Late last month, I quietly celebrated upon finding out that the latest digital single of my band The Pub Forties made it to Spotify’s New Music Friday Philippines playlist. The song, “Next Big Thing,” distributed by O/C Records, is now on YouTube with its music video showing places under community quarantine.
As songwriter, I had extra reason to feel happy because it’s my fifth consecutive single release that got into the cut, and third straight for our band whose previous tracks “Drive On” and “Stop The World” were also picked in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The two other compositions were recorded by Syato (“Pagsapit Ng Unos”) and Angel Andal (“Sandalan”); the former uploaded Friday the 13th of September last year and the latter last February.
On the day of the release of “Sandalan,” a news feature about the playlist of currently 43 versions worldwide announced its global rebrand and stated that “it will continue to serve as the leading destination for listeners who want to discover new music from both established and emerging talents.” It added that “it’s an achievement and milestone for artists to have their new tracks included on the list.”
When the playlist was established in 2015, it was noted that the selection is “handpicked by our team of curators, not automated.” The Philippines version is usually comprised of singles from international, K-pop, and OPM artists.
You bet my lucky streak gave me a good dosage of morale boost both as tunesmith and recording artist, especially in this difficult time when you can’t even get out to play your songs face-to-face with audiences or appear on a radio or TV program to promote your new release. I›m grateful to Spotify editors for the nods.
The efforts I and the pool of artists I worked with for the recording of both “Sandalan” and “Next Big Thing” are still fresh in my head considering they were pulled off in the weeks right before we’re all sent home by the world’s latest pandemic. In hindsight, it was all worth it.
Naturally, the current situation has given me much focus on embracing the essentials of my craft. May I say I have been a little bit productive over the month and a half in quarantine, coming up with a handful of new melody runs and completing unfinished compositions.
Going over past notes, I came across a couple of reminders from hitmaker Jim Paredes during the first FILSCAP songwriting camp four years ago. He said, “Find an angle that has not been used. Pain is personal and doesn’t just say you are sad. Also, bring the listeners to a place they’ve never been.”
Just last week, I reconnected with my college buddy Chris Datijan whom I collaborated within the late ‘90s. Songwriting had tightly linked us as young men. “I won’t forget you, brother,” he quipped. The feeling is mutual as evident in a lyric line for a compo I demoed: “And when we’re all alone we penned our songs.”