Pinoy old souls may at some point find hugot songs relatively immature for their babying of the romantically hurt as opposed to empowering the feeling of falling—being in love on a bright note.
The old hits prioritized the triumph of romance over the licking of its wounds, as the generation that apparently declared it gave up on love pays more attention to songs about heartaches instead of tunes celebrating the euphoria before the heart, if at all, gets broken.
In a twist of beautiful irony, that old touch is exactly what’s going on in the latest digital single of seasoned singer Reuben Laurente boldly titled “Ang Pinakamagandang Awit.” Its official music video, likewise rendered in classic imagery of a man blissfully in love, is now on YouTube.
Described by its producers as “a love ditty that attempts to capture the classic OPM movie soundtrack during the late ‘70s to the ‘80s,” the track is a breath of fresh air in a heap of hugots. Its arrangement and lyrical lines will take you back to a time when songs are created by songwriters and arrangers delivering products as neatly as possible for their right singers.
In this case, the perfect singer for “the prettiest song” is Reuben who last year released his cover of an Odette Quesada hit (“You’re My Home”) and eventually won ALIW’s Best Male Concert Artist of the Year. The vocal timbre of this comeback talent, who last summer performed at the Cultural Center of the Philippines via Ballet Philippines’ Tales of the Manuvu, no doubt fits the mood of the piece, especially with his high level of confidence at maintaining his singing style intact.
Award-winning director-playwright Floy Quintos has this to say about the former male lead singer of vocal group The CompanY: “Reuben has a gift not many of our most talented singers can claim to. He has the ability to create nuances that imbue every song with personal meaning.”
Part of the song’s lyrics goes, “Ngayong ika’y natagpuan/Sa buhay ko’y tanging yaman/Pangako ika’y iingatan.”
Having used such lines, the people behind the song, composer Marizen Yaneza, arranger Noel Espenida, and publishing team RJA Productions LLC, were clearly in no mood to nurse any depressive thought of someone left behind or whose advances are not reciprocated. That’s fair enough for a change.
Perhaps Reuben’s vocal strength is buoyed by his background of five solo studio albums backed by gospel and pop record labels, namely, Reason For This (1995),Langit (2005), Pop Virtuosity (2006), HeartBlends (2009), and More Than Just Renditions (2012).
Back in 2008, Reuben jumped into the international cruise entertainment scene as production cast singer before quickly becoming a headliner himself. The gig took him to 82 countries.
Small wonder he became a recipient of Global Pinoy award in 2010 as AWIT gave him, the following year, a special citation for his overseas excellence.
The next decade should be exciting for Reuben Laurente
