She joined her first professional band at 16 years old and explored multiple genres, such as Pinoy hip-hop with Stick Figgas, rock with Passage and R&B with Juan de la Cruz Band, among many others. Having close ties with some of the greatest OPM bands of the era, Agarrado had plenty of encouragement and help to start SinoSikat?. She mentions that the band’s birth was because of Ira Cruz and Vic Mercado of the rock group Bamboo—who were also her bandmates in Passage.
“When they formed Bamboo, they encouraged me to do something… Mercado helped me finish the first album… Nathan Azarcon’s brother was my guitar player, and Nikki Cabardo jammed with us, and he fell in love with the crowd,” shares Agarrado.