KHOBEE, the Cebuano indie-pop singer-songwriter, is a “character” to play. That’s how Kyle Brent Paltingca describes his on-stage persona. His character’s got some confidence and, in Kyle’s words, becomes a tad “cocky” when he’s performing. It’s not that the KHOBEE character strays away from Kyle Paltingca’s actual disposition. But Kyle would like you to think of KHOBEE as a “jacked-up” version of the man behind the character.
“I have a really big picture of what an artist could be like,” Kyle tells me. He takes inspiration from his musical heroes like Cup of Joe vocalist Gian Bernardino, soloist Rob Deniel, and My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way. To Kyle, these heroes possess “big, extravagant” presences when they woo their crowds. “Their stage presence is amazing, and that’s part of what I want to emulate to some degree, but then I try to put my own personality into it.”
The stage name “KHOBEE” is what Kyle’s family calls him. It’s a spin-off of his first name, Kyle Brent. His grandfather, an avid basketball fan, created the name using his grandson’s initials, “K.B.” Not wanting to be too on-the-nose by nicknaming Kyle after Kobe Bryant, Kyle’s mother added the extra ‘H’ and ‘E’.
The nickname was a happy accident when Kyle started thinking of a stage name. He initially wanted something inspired by his favorite ice cream flavor Cookies and Cream, and thought of being called something like “Cookies.” But then he caught wind of a Cebuano rapper with the moniker “Cookie$”.
“And then, I thought, ‘Why not just use this specifically unique name that’s already really personal to me?’ So like, that’s where that came from.”
Kyle opines that his off-stage persona is “funny and loud and confident… I think.” There’s a hint of uncertainty when he says “I think.”
There is an introversion to Kyle, the 19-year-old Velez College medical technology student, an idea corroborated by his INFP personality (according to the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator test he took). People with an INFP personality, according to 16Personalities.com, are “quiet, open-minded, and imaginative, and they apply a caring and creative approach to everything they do.”
He acknowledges his innate timidness, a trait that doesn’t bode well when he meets people who know and appreciate his work. On the rare occasions someone does recognize him, he feels like he becomes shyer than the other person.
“Someone asked me for a picture,” Kyle recounted. “I took their phone and took a picture of them instead because I thought they were asking me to take a picture of them. Turns out, they knew me and wanted to take a picture with me. I was like, ‘Oh! OK!’ So that was a funny occurrence in my artistry so far.”
Kyle knows he’s awkward, confessing to his habit of blanking out whenever getting asked difficult questions and stuttering during conversations. He also knows about it because people tell him he’s awkward. His clumsiness, which consists of him getting scrapes when he was a grade-schooler and breaking things around the house, prompted his family to hail him as the “hari ng sablay,” Filipino for “king of blunders.”
But he wears his awkwardness as a badge; it somehow worked its way into the KHOBEE character — the career branding, if you will. On KHOBEE’s Spotify page, he pitches himself as “A little bit awkward, confused and lost but passionate in creating the best music he can.”
“I don’t want to pretend that, ‘Oh, I’m not an awkward guy. I’m chill, you know? I’m responsible.’ No!,” said Kyle. “If that’s how they see [of] me, that’s what they see of me, and I can’t change that. I don’t want to change that because that’ll mean I’ll have to change a fundamental part of myself.”
To balance the med tech Kyle life and the musician KHOBEE life is to walk on a thin tightrope. Kyle admits to struggling in school, “barely hanging on.” He’s not failing, but he’s not exactly acing tests. He says he is “doing enough” to get on by, which keeps him pumped up enough to keep going.
But to keep going, he has to walk on that tightrope constantly, without stopping or failing. He recalls having to practice for shows while studying for tests, as well as taking an exam and then sprinting to the gigs. In some of those hectic times, he would have to rely on his good friends, caffeine and sugar, to push through any drowsiness.
“I don’t think I’m balancing it right… or actually, I’m not balancing it at all because I really disconnect. Whenever I do music stuff, school stuff, out the window. When I do school stuff, music stuff, out the window.”
The character KHOBEE is more than just a character; it is more than just a manifestation of what Kyle thinks an artist could be. KHOBEE, if God willing, is his future. Kyle makes no illusions that becoming a medical technician is what he’s truly aiming for. He “loves” his course, enjoying the task of drawing blood from veins (“I feel powerful when it comes to that,” said Kyle), but it’s not where his heart is.
“In my heart, I know I want to be an artist. Music is the path I want to go, but I know I’m not surviving life by doing that. So that’s why I need a good degree so that even if, you know, music doesn’t push through… which it will!” Kyle hopes before knocking on his table. “At least I have a fallback.”
But even with the realism in his thoughts, Kyle’s got a lot in mind for KHOBEE. He hopes that in 2025, he gets to release his first EP, hop on the famous Wish 107.5 Bus, play his songs at the Cozy Cove in Baguio, and win an award for his craft. Which award? “Awit Award, Wish Award — I don’t care. Actually, just getting nominated, that’s enough for me to be like, ‘OK, I made it. They know I exist. I got nominated.’ And then winning an award, after that, I’d die happily.’”
To know more about KHOBEE, check out his Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. Check out his songs and videos via Spotify, YouTube and YouTube Music, Apple Music and wherever else you listen to music.
