grentperez Explores the Character “g00se” in His New EP
After months of an unraveling storyline, grentperez released his newest EP, g00se, on August 14, along with the final single, “always.” Starting in May, Perez released one song a month alongside episodes, music videos, and live performances on “Gumas Live.” Within these episodes, a story began — One of a man named g00se.
On a peaceful East Coast night yet a sunny Australian morning, grentperez joined EnVi over Zoom to tell the tale of the eccentric, charming character. Surrounded by framed works, stacks of art on his shelves, and his favorite, intentionally placed items, grentperez happily sat in his office, ready to open the door and invite us in to talk about his newest creation.
Everyone’s Got a g00se
Everyone has an alter ego. Someone who allows them to do things they want to do but don’t have the courage to. Someone deep down inside who wants to be let out. Someone who makes a person question whether they’ve ever truly been themselves. For grentperez, that person is g00se, a fun, loving, loud, hilarious uncle of a man, who wants to chase his dreams and live his life freely.
“He can be a representation of my internal monologue, like ‘Yes, I am a star, and I believe in myself so much that I’m going to do this my way completely.’ […] Subconsciously, he is that type of person,” Perez said, bouncing with excitement to tell g00se’s story. “But to the outside world and to the drawing board, he is my Filipino uncle of an employee, who derives from Filipino parental figures that I know — in some parts, my parents even. He lives multiple lives, I guess.”
Born from the people around him and the lives he has watched from a distance, g00se is much more than an EP. It’s a compilation of five songs that serve as a representation of who Perez was in 2021–2023 when he started writing most of these songs. It is also a picture of who he wants to be now. During the start of his career, time was flying by and moving so quickly that it felt like he couldn’t fully hold on to it. Those experiences and that outlook formed g00se.
G00se — the character — has always been around. To be more precise, he’s always been right behind Perez, everywhere he goes. That’s because g00se was quirkily placed on the back of his car as his custom license plate. When creating this EP, he loved the name g00se, but it didn’t stand on its own with emotion and feeling.
“G00se, in a way, he’s the embodiment of Filipino passion,” Perez said, explaining the anthropomorphic birth of the character. “In my experience, Filipinos are incredibly talented, but sometimes that talent, unfortunately, doesn’t get the light of day. So, you have a lot of people with a lot of unused potential. That is who g00se is.”
G00se has grown to have his own “Grease Lightning” style and is someone who puts numbers in his name to keep up with the times, as “titos” do. But he is also someone who keeps his humble side at the forefront, working his day job while dreaming of more.
It’s g00se’s World, We’re Just Living In It
Perez further explained that g00se is someone who knows he is great and wants to prove to everyone else that he has talent within, but he hasn’t yet figured out how. So, for now, he works at g’s Bar & Grill, begging his boss, grentperez, for a chance to step out from behind the curtain and into the limelight. When grentperez says no to g00se’s pleading, he escapes into a daydream fantasy world, reflected in a video by his world becoming black and white rather than in color.
“We knew that we wanted to create a noticeable difference between his dream state and reality. […] We wanted to create this excuse for g00se to live freely without his obligations of work in this universe, you know? So, we made that dreamlike state. We made the videos feel very personal,” Perez said.
Directed in a David Lynch-ian style, each visualizer and music video for the EP has a distinct, unconventional look. Seen in the “sailing” music video, g00se signs a mysterious contract and then a spotlight lights him up. With overlapping frames depicting a forced smile and his hands tied, the character experiences the unfortunate and possible fate of his once hopeful dream.
The character also gallivants across L.A. in the “boy that’s loving you” music video and smoothly cruises on a bike in the “satellite” visualizer. It isn’t until the “always” visualizer that g00se really questions if he wants to bring his daydream to life. This is because Perez himself has been doing a lot of questioning lately.
“‘Always’ is a very, very special song,” Perez remarked when choosing his favorite track off the EP. “That song is about me trying to find my purpose in life or the current situation that I’m in. I think that’s a question that all of us face. Sometimes we do try to find the answer to it. Sometimes you just let life happen, but whatever happens is up to you.”
And at the end of the day, we all have a g00se hidden inside of us. Everyone has someone who is pushing them to be better and a closer version of their most authentic self, but that also comes with fear. For Perez, g00se is his safe place and his comfort person. He hopes that he can be that for listeners as well — a friend that someone can be fully themselves around.
“There’s this innate sense of safety in some of these songs. They feel very safe. They’re very calm. You get this safety and escape element in some of this music where it does feel like a hug,” he said.
Later in the conversation, Perez circled back to this thought, solidifying it by adding, “I’ve kind of opened the door for me to be like a safety net of theirs […] I’d love for myself to be that.”
g00se Wasn’t Built In A Day
It’s taken time, understanding, and personal reflection for Perez to be able to speak through g00se. Nowadays, his responses in interviews from only a year ago feel like they are from someone else. While Backflips in a Restaurant only released in March 2025, it is already of its time to Perez.
Thinking about his debut album, he reflected, “I wanted to be everywhere. I wanted to do anything, and I wanted it to be crazy.” But when describing his new EP, the message was completely different.
“g00se stemmed from irony that developed into your subconscious. You’re trying to avoid yourself, but at the same time, you’re inadvertently being your most self. I guess this EP just reminded me about who I am or who I envy at times.”
Perez noted that he consistently ponders over the “battle of self and being.” But while writing g00se and learning who he wanted this character to be, he also gave himself time to find answers to some of life’s questions. This differs from much of his music, since to many, he is known as an Aussie loverboy, which he believes comes a bit more naturally to him.
“A romantic song [is] very lighthearted. I’d say the stakes aren’t that high because it is so easily experienced by some that it should just feel good. A song that feels good sometimes doesn’t take too much thought,” he said. However, when Perez writes introspectively, everything begins to slow down.
“I am more in my head, and I’m scratching my head so much when I’m trying to write introspective things because sometimes, it’s not about what you’re saying, it’s about how you say it.”
On this EP specifically, Perez had the pleasure and honor of working with a very specific studio producer, Gladius. He finished off the songs after also working on the EP’s production with Nick Lee. With the addition of composers Eli Teplin and Julia Church, the work had intention and talent pouring into every facet. Perez chose many of his collaborators, while some asked to work with him. He hasn’t taken that for granted; he thanked and credited each of them.
These five songs in a row are just about as purposeful as music can get. They are a redefinition of freedom, a raison d’être of his talent, a vow to trust his gut, and a step toward fully intentional creation. Discarding thoughts of “one day,” grentperez is stepping into his purest form of self, and that self might just have a silly name like g00se.
Finding g00se, grentperez, And Upcoming Releases
While it isn’t written in stone that g00se will keep living a public life where all can see his deepest desires, it can be said that g00se loves the holiday season and may make a return around that time.
Until then, you can stream g00se on Spotify and Apple Music, while grentperez can be found on Instagram and TikTok. Also, make sure to keep up with g00se and his antics over on grentperez’s YouTube channel.
Looking for more artists like Perez to add to your playlists? Check out EnVi’s artist spotlight with Singaporean artist hongjoin!
