Why Nicole Asensio Took the Risk of Starting Over After General Luna

Artists often talk about finding their voice. Less often do they talk about what happens after they've already found one.

For Nicole Asensio, the challenge arrived when General Luna came to an end.

After years of performing with the band and helping establish its identity in the Philippine rock scene, she suddenly found herself facing a difficult question: what comes next?

"When the band broke up, I was like, what do I do now?" she recalled. "If I continue with the same sound, will it be harder for me? Because there are expectations that have been set. Now if I change it, then I go back to zero. So do I take that risk?"

The uncertainty eventually led her somewhere unexpected.

An opportunity to perform with the AMP Big Band introduced her to a musical world that felt far removed from the classic rock influences she had built her career around. Although she was excited, she also felt intimidated.

"I was hella nervous because you don't just go up there and sing jazz," she said.

The turning point came from a conversation with her longtime saxophonist.

"He goes, 'Why are you afraid to sing jazz?'"

Her answer seemed obvious.

"'Because I'm a rock singer. It's what I know.'"

His response changed her perspective.

"He goes, 'Jazz has the discipline of classical with the freedom of rock and roll.'"

For Nicole, the statement was a revelation.

"Wow, light bulb," she remembered. "I said, 'You know what? People are always going to have something to say, so let's do this.'"

More than a genre shift, the experience reshaped how she thought about artistic growth.

Rather than viewing reinvention as abandoning her past, she began seeing it as an extension of it.

"I guess it's not an entire burial of my old self," she reflected, "but rather shedding a couple layers and letting new skin grow."

That idea runs through much of her career today. Whether performing jazz standards, writing original music, or stepping into new creative spaces, Nicole has resisted the pressure to remain fixed in a single artistic identity.

Her story serves as a reminder that growth often requires uncertainty. Sometimes the next chapter begins not with confidence, but with the willingness to start over.

Watch the full Nicole Asensio interview.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Asensio.