For indie artist Gavv, reaching the galaxies meant leaving his corporate job

Hillarie San Roque & Jett Morales

Astronomers often remind us that the stars illuminating tonight’s sky are, in many ways, relics of the past. The light from distant stars and galaxies spends years, sometimes millions or even billions of years, crossing the universe before it even reaches Earth.

And what appears sudden to us has, in reality, been traveling through the darkness all along. Gavv’s story follows much the same trajectory.

Seven years after writing Galaksiya, the song found new life when his sister, Cess, shared it on TikTok, where it quickly reached thousands of listeners and introduced the independent musician from Pasay, Jan Kevin “Gavv” Rumbaoa, to a much wider audience. What seemed like an overnight success was, in truth, seven years in the making.

Long before Galaksiya found thousands of listeners through a single TikTok video, it had already become Gavv’s own constellation of hope. As he fondly puts it, “Galak-Siya,” a clever play on the song title that expresses his hope that “siya” will one day discover “galak,” or joy. The song became his north star, a reminder to keep moving even when the night sky offered no signs that anyone was looking back.

“I made a promise to myself,” he recalled. “One day, I’ll find my own Galaksiya—my own place where I truly feel alive and happy.”

And for Gavv, Galaksiya was never written with the intention of going viral. It was a letter to his younger self—the child who dreamed of becoming a musician and refused to imagine any other future. The song carried a promise that despite rejection, doubt, and the expectations to choose a more practical path, he would someday find his own galaksiya, a place where he could truly belong.

Years of quietly writing songs taught him that every song will eventually find its own place and people. After the TikTok video his sister Cess posted, Galaksiya had finally been introduced to the audience he had long been waiting for.

“Growing up, I was often told I was too ambitious,'” he shared. “Dumating sa point na naniwala na rin ako doon. (There came a point where I also believed I am ambitious).” Instead of abandoning music altogether, Gavv quietly carried the dream with him. Leaving a stable corporate career to pursue songwriting meant embracing uncertainty.

During those seven years, Gavv released songs to only a handful of listeners, performed at gigs where almost no one came to watch, and repeatedly questioned whether believing in himself was still worth it. Yet he never abandoned the promise he had made to the younger version of himself.

“The hardest part wasn’t the lack of listeners, it was wondering if I should stop believing in myself, ” he admitted. “But every time I thought about giving up, I remembered the promise I made to the younger version of me. I couldn’t be the one to break it.”

Today, Gavv remains grateful not only to his sister, but also to every listener who gave an independent artist a chance. If his songs can make even one person feel seen, then all years of waiting, he says, was worth it. 

His story reflects the reality faced by many Filipino creatives. A nationwide study by the Department of Science and Technology–National Research Council of the Philippines found that more than half of Filipino musicians earn less than ₱20,000 a month, with many relying on freelance work or non-music jobs to support themselves. In an industry where passion often struggles against financial stability, pursuing art can feel less like reaching for the stars and more like drifting through space with no certainty of ever arriving.

For years, Gavv wondered whether he should change his music to fit what people wanted to hear. He experimented with different styles, hoping that recognition might finally come. Looking back, however, he realized that authenticity mattered more than algorithms.

“Some songs make us dance. Some songs make us cry. Some simply stay with us. None is more important than the other,” he reflected.

Ironically, it was not a change in his music that changed his life. It was one act of belief. When Cess shared his story on TikTok, thousands discovered Galaksiya almost overnight. Listeners began streaming the song during road trips, while reviewing for exams, at work, and through difficult moments. Some wrote to tell him that the song comforted them during periods of anxiety and loneliness. Others said they finally felt understood.

With Galaksiya finally finding its people, and Gavv finally discovering how his music resonates with the world, the light of the song that once travelled unseen has at last reached those who were meant to witness it. Like the stars that light up our galaxy long after their first light began its journey, his music reminds us that even the longest paths eventually lead to someone willing to look up.

Just as the light of distant galaxies spends years traveling before anyone can see it, some dreams simply take longer to arrive. Their brilliance is not measured by how quickly they are noticed, but by the distance they are willing to travel without losing their light.

And for seven years, Gavv’s music crossed that darkness in silence. When it finally reached its listeners, it proved that some stars are never late—they simply arrive when the universe is finally ready to see them.