NAIA drops ‘atenean tech bro,’ spills on queer nightlife,  her bold recording artist era

From a real-life rave encounter to Hacienda Luisita roots, the “Drag Den” Supreme turns wit, politics, and pop into a fearless debut.

For the past month, NAIA woke up with a singular, nerve-wracking thought: the release of her first music track.

The first-ever “Drag Den” Supreme is no stranger to the spotlight, but stepping into the music industry comes with its own unique gravity. Today, however, the anxiety has dissipated. Preparing to drop the music video for her debut single, “atenean tech bro,” NAIA is trading her nerves for triumph.

“I woke up and I was like, oh, I’m actually fine. Today I’m excited,’ she shared during an exclusive interview with radar Entertainment on May 9.

Hosting her first rave in Apotheka, Makati, while looking flawless before the launch was no easy feat, yet “I really wanted it to be perfect because it’s not just my work, it’s also the work of my amazing production crew, my director, my producer, D Waviee. I felt like I’m carrying them on my back, and I’m celebrating them as well as celebrating myself,” the drag artist expressed.

It’s a massive day of firsts: her first song, first music video, and first launch party. And in true NAIA fashion, she’s entering her “recording artist era” with a track that is equal parts cheeky, deeply sensual, and unabashedly queer.

An organic encounter on the dancefloor

The inspiration for “atenean tech bro” stems from a very real, very Gen Z experience. As a self-proclaimed novice partygoer exploring the local queer nightlife scene at events like SMUTT and Unknown, NAIA found herself observing the dynamics of modern dating and party culture.

The catalyst? An actual Atenean tech bro she met at a rave.

“He was like, ‘Oh, it’s my first time to a rave, everyone’s so nice,’” NAIA recalled with a gruff masculine voice, chuckling at the interaction. “And then I was like, ‘They’re nice because you’re hot.’”

Finding the exchange hilarious, she used it as the jumping-off point for a broader anthem about the queer nightlife experience. “If you listen to the song, it’s not just about the Atenean tech bro. It’s about queer nightlife, modern dating, and what it’s like to come to a party and learn how to party,” she explains.

When asked about the youth’s search for organic connections in the digital age, NAIA is surprisingly optimistic. “I literally had an organic encounter! You can’t force an organic encounter, [but] if you keep an open mind about it, you’ll really have it… Be open to your surroundings, and you’ll see that you can connect with so many different kinds of people from different walks of life. Even tech bros, they have a heart pala!”

Crafting new sounds and experiences

While the lyrics are rooted in NAIA’s quick-witted observations, the musical foundation required serious study. In July of last year, she tapped her good friend and producer D Waviee to create the instrumental.

The beat was so good that it actually intimidated her. “I was like, wow, the instrumental is so good I don’t know how to put words on top of it!” she admits.

To crack the code, NAIA dove deep into D Waviee’s discography and studied how artists like Pette Shabu rapped over similar beats, learning exactly how to make the instrumental “breathe.” The pressure dialed up in February when the track was picked up by Twelve Points Records for a compilation album, giving NAIA the hard deadline she needed to finalize the lyrics.

The result is exactly what she envisioned: a fun, flirty, high-energy track. “I stayed true to myself,” she notes. “A lot of people are telling me, ‘Oh, I’m always working out to your song,’ and it’s like, well, yes. Look at the material!”

Rooted around Katipunan

While “atenean tech bro” is a club-ready bop, the artist behind it remains deeply grounded. As a Broadcast Communication graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman and a former member of its University Student Council, NAIA’s worldview was shaped by firsthand exposure to systemic inequality.

She recalls a particularly impactful immersion with the farming community in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, Quezon Province.

“UP gave a lot of opportunities for me to see firsthand how unfair our society is here and how the poorest of the poor are just struggling to make ends meet, and our government doesn’t really care much about their welfare,” NAIA reflects. “These were eye-opening experiences for me. Until now, I feel like I still take that to heart.”

She sees a direct line between the fight for democratic human rights and the current explosion of drag and queer art in the Philippines. “Queer art is having such a resurgence now. We’re being more open, we’re being louder. I just wish that also for the whole of Philippine society. Can we just change that?” she asserts, before pointedly adding the rallying cry: “Queer art is art! Trans women are women! Ipasok natin ‘yon!”

The music video for “atenean tech bro” is out now on YouTube. The track is currently available for streaming on all major stream.

 

 

If you listen to the song, it’s not just about the Atenean tech bro. It’s about queer nightlife, modern dating, and what it’s like to come to a party and learn how to party.

NAIA

 

 

READ: