Pluto Koi Writes Love Songs for Everyone

The singer-songwriter once denied being a hopeless romantic. Now he’s embracing the term — and writing about all forms of love.

Ethan Ayaay, who records under the name Pluto Koi, is quite straightforward that he’s trying to win your heart.

Maybe not in a romantic sense, although Pluto will freely tell you that he’s a hopeless romantic. Instead, Pluto’s mission is for you to love his music, and he’s largely succeeded by gaining a dedicated fan base of 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. 

“I think I fell in love again,” he sings on the opening line  of “Hopeless Romantic” as he realizes he’s fallen for someone who friendzoned him. “I swear I’m not a hopeless romantic,” he sings in denial. But these days, Pluto embraces the categorization. After all, love has been a primary theme in Pluto’s music since high school, a time when he remembers having “a lot” of crushes. And yes, there’s a firm emphasis on “alot”. 

“I write a lot of love songs because they’re relatable and I feel like a lot of people can connect to them,” he told me recently over Zoom from his bedroom in the Bay Area. The fact that his music has blown up is surprising to him. This wasn’t, he stated, something he sought out.  “I never had the intention of wanting to be someone,” he added. “I just wrote music because I wanted to.”

Justin Kao, Pluto’s mixing engineer and manager, was first drawn to Pluto because of his relatability. “Ethan's sincerity shines through his songs regardless of genre. From bedroom pop to R&B, you’ll always find a definitive sense of authenticity in his songs lyrically or emotionally,” he told me. “His infectious melodies are for sure why songs like ‘You’re Not Lonely’ are resonating so much with people.”

The intimacy in Pluto’s music isn’t just in the lyrics though, it’s also in the soundscape. While the music has expanded over time, the songs that seem to connect the most with audiences are what Pluto describes as strikingly “thin”. “You’re Not Lonely”, his most popular track with over 2 million streams, features just three instruments and a vocal take. “It’s surprising to me that it blew up,” he commented, “because of how simple it is.” 

The sound has begun to open up in recent releases, particularly with the single “Little Pieces” a collaboration with the singer sunshine blvd., which almost bursts with breezy guitars and drums. For Justin, who was a fan long before they worked together, Pluto’s openness to ideas makes him an ideal collaborator. “He’s incredibly talented at songwriting and singing, so working on his music is a true pleasure since it’s so great,” he said.

In November, they released “Evergreen”, a dreamy ballad that builds on the heartfelt music Pluto does best. “I still write love songs but I think as I’m getting older, I wanna branch out. As more people listen to my stuff I want to write songs that cover other topics,” he paused. “Maybe things that are more personal.” 

But can a hopeless romantic ever run away from love? 

Pluto’s dog couldn’t understand why he wasn’t the focus of this interview. “I don’t know if you can hear him,” Pluto muttered a few minutes into our conversation as he looked at an adorable but expectant pomeranian labradoodle  named Luffy. “But he’s whining right now.” But then with one hand used to soothe Luffy, Pluto resumed his story about his birth home in the Philippines. 

Pluto grew up in Cebu, a city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and relocated to the United States when he was 10. “I don’t take the time I've spent in the Philippines for granted,” he reflected. “Having lived there for about half my life, it’s definitely played a huge part in shaping who I am as a person today.” By the nature of his mother’s work, Pluto moved around a lot, which gave him the chance to see “many different parts of the country from cities to small towns and villages.” No matter where he went, Pluto said, the country’s beauty was reflected in the kindness of the locals he met. “ I don't think I would have preferred to have grown up anywhere else,” he added.

After landing in Salinas, California, what persisted from Pluto’s childhood is an appreciation for American R&B passed on by his mother. “I’ve been into music for as long as I can remember,” he recalled. “My mom and I listened to whatever was on the radio, like early 2000s R&B or Beyonce, Chris Brown or Ne-Yo.” At one point Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was on repeat in his house. That would prove to be defining in Pluto’s journey. 

In high school, Pluto discovered Ed Sheeran and was immediately taken by the singer-songwriter’s love songs. He was most fascinated by his use of the loop pedal, a tool that makes instant recordings of a performance and then plays them back in real time. “For someone like me who’s very introverted and doesnt know a lot of people,” he explained, “I thought it was so cool that he could just go on stage and perform for people.” 

If Ed can do it, Pluto began to think, so can I. 

Plus, Ed’s music was very easy to learn. “He uses a lot of the same chords and they're really simple chords, so I just started to learn a bunch of his songs,” he explained. Once he knew a handful, Pluto realized he could play “a billion other ones”. As he grew more comfortable with the guitar, Pluto tried his hand at writing songs. “Albeit, they weren’t very good at the time,” he added. But, that wasn’t important: Those songs were his. He felt proud to see a song come together; to find his thoughts and feelings inside a piece of art that he created – himself. 

He wrote his first song “Handcuffs” in high school, a song that he calls extremely “cringe” now. “But I remember finishing it, writing that last word and thinking, This is so cool, this is my song,” he told me. “So that hooked me.” 

In college, Pluto saw “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the Freddie Mercury biopic, and mulled over how cool it was that he was named after a planet. Years earlier, Pluto thought about using the stage name “ii” as a play on the pronunciation of his last name. But “Mercury” sparked a new direction, “I was going through the planets and I thought, Pluto’s not really a planet and it’s kind of outcast for that reason. I related to that,” he said. “I also had this fascination with koi fishes, so I put them together, and it stuck.”

For the past few years, Pluto’s recorded all of his music in his bedroom “with this guy,” he said as he cupped a microphone. “The fact that I record my songs in my bedroom,” he explained, “I think it makes them more relatable and raw.” 

Pluto first began making music in his bedroom after finding a video from a musician named Cave Town who also creates music at home Just like when he discovered Ed Sheeran, Pluto realized that if this guy can make music in his room, so can he. This would prove to be a defining realization for the singer. He added, “That was a eureka moment.”  

“I’m really bad at venting to people so I use music as an outlet,” Pluto told me at one point in our conversation as we bonded over being introverts.  

“I used to talk to a lot of people in high school and put myself out there,” he continued. “I don’t really know what happened.” But now, at the age of 25, Pluto prefers to keep the circle close. Still, expressing himself even to his best friends is challenging. “Articulating those thoughts,” he said, “is hard.”

But these days, Pluto is trying - ever so slightly - to push himself as a songwriter. Writing about topics other than love is not something he’s entirely comfortable with. Nor is he sure whether he wants to reveal that much to us yet. “I don't know if people will relate to it, and that’s ultimately what I want with my music,” he explained. “I want people to relate to it and find comfort in it.” 

Pluto’s  only branched out from love themes a handful of times: This year with “Sober Thoughts”, a song he wrote from the point of view of a friend about a toxic relationship, and “Hope This Helps” from 2021, which is dedicated to a close friend who passed away. 

The impact of “Hope This Helps” is in the details. What’s most devastating are the tiny moments Pluto writes about their friendship and what was left behind. “Though I’ll never see who you grew to be,” Pluto sings with wisdom, “I know that you are right here with me.” His depiction of the regret and guilt he feels for missing the signs that something was wrong is equally heartbreaking. “Hope This Helps” is the message he could never deliver to his friend and for that reason, it might be the biggest, and most devastating, love song in his discography.  

“That’s the most personal song I’ve written,” he told me. “And even that was a little hard to get out there.” How do you put words to something as incomprehensible and vacuous as grief? Pluto doesn’t really know the answer. “That was a step though,” he said.

Perhaps what you’ll find if you listen to enough of Pluto’s music, is that if you’re feeling lonely or misunderstood, then there’s a place for you here. “I never started making music with the intention [to go viral],” he reflected later, “I’m just grateful to have so much support and love for what I create.” As his music has found a home in so many listener’s playlists and daily lives, Pluto has felt validated not just as a musician, but because he can be a source of solace for others. We want people to like us, sure. But more than anything, we want to be understood. If the sincerity of his lyrics can resonate with listeners, then Pluto’s done his job.  

“I want to convey my relatability the most,” he said. “I want people to find comfort in my music. I hope that they see themselves in it.”