Coming Home: Vivid Helene Returns to Reno

After more than a year in Portland and seeking opportunities in LA, 22-year-old Filipino-American artist Vivid Helene recently returned to her hometown stage, performing at RareTea to a crowd of devoted fans, close friends, and supportive family members. 

Helene wants to continue making music in Portland, where she has found more opportunities for her soulful style of music but she hopes to return to Reno for many future performances. 

The intimate setting at RareTea marked more than just a homecoming. It was a full circle moment in a journey that began in middle school with quiet uncertainty.

Helene, born Helena, has long walked the line between introspection and impact. Though her early years in Reno shaped her identity, her sound was born from exploration outside of Reno.

“Growing up in Reno and being Filipino American, I was exposed to more artists that didn’t really resonate with my kind of sound,” she explains. “I wasn’t really exposed to the music that I make until I spent my time actually in the Bay Area. So a lot of my music is actually influenced by the Bay Area and my time in California.”

Still, she recognizes that the intimacy of Reno’s close-knit community plays a vital role in her artistry.

“I like the feeling of that, you know, the Biggest Little City in the world. That’s the Reno experience,” she said.

Helene traces her earliest push into performance back to her father and a surprise entry into a school talent show.

“My dad put my name without my permission on a talent show for him,” she recalls, “And he put the song 'Only Girl in the World' and he put it into my folder without me knowing. And I remember instead of using my courage to say, OK, I'm going to go ahead and sing that. My dad just already did it. I used my courage to say, no, I'm not going to do that anymore.”

Looking back, she wishes she had leaned into the moment instead of pulling back and refusing to perform. 

“I should have just done it when I was like in second grade and done choir and just started off then and like really honed it in,” the artist says.

“Because it would have done more for me because before that everybody was like, oh, Helena is just, you know, she gets good grades and she’s so quiet. And then my whole entire image changed. And that was what I liked to be,” she says.

Now living in Portland, Helene balances a distinctive creative process with a dedication to authenticity. Her music, often inspired by moments of personal struggle or philosophical reflection, comes to life in bursts.

“If I feel like I am down in the dumps.I take those experiences and I let myself be aware of them,” she said. “That’s usually how I do things with my creative process. Once I have that idea, I can’t record a voice memo and then go back to it later. I have to do it right there.”

The process is deeply emotional and intuitive. When Helene was grieving her late father she wrote a song from those emotions.

“I had to do it all in one take because I was super emotional and everything like that,” she said. “Ninety-nine percent of my music is that. It’s very much on a whim.”

In an era where trends drive visibility, Helene has remained grounded by her sense of self.

“I just can’t be anything else except for myself because I’ve always been like that,” she said. “That authenticity comes from a place that can’t be replicated.”

She credits her fans, teachers, and lifelong friends with encouraging her to stay true.

“Even my fans on TikTok or Instagram, they tell me, Helene, nobody tells me the things that you tell me,” she said. “When I listen to your music, I feel the most like myself because you make music.”

One of her most vivid memories of feeling seen came from a middle school teacher during an aptitude session.

“My religion teacher slash math teacher came up. He took the paper, crossed out everything and then just wrote ‘singer’ with exclamation points,” she recalled. “And I remember thinking this person actually thinks I can do this.”