it was. “After weekend one, we were looking online a lot for feedback. We read a lot of articles and saw a lot of videos, and people were reacting so positively saying they were happy they finally saw Filipino talent on a global stage, and it meant so much to us,” Jhoanna shared. “At the end of weekend two, when we were giving our closing ments, we had our Philippines flag behind us on a big LED screen. Everyone started to get emotional. Not just us BINI, but the audience, too. People were crying with pride, and it was a moment we’ll never forget.”
As Jhoanna mentioned, the group watched a lot of fancams and read many articles about themselves after the festival’s first weekend, but this wasn’t a new practice for them. “We always search ourselves online to watch videos,” the group shared. “We have to, so we know what we can improve on.” Knowing no one can be perfect, Maloi shared that the group still strives to be the very best they can be. “Of course we want to deliver flawless performances, but having mistakes and flaws are inevitable. It’s something we cannot control, so we try our best to just enjoy the moment, dance to the music, let our bodies flow, and just groove.”
With their performances meaning so much, it was also nerve-wrecking. “During “Out Of My Head,” there was a part where we asked everyone to jump. That was a very fun moment because we could literally see everyone jumping. We were of course nervous that people may not jump, but it was also like a final moment,” Mikha admitted. “During weekend one, we felt like everyone was so nice and listening to us, so we thought yeah, it’s time to just do it.”
Their success thus far has led to the group’s fan-given nickname, the Nation’s Girl Group. Even with such a lofty, prestigious title, the group feels it gives them a sense of responsibility rather than a burden. “The name makes us more aware that we aren’t just representing ourselves, but our culture, our music, and our whole country,” Stacey said. “We don’t want it to feel heavy or forced, so we take that title as motivation to stay grounded, to continue improving, and to show up in a way that people can be proud of. We take it as a reminder to always stay true to who we are.”
Having just completed such a historic moment, it was unsurprising that the group was also feeling nostalgic. BINI also shared some moments from their trainee days, detailing some of the hardships they went through to become the group they are today. “During our trainee days, we did the same thing every day. It was also during the pandemic, so we stayed together in the same house,” Gwen began. “We did dance training, singing training, and we also did assignments our coaches gave us that were due before midnight. Usually, we’d spend about 8 to 12 hours on these. At the same time, we also had school work and house work.”
With their training, the group spent half of their day working with Filipino coaches, and the other half of the day with Korean coaches. “They both had their strengths to it, but there was a different structure,” Mikha revealed. “With the Korean coaches, we started from the basics, with like body isolations and vocal techniques. If we were covering a song, we’d have to follow it exactly. If the original singer used falsetto, we’d have to, too. With the Filipino trainers, it felt like we had more freedom to sing how we wished to, and our dancing felt more focused on power. It was really a blessing to experience both, though.”
The hardest part of all, even despite working out constantly and daily weight checks during which the group discovered stripping their clothes off would reduce their numbers, was the lack of food. “We were on a strict diet, and we could only eat what was provided. We actually ended up becoming little chefs at home,” the group shared with a laugh. “We experimented a lot with different ways to make our food more exciting. We created tasteless pancakes, eggless pancakes, oatmeal cookies, and more. It was so bad, but we were deprived of eating real food so we had to maximize what we had.” Reminded of the worst scenarios, Mikha shared that the trainees also had to share small portions. “We had one pack of crackers for all of us. At the time, there were more than eight of us, too, so just imagine our small pack of crackers, and we’d each take one only.” Sheena shared another particular incident during Maloi’s birthday. “We had a chocolate cake, but they wouldn’t let us actually eat it. In the end, we were able to have a tiny bit, but it was such a small piece that it didn’t even reach my throat when we ate it!” When considering who became the best “chef” of the group, fingers immediately pointed to Aiah. “I made bread dipped in soy sauce, and I added coffee to oatmeal. We drank coffee like six times a day because it was all we had, so instead of sugar, we’d add it to oatmeal, too.”
Still, BINI believes all of the rigorous training truly paid off. “We have eight different movement styles and everything, but we were able to find a way to work dynamically with each other with the training,” they shared. “We used something called a metronome. For every 3-minute song, we would film a twenty minute video where we’re slowly going through each beat of the song with a metronome. The worst was if someone messed up at the 19-minute mark, because we’d have to start over.” The group has truly mastered the ability to put together cohesive group stages while maintaining their individuality. “We don’t try to be the same person, because we each have something unique we bring to the table,” they began. “We’re all team players, so we don’t try to stand out during someone else’s part. We each have our own flavor or expression,” Mikha concluded.
Having spent most of the conversation reminiscing on their journey, the final question landed extra meaningfully. When asked what their goals are, the group shared that they believe there’s nothing wrong with manifestation. “We’d love to headline a major global festival,” Jhoanna began. “Whether it’s Coachella or another, we’d love to perform as headliners. We’d also love to perform at The GRAMMYs one day, or even receive a GRAMMY Award.” As a group, not only do they represent The Philippines, but young women globally. “Beyond our music, we strongly believe BINI stands as powerful, modern Filipinas. We want to be remembered as confident, empowered, inclusive, and authentic. We stand for courage, and we want to tell people it’s okay to dream bigger, just like what we did. We want to be relevant across all generations, and if our story helps one person believe that anything is possible, then that’s all we need.”
