Moira dela Torre’s interpretation of Libertine Amistoso’s unique love ditty,“Titibo Tibo,” is making rounds on the Internet producing numerous cover versions after its release a month ago along with the other nine entries at this year’s Himig Handog songwriting competition.
The LSS inducing song, which gets very specific in its intension to tell a love story about a lesbian who finds herself acting more lady-like after falling in love with a guy, debuted at No. 3 on Billboard Philippines Top 20 Charts this week. The top spot is also pretty secured for this Amistoso composition since Moira dela Torre is the same singer who sang “Malaya” (Camp Sawi soundtrack), which sits comfortably at No. 1 on Billboard Chart for two consecutive weeks toppling Iñigo Pascual’s “Dahil Sa’yo.”
The song is also performing better among all the Himig Handog entries on YouTube. As of this writing, the track’s official music video has amassed almost half a million views since it was uploaded by Star Music last week. Meanwhile, Dela Torre’s performance in ASAP for the song festival’s pre-finals has garnered 2 million views, and the official lyric video and the official recording of the entry both have 1 million views each.
Even with just the song title, “Titibo Tibo” already captured the hearts of the LGBT community as it is a big hit among young listeners for its usage of millennial language including reverse slang, a popular way of twisting words in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
It’s good to note that “Titibo Tibo” being interpreted by Dela Torre also helped boost the popularity of the song. The young singer, who after joining the first season of ABS-CBN’s The Voice of the Philippines, has kept her music career in traction by lending her fetching voice to TV commercials and radio ads for big brands. She’s the voice behind popular movie soundtrack like “Huling Gabi” (Last Night) and to viral music clips on YouTube recorded live for a leading radio station.
“Titibo Tibo,” as part of the 10 songs that made it to this year’s competition, was chosen out of almost 7,000 entries across the world.
Joining Dela Torre in Himig Handog roster of interpreters are Jake Zyrus for Agatha Morallos’s song entry “Bagyo,” Migz Haleco for Eric de Leon’s “Bes,” Iñigo Pascual feat. Aikee for Michael “Aikee” Aplacador’s “Extensyon,” Morissette for LJ Manzano and Joan Da’s “Naririnig Mo Ba?,” and Jona for Raizo Chabeldin and Biv De Vera’s “Sampu.”
Also doing their unique song rendition are Unit 406 for Gabriel Tagadtad’s “Tanghaling Tapat,” Kyla and Jason Dy for Soc Villanueva’s “Tayo na Lang Kasi,” Kaye Cal for Karl Gaurano and Teodoro Katigbak’s “The Labo Song,” and Janella Salvador for Karlo Zabala’s “Wow na Feelings.”
Now on its eighth year, Himig Handog is a songwriting competition led by ABS-CBN and Star Music. It began in early 2000s and was later revived in 2013. Many entries from this songwriting challenge have become huge hits and have been picked as theme songs for several TV shows and movies. Previous songwriters and interpreters have gradually made their mark in the OPM scene.
Digital copies of this year’s Himig Handog song finalists are now available for download and streaming online, and lyric videos may be viewed via the StarMusic channel in YouTube. The album is available in record stores nationwide.
The Himig Handog 2017 grand finals in ASAP will be on Nov. 26.