Inside Filipino Girl Group BINI’s Historic Coachella Debut

It’s a blistering 89 degrees in Indio, California, and the eight members of girl group BINI are packed inside a small trailer.

With their team surrounding them, some carrying the flag of the Philippines, the young women are abuzz with nervous excitement. Electropop singer Slayyyter can be heard faintly through the not-so-soundproof walls of the trailer. Outside, a group of longtime fans and curious music lovers at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival await the moment the group takes the Mojave stage.

BINI, sporting intricately beaded blue-turquoise ensembles, begins putting warrior-like gold dresses on top of their outfits thanks to the help of their backup dancers, a group of seven men who traveled with the girl group from the Philippines. For a moment, the chaos is put on hold as they begin a group prayer. “That’s the first time we’ve done something like that, where [our performance director] asked us to repeat after him,” BINI member Aiah, 25, tells me that night, hours after their performance is done.

Aiah and the rest of BINI — Colet, Maloi, Gwen, Stacey, Mikha, Jhoanna and Sheena — look noticeably lighter speaking with me hours after their Coachella debut, which comes a day after the release of their newest EP, Signals.

The young women translate some of their pre-performance mantra for me — ”We’re not alone, we’re together” — were key points of the messaging. “He made us close our eyes so we can really bask in the moment,” Aiah says.

“That’s actually our favorite part, when our coach speaks to us, because it makes us cry,” Stacey, 22, adds. The rapper has seemingly perfected the festival look, her long pastel pink hair sits neatly under a mesh scarf. The women of BINI have seemingly been fighting back tears all day, even offering their coach a lighthearted warning. “We told him not to make us cry,” says Maloi, 23.

The emotions and the tears are understandable though. BINI, known affectionally in the Philippines as “the nation’s girl group,” has made history with this Coachella set, becoming the first musical act from the Southeast Asian country to perform at the festival. “This is very important to us. Not only to us, but to the whole of the Philippines,” explains Sheena, the youngest in the group at just 21 years old.

It’s a sentiment that’s been expressed several times since I’ve arrived at BINI’s Coachella basecamp. “This means a lot to the girls,” Laurenti “Lauren” Dyogi, the head of Star Magic, BINI’s talent management agency, and its parent company ABS-CBN’s head of TV production tells me when we meet following BINI’s performance. He quickly adds, “It actually means a lot to the entire nation.”

Feeling the weight of an entire country seems like a nerve-racking prospect, but the women of BINI take it in stride. “Of course, there’s a sense of pressure and sense of responsibility, but we take that as a good thing,” Aiah says.

The singer notes that the responsibility helps them train and rehearse harder. “It’s not just something that happens in a couple days, a couple of weeks, but it’s something that’s been years in the making,” she continues. “It’s been since day one, when we were still trainees, that this is something that we have manifested.”

The group — formed through the 2019 idol training series, Star Hunt Academy, where the members of BINI trained for three years — officially debuted in 2021. Their profile has risen over the last six years, becoming one of the biggest artists in the Philippines.

But perhaps BINI’s biggest viral breakthrough came in the form of the 2023 tropical pop single “Pantropiko,” earning the group the status as one of most streamed OPM — or original music from the Philippines, as the young women explain to me — artists. It also helped solidify their global ascent.

“Every time I hear ‘Pantropiko’, I’m very proud to be a Filipino,” Stacey says. “That’s our song. I’m part of that song.”

Mikha, 22, says that they were all on the verge of crying before taking the stage at Coachella because of the love the audience was already showing them. It’s true — chants of “BINI” could be heard loud and clear as the group, their team and I await their entrance just into the wings. Once they take the stage, the crowd erupts as the group launches into their 2025 hit “Shagidi.”

BINI ends that opener by tearing off their gold overdresses to reveal the blue beaded ensembles beneath them. The abrupt costume change was a source of stress during their lead up rehearsals, but it’s something they eventually perfected. “When we had the [last] run through in our studio, the bosses cried,” shares Jhoanna, 22, adding that their team just felt like BINI was ready for the global stage.

“We also had a very emotional talk with the team because you know BINI, we’re not just a girl group. We have this whole family with us that we’re bringing,” Mikha says. In addition to the pride and responsibility the group feels representing the nation of the Philippines, they also carry the weight and hard work of their entire team.

Having spoken with many artists, particularly ones hailing from large companies with teams into the hundreds, I was pleasantly surprised to hear BINI crediting this moment to the team working with them. Mikha says their coaches told them, “This is what we’ve been waiting for, a Filipino artist going global.”

“It all dawned on us, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, my gosh, this is serious,” she adds. The group emphasizes how supportive their team has been during the Coachella process and in general. Seeing BINI interact with their team — joking, hugging and laughing throughout the stressful day — it’s clear there’s no obvious hierarchy, just a group of people who clearly like each other.

The team has also given BINI agency with their creative direction. “Everything that we put out, it’s from us. We have said, we’ve already talked about it, and it’s not something that being spoon fed to us,” says Gwen, 22. “It’s something that came from our creative juices, from our experiences, insights and perspectives.”

“You really can feel that everyone on the team, they want what’s best for us. They pour their heart and soul and do everything they do,” says Maloi. Adds Jhoanna: “This is not just our dream. It’s everyone’s dream.”

BINI has also felt the support of other Filipino artists and talent. The young women gush over Internet personality Bretman Rock being in the crowd for their performance and share that many Filipino artists will be making the trip to Coachella for the second weekend.

Performing at a festival as large as Coachella, it’s inevitable that some in the crowd might be unfamiliar with the group. But BINI says they’ve used this as opportunity to win over more fans, known collectively as Blooms. During their set, however, it’s clear there’s Blooms everywhere in the crowd.

“We just came here to perform and show what we’ve got. But hearing the crowd, it helped lessen the pressure, to gain more confidence,” Jhoanna says. “Seeing them raising our flags, it’s really overwhelming. We just didn’t expect this amount of support.”

Throughout Coachella and beyond, BINI has been able to succeed thanks to communication they’ve established with one another. It’s essential for putting together the synchronized performances they have, but it’s also essential for some of the less glamorous parts of shooting to fame as a 20-something woman.

The rise of social media over the last decade and beyond means fans, and even those with not-so-great intentions, have pretty immediate access to stars and young women in the music industry. BINI, much like young female musicians around the world, is no stranger to the scrutiny that can come from these social media platforms.

“I think we’re used to a lot of people saying things. We’ve just come to an agreement with ourselves that no matter what you say, no matter what you do, there will always be people who would say something bad about it [you] or twist your words,” Mikha admits. “You really can’t please everyone. You can’t control them, but what you can do is control yourself — what you feel, what you do, what you experience, what you do to make yourself happy.”

The rest of the group seems to agree with that sentiment. “At the end of the day, you know yourself more. Everything is just noise,” says Colet, 24. Adds Maloi: “For me personally, it’s just the damn phone. When I lessen my screen time, that’s my time to do things that I rarely do. I draw or just go outside. It lessens the noise.”

Jhoanna once again credits the team around BINI for helping them stay grounded when it comes to chatter online “That’s why it’s really important that we surround ourselves with people who will really help us, people who will guide us,” she says.

BINI also credits each other for their resilience. “I’m very grateful for our sisterhood because it’s helped me a lot. If I have a problem, I’ll open up to them and they’ll help me,” Sheena says. Jhoanna agrees, adding that they’ve learned what they need to ignore or absorb over the years.

“We’ve grown and changed so much since we started training,” says Mikha, adding that the way they handle negativity on social media is by letting the member themselves decide if they want to bring it up and assuring each other it isn’t true.

“Of course people wouldn’t believe social media, of course we would believe each other,” Mikha continues. Adds Sheena: “That’s the beauty of being an eight member group, it means that we have more people we can lean on.”

BINI continues to lean on each other as they prepare for the second weekend of Coachella. The group will take the stage later today, coming full circle on their Coachella experience. They are hoping to close out this chapter the way they strive to close out all chapters — with authenticity. It’s what the group hopes their fans take away from this experience and any experience they have with BINI.

“We want people to see that we aren’t perfect. We do not strive for perfection. We strive for excellence and we strive to be the best versions of ourselves,” says Mikha. “It’s OK to be human. It’s OK to make mistakes. We’re here with you [on this journey].”

Aiah traces that openness back to where they started. “We are not only happy, we can be sad, we can be angry, we can be whatever emotions because all these emotions exist and they’re there for a reason,” she says. “We started as no one, but with the right amount of hard work and the right people surrounding you, you can make it.”

After we wrap up, the group heads to the festival’s catering tent, stopping to gush over British girl group Say Now along the way, before speeding over to the Sahara stage to catch fellow Filipino performer Sophia of Grammy-nominated KATSEYE.

Perhaps it’s the kick of “girl power” that’s floating around that helps BINI decide on what word they’d use to describe this Coachella experience. Colet throws out a suggestion that’s met with equal parts agreement and equal parts fond laughter. “Her-story,” Colet says. There seems to be an agreement. Some of the other members echo, “Her-story.”