Jan Echavarria makes music comeback with single ‘Tama Ba, Tama Na’

There are singers who chase a song. And there are singers who wait for the right one to find them again.

For Jan Echavarria, it took four years.

Four years since his first single “Boy You Were Home.” Four years since he first tried to figure out how to stay visible in an industry that moves too fast. Today, he’s back — not with noise, but with a question. His brand new single “Tama Ba, Tama Na” is now streaming on all platforms.

Long before “The Clash,” long before theater, Echavarria was just eight years old sitting on the floor, watching his grandfather play the guitar.

He remembers asking about that wavy sound. That tremble in the voice. Vibrato.

His grandfather tried to teach him how to do it, then laughed. 

He stressed, “Maybe the singing part is really inborn?”

It stuck. Very cliché, Jan admits, but he really did teach himself how to sing. No formal training at the start. Just musical influences at home and that spark every time he’d watch noontime TV shows and singing reality shows on TV. He would tell himself, I wanna do that. I wanna be on stage and sing, perform. He would imagine himself singing his own song, becoming a recording artist someday. 

He just didn’t know how long the road would be.

Jan never considered himself a ‘kontesero.’

His range, he thought, wasn’t even that high. He had been to a lot of auditions before and collected a lot of rejections. 

He tried for “The Clash” once, but didn’t make it. Tried again in 2025 — second time — and finally got in.

He was the only one from Cebu who made the final cut.

“That journey was one for the books,” he says. 

“The Clash” didn’t just give him airtime. It gave him confidence, awareness, discipline, grit. He learned from fellow contenders, from their stories, from their experiences. It made him value his craft even more.

When he got eliminated, he didn’t spiral. He flipped it. He used it as an opportunity to be better. And it worked — after the show came more recognition, more singing engagements, and projects he never thought he’d get. Like theater.

He will always hold close to his heart “Hook Up The Musical,” where he played IAmAnonymous. On paper, he seemed too young for it. Too young to carry that kind of anonymity and ache. But that show, he says, helped him grow so much both as a singer and an actor. It led him to big stages, big audiences. And for someone who used to just imagine himself on stage, that matters.

“Tama Ba, Tama Na” is written by Jerwin Nicomedez, the vocal coach of BGYO and ABS-CBN, a talented singer-songwriter himself. Jan had worked with him before years back, under Boy Abunda, for a project. He always wanted to release another Tagalog song, an OPM track this time.

He remembered one random jamming session — Jerwin casually playing piano, singing one of his own songs — and this particular song stuck with him. Four, five years later, Jan called him up. No label. No big machinery. Independently. On their own terms.

The release is under Jan Echavarria/Prince Chen, distributed via CDBaby, with arrangement by Teddy Katigbak. But more than the credits, it’s the intention. “Regardless of the outcome of the song, I’m happy to say I did this, we did this while I’m still in my prime.”

That line says a lot.

Ask what “Tama Ba, Tama Na” has brought into his career so far and he doesn’t talk about streams first. He talks about people.

The process, he says, has been humbling. As an independent artist, he learned a lot about the music industry the hard way. But along the way he met great people — inspiring people. He got to collaborate with champions, to connect with successful recording artists. 

“This is something special because through music, through singing, I get to connect to everyone with just one song.”

And maybe that’s why the title works. Tama ba? Tama na? It’s not just a breakup question. It’s a career question. It’s a life question. Is this still right? Or is it time to stop?

For Jan Echavarria, the answer is clear: It’s still right. So he continues.

“Tama Ba, Tama Na” is out now on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and all digital streaming platforms.