Lola Amour's Raining in Manila is probably one of the best OPM songs in 2023. It has that coffee shop vibe I like and I get why Michael V and the rest of BBLGANG (Bubble Gang) would parody the song.
Unfortunately, I was one of those guys who loved the song AFTER Waiting Here sa Pila. With that said, I had spammed the lyric version, the Wish 107.5 version, and the live sessions version of the song because I love it that much. In some ways, Bitoy getting the original arrangement and letting him and the BBLGANG girls led by Analyn Barro, Cheska Fausto, and Chariz Solomon go all-out in the instrumental part made this more awesome. For some reason, I thought that part brought sophistication and a "Cabaret" feel.
I am not going to lie, but I don't like the music video.
Don't get me wrong, the absurd Pepsi Pinas or Strangebrew or Jeepney Joyride feel is right in my alley. But I think they should have released the music video before the other versions.
*** SPOILER ALERT ***
Again, normally I would have loved a Waterworld-like scenario that has evil manginginoms and an all-powerful lizard deity but the song has the classy coffee shop feel and it presents none of this in the story. I get the longing angle because this is basically what coffee and rain do. This combo will make you "Mellow Touch" on things and before you know it, you're cooking pancit canton at 1 o'clock in the morning to cope with things.
But just because he is depressed, this automatically gives his bullies the right to kidnap (lizard-nap) the creature. And what about the sympathetic manginginom?
I think at this point, they could have had a Sparkle or Star Magic love team at their disposal. Again, the song is a mainstream hit, and just like Itchyworms' Love Team or Ben&Ben's Pagtingin, you can have a random insufferable love team staring at each other in a coffee shop and then having a montage of scenes leading to their eventual separation. Yes, it's cheesy and borderline basic, but it is also mainstream. Mayonnaise's Buang got a shot in the arm when it had Angel Guardian. Tanya Markova has had its share of celebs with Roxanne Barcelo and Paolo Contis. And I bet Moira Dela Torre's Paubaya was beneficial to the singer as well as to Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto.
Again, the music video is unorthodox and I guess some people would love this. I just think it's a wasted opportunity. Hopefully, the song is a sign of good things to come for Lola Amour. I'm probably going to warm up on the music video eventually but until then, I am going to check out the other versions.