Julianna Revilla “You Will Be Somebody” Single Review
Written by Vi-Linh Nguyen | June 24 2026
Photos by David Goodson
The fours words, “You will be somebody,” speak to a universal hope everyone has within themselves. Julianna Revilla, a multidisciplinary Filipino American artist, embodies this phrase with her diverse body of expressive works. Revilla’s new song, “You Will be Somebody,” illustrates the innate desire in people to make their individual mark on the world. Revilla pulls those words into a gorgeous new song that encapsulates that feeling shared by anyone who has dared to dream.
Photos by David Goodson
Revilla’s voice is very airy, lending itself to a dream-like atmosphere that feels quite personal. It is the kind of song someone listens to while alone in their room, wearing headphones. The dreaminess paints a scene that is fantastical, full of fairies and whimsical creatures. Through offering a means of escapism, listeners can feel relaxed listening to Revilla's single. The mix of synth and city pop touch on the nostalgia of a bygone era, before centralized technology took over and people’s entire sensory experience became glued to their phones. There’s a sense of long-lost optimism looking back on the pre-internet era.
So, it fits in both the music video and the lyric video that the visuals stylize themselves to an intimate experience between the viewer and Revilla’s character. In the music video the visuals feel one on one, with the variations of grays and the choice of a more handheld camera perspective. Revilla’s character wears a simple, but formal dress reminiscent of the prom dress every girl picks out for the big night. She acts as a friend the viewer follows, reassuring us that the future is hopeful through her song.
In the lyric video, viewers follow Revilla’s character through a metropolitan city, presumably New York City. The visuals here allude to a young adult that has gained their first taste of independence who came to the place every artistic soul full of hope and dreams goes to. It is easy to see the connection between the music video and the lyric video if put into the following lenses: first there is the high school senior getting ready for prom, the big milestone for many American teens, followed by the fresh university graduate who has trained and is now ready to take on the big, wide world. It is the same character, really. Even with the passage of time between the setting of the music video and the lyric video's stories, the push towards freeing the self from becoming, as Pink Floyd wrote, “just another brick in the wall” remains consistent.
Alongside the visual transition, the song encourages its listeners to break out of the conformity that the modern day has bound its citizens to. The verses, “Pretend it’s all my favor / Carelessness has been my issue,” demonstrate the potential consequences of losing that artistic soul that gives everyone their own uniqueness. Not to say that there’s anything inherently wrong with being a part of something, whether it is an organization or a movement, but that the individual is important because it aids in diversifying the world. Everyone can make their own unique mark and add color to an otherwise gray world.
Photos by David Goodson
That is why the visuals fit so well. Whether it’s the gray tones of the music video, or the full color spectrum of the lyric video, viewers of both see Revilla’s character as someone who managed to break out of the mold the system confines us to. The responsibility for that break out is, in fact, the individual person. When the song starts asking, “who will be my savior?” Answering with, “pretend, break,” it is telling viewers, if the hand that will push them towards the freedom from conformity needs to be someone else, they can create that someone else.
Revilla’s new song, “You Will be Somebody,” gives her audience the message that everyone is capable of making their mark on the world. Whether the listener is an optimistic youth whose dreams have yet to blossom, or the cynic, that dream can still happen. The expressiveness in how Revilla delivers the message is a refreshing take on the idea. It will be exciting to see what she has in store in the future.
