Jay Som gets collaborative and self-reflective on Belong

While Belong isn’t as pop-driven as 2019’s Anak Ko and 2017’s Everybody Works, the set features some of Duterte’s more precisely composed and layered mixes. The project also captures Duterte at her most self-interrogative.

If the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer has erstwhile projected a DIY/loner vibe, Belong is more about investing in those connections and social spaces that are empowering. The synthy and reverb-splashed “Cards on the Table” is a summery take about “lay[ing] it all out” and facing up to one’s mistakes. “Float” blends punkish and new wave-y guitar licks, as Duterte inventories a relationship, assessing her own strengths and weaknesses.

On the verses of “What You Need”, she embraces a restrained vocal approach, leaping into a more effusive stance on the choruses, as if to mark a moment of eureka, a knowing that she’d rather be free than right (“Can’t give you what you need / You can have the last word”). Guitars and synths are shimmery yet rhythmic, the track ending with a short yet jammy instrumental section.

“Shut down and restart / Melt off, defrost / I’m spiraling up”, Duterte and guest Hayley Williams sing on “Past Lives”, sharing some of the album’s more poetic lines while pointing to a central motif re: change, emotional thawing, and the movement toward optimism. Guitars, synths, and drums coalesce, weighty yet dynamic, hard-leaning but buoyant, illustrating Duterte’s continued growth as an arranger and producer.

“Casino Stars” addresses having faith in the future and one’s own resilience even if mistakes were made in a given situation (“I lost my luck last time / …But when the stars align / We’re gonna have it all”). “Meander / Spouting Wings”, meanwhile, is a glitchy diptych that recalls a cross between the ethereal Midwife and earthy Indigo De Souza, Duterte encountering her own doubt (“I’m never gonna change”) on the way to deepening a sense of newfound direction (“I’ll hold your power”).

On “A Million Reasons Why”, a pitch-shifted vocal, serrated atmospherics, and crowd samples bring to mind some of Alex G’s signature techniques. “Want It All” is an apt closer, integrating melodic phrases and a druggy sluggishness. “You think you want it all”, Duterte says, reminding herself about the pitfalls of greed. She follows with: “I think you wanna say / The thing you wanna say”, reaffirming that honesty and inner clarity are her priorities, ambition be damned.

Belong represents a shift for Duterte, as she strives to operate more communally (in the studio and, presumably, outside it, too). Even if the album largely sets aside the impeccable hook-craft of previous work, the sequence is indeed sonically and thematically compelling. Fans and new listeners alike should have no trouble riding shotgun with Duterte – as she reaches for new levels of authenticity.