James Reid is finally home, and he’s right where he wants to be

Sometime in 2010, a young, wide-eyed James Reid would exit the Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) house with more fame than he knew what to do with. 

Within the walls of PBB, contestants would typically go months with no outside contact, but almost every move they made and every word they uttered was made known to everyone watching. And so, when the then-17-year-old Filipino-Australian emerged as the season’s Big Winner, hordes of people had come to celebrate him, much to his surprise. 

Having just arrived in the Philippines, James hadn’t fully grasped what he had gotten himself into. He was timid, mostly spoke in English, and would, more often than not, merely flash a toothy grin in conversation with other housemates. 

Still, he was immediately put on this pedestal and thrust under a spotlight he had no idea how to navigate. Fans would constantly assure him that there were plenty of reasons to love him, but the then-rising star didn’t feel worthy of any of that at all — even after topbilling film after film and giving life to songs (case in point: “Randomantic”) that have long found a permanent place in Filipino pop culture. 

“I’ve just had such a backwards career where I already started with, at least in the Philippines, almost the maximum amount of fame without having done much to feel like I had deserved it or proven myself,” James told Rappler. “I just felt like a fraud in this whole industry. I’m not talking poorly of PBB or anything, but that’s the reality of the situation we get put in.” 

Now 33, James is a completely different person. After taking a break from showbiz for six years to focus on other creative endeavors, he now carries himself with a greater sense of self-assurance, and no longer finds himself desperately searching for the feeling that he had earned the right to be where he stands now.

All along, there was really no need to strive to be anything more — and he would make that groundbreaking realization by fully diving into the music. 

On learning to love and be loved 

Make no mistake, though. James’ relationship with music hadn’t been perfect from the get-go either. It had gone through a noteworthy arc of its own, where he had felt restricted from displaying vulnerability and the liberty to write what he truly wanted. 

“Definitely with past projects, I love the songs that I’ve made before, and I think there’s still a place for it in my life. But I can hear where I’m holding back. I can hear where I don’t want to go all the way or say too much or express myself too much because I know that one day it’s not going to be just in the studio, it’s going to be everywhere else,” James confessed.

This blatant display of openness used to scare the singer-actor. The creative process, he had once mentioned, is all him, but the minute it gets put on streaming platforms for the rest of the world to hear, the work no longer becomes his alone. It had taken a lot for James to get comfortable with that. But his genuine love for his craft had proven to be greater than any apprehensions he ever had. Now, he just sits back, lets his creativity flow, and just allows genuine inspiration to take over until it all builds up into something he can say he poured his whole soul into. 

“I think that became so much of the point of all of it that I accepted it. So I didn’t really care about it anymore. And maybe that’s what made me feel more comfortable and more safe to just write whatever the hell I want to write about,” he shared. 

This is something the “Pahinga” hitmaker truly makes evident in his latest creation, Honey I’m Home, a 10-track album that also happens to be his most personal body of work to date. 

Most of it had been conceived at a songwriting camp in February 2025. It wasn’t anything glamorous, really — just James, some producers, writers, and artists making music in an open outdoor space uninterrupted, with nothing but a fan spinning above them. 

“I just wanted to try something different where the creative process was not cut by people needing to go home because I feel like sometimes, you get into a groove, but then I get busy and I have to do some other thing. And then my mind and my heart is just not in the same place as it was that day. It’s difficult to bring things back,” he explained.

People came and went, but James remained there for two whole weeks, churning out the messiest of ideas until he finally began to strike gold. 

At that point in time, it had only been a few months since James dropped his six-track EP jgh, which speaks of home in the physical sense. It was more of a compilation of random love songs he had put together after having just returned from traveling and being in the US, and overall feeling more grounded being back in the Philippines. 

But in Honey, I’m Home, James speaks of love in an entirely new way. It’s not the kind of love you pull from watching romcoms — but the kind of love that feels so revolutionary it changes who you are and everything you’ve ever known about love. James credits all of that to his partner, Issa Pressman. 

“When we got together, she just had this different kind of kindness and light and warmth and generosity. I’ve never met anyone so in touch with their soul just naturally. It was inspiring, and not in the music sense, just me as a person. I’ve learned so much from her,” he said about Issa. 

“And I think that gave me just a brand new perspective on how to love myself and how to love other people. In a much greater way than just chiming in some lyrics, I think the whole perspective of Honey, I’m Home came from the love that she gave me.”

There was a big change in James’ writing, and it all boils down to his change in perspective. 

“Just the way I look at love, and the way I look at life, and the way that I see what I’m supposed to be doing here, I think my whole perspective shifted. And I think that’s the biggest thing that changed with the music,” he told Rappler. 

Honey, he’s home

With Honey I’m Home, then, you get a heavily layered record at its finest.

Take “Indiana” for instance. James and Issa have always dreamt of having a child of their own someday. The couple even already has a list of potential baby names, and one of them is Indiana. That’s how the song’s concept came to be in the first place: they already had so much love for a kid who wasn’t even born yet, and it was an indication of a love that transcends generations, time, and, eventually, death. 

“I wanted to write it in a way where it says, ‘We love you so much, even though you’re not here. But also, we want you to know that far, far in the future when we’re gone, and you’re still here, that that love is still there,’” explained James. “And that made it extra hard, but I think I pulled it off. I imagine her still singing this song one day, even when I’m gone.” 

In writing “Unbecoming,” meanwhile, James scrutinized every fiber of his being to determine which parts of himself he didn’t like anymore. It was a difficult yet absolutely necessary process he had to go through to fully describe how he’s changed after experiencing Issa’s love. 

“[It’s the kind of love] that is not so much about what you give me, and is not so much about what I can give you. But the kind that changes my world and makes me a better person,” he said. 

Yet the evolution isn’t just in the music itself, but in the village it took for all of this to happen. For the longest time, James was content with flying solo — doing all the work on his own, and even expressing reluctance toward the thought of having to rely on others to get things done. 

When you look at the credits of Honey, I’m Home, you’ll be able to see that it was the product of consistent collaboration with other people. James attests that while it’s just his name on the record, it’s the hard work of those around him that made it all possible: his team at Careless, his producers Luke April and Brian Lotho, the featured artists on some of the tracks, and everyone else who contributed to the album in one way or another. 

Above all, James is clearly no longer who he used to be. 

“I think happy is probably the best word to use, so much so that I felt confident enough in myself that I could go back into the industry that caused me so much stress and anxiety before,” he said, referring to his first teleserye comeback in nearly a decade. 

“I’m definitely in a place where I feel like I can just keep shooting for the stars and then seeing where things go. Because I feel like even if I fall, I have a nice place to land no matter what.” 

And so, for as long as there is love to give and receive, James and his music are here to stay. – Rappler.com