Admittedly, I didn’t like the song the first time I heard it.
The problem I have with OPM collaborations is that they aren’t as good as their American counterparts. Most US recordings, despite their inclinations, are seamless.
Pinoy artists have a tendency to one-up each other.
I compare this to the balladeers and biriteras of Sunday afternoon variety shows. It’s hard to team up for an excellent piece… while upstaging each other. A talent show discovery will find it hard to "boast" her range if she’s working with an established veteran who is also the person who voted for her victory.
It’s a cycle that’s been seen in every network… a lot of eras.
So I was expecting this song is kind of like the Babaeng Uy-Ay commercial.
Thankfully, it’s not.
However, you can see from the partitions that THERE ARE partitions. Zild is obviously chill and amongst these names, he’s the most likely to go for second voice honors since he has done this in IV of Spades with Unique and the band’s other projects with Rico Blanco, Moira Dela Torre, and others.
I really think Ben&Ben’s GMA Playlist collab with Denise Barbacena is underrated because they were able to transform "Leaves" into a romantic love song. Now I think the song is a piece for moms and dads praising the futures of their kids… or a dad giving away his daughter to wed this random guy… but that’s the first time I heard the song as if it’s a love song.
Juan Karlos is basically a notch up in terms of singing awesomeness. And the dude delivered here. The problem is, it feels as if he is forcing the other entities to do his range and it’s not like Zild or Paolo could.
I mean, at least Paolo can.
With that said, the stripped-down version is awesome. As I said, I didn’t like Lunod the first time I heard but constant airplay made me understand that this song is fire.
The acoustic version though.
Maybe it’s because I first saw the lyric video of the song… but it helps to see the emotions of the singers.
As always, Paolo and Miguel are like feeling the music like seasoned vets (the drummer looks odd banging the drums). Seeing Zild’s act as if he's Letterkenny's Stewart plus JK’s awesome body language is just insane.
I guess back in the day, having three major acts in one song is tough.
Would I want to have an Eraserheads, Rivermaya, and Parokya ni Edgar smash hit? I bet they’re going to clash. Excluding the 1986 Himagsikan track in which the Eraserheads and the best version of the Rivermaya crew shared the spotlight (although I don’t know if Rivermaya really joined the production since their “ambag” to the cause, Panahon Na Naman, is a song from their previous album), I doubt if these two would collaborate on a song.
But in the current times, the best way to get attention is through connections.
And I guess the connection I am talking about is these three getting pitted with each other for either Song of the Year or Musical Act of the Year?
I expect these three to still work together in some sort of capacity.