Self-Made R&B Singer, Gels, Writes Music That’s Fiercely “For The Girls” 

Singapore has seen its fair share of local female breakout artists – from bedroom-indie pop darling Shye, to the saccharine shimmer of Regina Song and the indie-rock bite of Mila Bea. But 26-year-old Angelica Teo, who goes by gels, brings a different sort of flavour. The Singaporean R&B songstress writes music that’s intimate and unflinching, with lyrics that confront difficult topics head on. 

Her latest EP rude awakening, released in late 2025, arrives as a manifesto as much as a music project – a body of work she frames as “for the girls”. It’s written for women in the thick of unlearning old narratives, dismantling harmful conditioning and growing through heartbreak, confusion and self-reckoning in real time. Amid Singapore’s evolving R&B scene, gels is carving out a space rooted in radical honesty – writing for herself, for women and for anyone who’s learning to feel deeply without apology.

Despite debuting her first single curious in early 2024, music has long been stitched into the fabric of gels’ life. Childhood road trips to Kuala Lumpur were soundtracked by her parents’ carefully curated CDs and singing became her earliest form of self-expression. By secondary school, she was performing at school events and immersing herself in poetry and musical electives, quietly laying the groundwork for the artist she would one day become: one who writes and produces her own material with intention. 

When it comes to production, every track is a hands-on labour of love for gels – crafting beats, melodies and lyrics with as much care in the studio as in her bedroom. 

“I usually decide on a concept and let my producer know what I’m going for. If there are specific sounds or chords that I want, I’ll usually program them myself using samples and send them over. Once the mood is right, I’ll take the demo home to write on it and record it. When that’s done, there will be further refinements made to the song, where the beat will then be developed to better complement the melody line,” she shares. 

She used to be more hands-on with production, but balancing music with a full-time job as a creative strategist at a digital creative agency means time is tighter these days. Still, it’s a part of the process she misses – and getting her hands dirtier on the production side again is something that’s firmly on her agenda this year. 

While gels’ sound now settles comfortably into R&B, her musical palate was shaped by a steady diet of pop royalty. Growing up, she grooved to the likes of Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Her musical influences shift with every project – with the Madonna Whore Complex making its way into the inspiration pile for her song simple crush. But when it comes to vocal sound, her inspirations are crystal clear. There’s the soft-focus intimacy of Clairo, the honeyed haze of Alina Baraz, and the sleek, R&B polish of Ariana Grande’s Positions era. The result? A vocal tone that feels both featherlight and velvet-smooth, but never naive. 

But what truly distinguishes gels is her candour. In a music landscape often padded with metaphors and softened edges, she chooses bluntness over euphemism. 

“I was initially afraid to do this, because Singapore is a bit more on the conservative side when it comes to self-expression, compared to London where I lived for a year,” she explains. “But I made the decision to follow through with it, because it is better aligned with my character and who I am as a person.” 

Her adamance, to sugarcoat and unwavering commitment to say it as it is, is clearly striking a cord – quietly amassing her over 15,000 listeners on Spotify without the backing of a flashy promotion, tours, or mainstream hype. She leans into the discomfort, names things plainly and lets the weight of them sit. It’s a breath of fresh air – and clearly, her growing audience agrees. 

An introvert and self-professed homebody, gels does her best work in solitude.

“I’m the most honest when I’m comfortable and in my most natural state,” she says. “I can write in the studio with people I’m comfortable with, but ultimately I prefer to write when I’m alone in my room, and at night, because it gives me the safety to be emotionally honest with myself about the experiences that I write about without worrying about anyone else being there to witness it.” 

But for gels, it’s more than just making music for herself. 

Fully aware of how exhausting it can be to move through the world as a woman, gels has made a conscious decision to turn her music into a soft landing spot. Whether it’s confusion, heartbreak, introspection or the dizzy high of falling in love – her songs hold space for it all. Her work is “for the girls” – not as a gimmick, but a quiet act of solidarity. 

“There are so many influences on what we believe about ourselves that contribute to the patriarchy in the media we consume, the stereotypes and the jokes made about us, the roles we play in society, competition against other women,” she shares. 

Having wrestled with her own moments of complicity – the times she felt fed into those very cycles – gels channels that self-awareness into her writing. Her music invites women to sit with uncomfortable truths: the decisions they regret, the patterns they’re unlearning, the ways social conditioning has shaped their self-perception. 

“For me, it’s important to take accountability, see things as they are, and give yourself grace for trying to be a better woman for other women and for yourself,” she says. “Undoing unhealthy belief systems is not a linear process and can sometimes take many tries.”

Much of this ethos influenced the concept and direction of her six-track debut EP rude awakening, which isn’t just a collection of songs – but a diary of lessons learned and emotions processed. 

“The title rude awakening wasn’t just supposed to represent realisations that I had that had large impacts on my reality,” she reflects. “But also a representative of the tough pills we have to swallow to continue growing as people.”

“A bit of a mad rush,” is how gels describes the process of putting rude awakening together. At the same time, many of her personal life chapters were drawing to a close – “almost like finishing up a few books you were reading at the same time.” The urgency felt fitting. And she realised that if this was going to be her proper introduction, it had to be honest. 

So she mined those endings – the lessons, the regrets, the clarity that comes after the emotional chaos –  and built the EP from there. Each track was mapped intentionally: what it would say, what it would confront, and how it would contribute to the wider world of rude awakening. 

Prior to this project, gels had only written about love and heartbreak. Pivoting toward subjects that felt sharper and more personal was daunting. “With many late nights recording and re-recording; scrapping and rewriting, I managed to overcome those obstacles to write about how I navigated trauma, the way men perceived me, my own experience with sexual assault, learning to trust again in a romantic situation, and my best friend’s presence through all these experiences and the positive impact it had on me.” she shares.

The self-produced titular intro track, in particular, stands as a quiet ode to friendship. Short and stripped back, it honours her best friend who sat with her through the aftermath of her most difficult experiences.

“We used to sit in my car until the sun came up, talking about all the emotions I was afraid to say to others, the situations that I blamed myself for that weren’t necessarily my fault, and the things that I regretted doing,” she recalls. “It’s short and simple, because building a friendship with someone who cares and loves you unconditionally should always feel straightforward.”

This very friendship, it appears, was an important source of inspiration and direction for rude awakening – influencing not just lyrics, but shaping the sound as well. 

gels paid close attention to what her best friend gravitated towards in earlier demos, weaving those elements into the final track. Layered vocal stacks take centre stage, accompanied by delicate pizzicato strings and a rounded, drifting synth that forms the song’s foundation. The arrangement leaves room for air and ache – space for vulnerability to linger. The stacked vocals, she explained, were intentional: a sonic representation of her friend’s voice lifting her up as she untangled her thoughts. 

While gels is choosing to keep hush about her next chapter, she confirms that new music is already in the works – and that she’s intent on continuing to build the world she’s so carefully carved out. 

“I’m sitting comfortably in R&B right now, with no real plans to change genres, and I hope to continue growing within this realm of music,” she shares. Still, she isn’t ruling out the thrill of experimentation, hinting at possible detours into synth pop or indie pop with rock influences. We’ll be waiting (impatiently) to see what she unveils next.