By Elise Ong, May 5, 2026
Guests filed into Cal Poly Pomona’s Music Recital Hall for the 25th Songwriter Showcase where students performed original songs April 23-24.
The Songwriter Showcase takes place every semester as an outlet for those interested in music to develop and share their own works.
This semester, students were divided into four groups to perform a total of 23 original songs. Two to four producers led each group and helped pull visions together, according to music performance student Uma Armién Funk.
“Our group name is ‘good cop, bad cop,’ which is kind of embodied in our producers,” Funk said. “Brian (Orr) is more straight to the point, let’s get this done, measurable actions, whereas Chips (Barranco) is the motivator. … Their dynamic makes for a really productive and welcoming environment.”
As one of the songwriters for the showcase, Funk pulled inspiration from surf rock for her song titled “Shiny Things,” which was performed at the end of the first band’s set.
“Shiny Things” is about a friend who was in a relationship with someone Funk felt was inadequate for her. Funk compares her friend to a raven, a bird often drawn to shiny objects.
“At the very end of the song, the last line is ‘He’s not even shiny,’” Funk said. “It’s kind of like, ‘Why are you with him if you don’t even think he’s all that?’”
Each song in the showcase had to be auditioned, but Funk had written the song a year and half prior. After a few tries, adding drums, bass and background vocals to what started as just acoustic guitar and vocals transformed into the song Funk described as dramatic, metaphorical and energetic.
The band broke into a dance break toward the end of the song, interacting with both the crowd and rhythms section to get more hyped.
“It was nerve-racking, but I would say I was happy with the way our energy was on stage,” Funk said.
For music student Sebastian Padilla, who was in the second band of the night, the songwriter showcase was a performance of many firsts: his first year at CPP, first time playing electric guitar in front of people and first time performing an original song for songwriter showcase.
Padilla’s song is titled “Anhedonia (Drive All Night),” which by definition is the inability to experience joy. Inspired by the word and having experienced it himself, Padilla also wrote the song prior to the showcase audition.
“It’s therapeutic to be able to perform that, to be able to talk about it,” Padilla said. “It’s an experience I went through and being able to sing about it really just does wonders for me.”
Padilla said his music is most like alternative rock, and the energy from him and his band transferred to the crowd, who were nodding their heads to the music.
At one point in the song, Padilla prompted the audience to sing back to him. Part of the inspiration for interactions like that on stage was Bruno Mars, who Padilla said is one of his favorite performers.
“That’s something that I really want to incorporate, having a lot of energy during my performances so that people are entertained while watching,” Padilla said. “A show is a show; it’s not just a listening party. You have to put on a show audibly but also visually.”
The Songwriter Showcase allows students who are passionate about music to experience the full process from writing to performing, which Padilla describes as “pure, unfiltered serotonin.”
Although the showcase presented a variety of music styles, emotional songs seemed to dominate the night.
Giovanni Raimondo, a music industry studies student, performed a song called “The Blob” as the last song for the third band. Intended to represent the occasional inability to name feelings, the song tackles topics like depression, body dysmorphia, sadness and suffering, according to Raimondo.
The song started off with piano, which is what the song was initially written to, in a relatively low key. Wanting to include everyone in the band, Raimondo assigned random instruments to everyone, which were used in a loud buildup and eventual crash. He even asked everyone backstage to scream at the end of the song.
“The purpose, which I never really explained to people, was to represent an honest f—— rage that I feel like is in the world right now with how loud everything is,” Raimondo said.
Now a senior, Raimondo has participated in eight Songwriter Showcases and helped produce five. For the last few, he has been working with the same people, making this last performance bittersweet.
According to Raimondo, he felt numb at first and tried to stay focused on the performance to not get sad.
“It was honestly just such a beautiful experience,” Raimondo said. “Everybody got to participate. Everybody got to express themselves creatively. We all became friends.”
Funk, Padilla and Raimondo have all produced music outside of the showcase. Funk released a song called “Pop Star Baby” May 1, while Padilla currently has two songs out titled “Take Me” and “Medusa.” Raimondo has music available on Spotify and Apple Music.
The finale of the show brought out everyone from the fourth group for a smooth, soulful closing. Singer, writer and producer Randell Milan turned away from the audience to face the rest of the band, as he sang to “the end of the show” and thanked the audience for helping them chase the dream. Milan also invited music Professor Arthur Winer onstage to join in on electric guitar during the encore.
The song allowed numerous solos on various instruments, giving those students a chance to step into the spotlight.
“Art is completely necessary for the human mind,” Padilla said.
