Bilingual pop anthem ‘Suyo’ wins PhilPop songwriting tilt
NOAH Alejandre and Reanna Borela’s “Suyo” bagged the top prize of the PhilPop 2020 Songwriting Festival. Conveying the intricacies of romantic relationships amidst language and cultural differences, “Suyo” bested 14 entries from Metro Manila, North Luzon, South Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao clusters on the PhilPop Finals Night, held online on Dec. 20. The composers behind the winning song — who also interpreted their own track under the moniker, reon — walked away with the grand prize of P1 million, tax free.
Aikee’s “Bestiny” and Sherwin Fugoso’s “Pahuway” emerged as the first and second place winners, winning P500,000 and P250,000, respectively.
“Bestiny” was interpreted by Kevin Yadao and Jr. Crown, while “Pahuway” was sung by Ferdinand Aragon, who composed the PhilPop 2018 runner-up song, “Di Ko Man.”
A special award called Smart People’s Choice, which was determined based on the cumulative number of streams and views via Spotify and YouTube, was also handed out to the standouts in every geographical cluster: “Kasadya,” composed and interpreted by XT on Sax with Jay-ar Vaño for Mindanao; “Suyo,” composed and interpreted by reon for the Visayas; “Para Kay Catriona,” composed by Kulas Basilonia and interpreted by I Belong to the Zoo for South Luzon; “Balikan,” composed by Lolito Go and interpreted by Ben Manalo for North Luzon; and “Huling Sayaw,” composed by Kian Dionisio and interpreted by Nyoy Volante for Metro Manila.
PhilPop Songwriting Festival 2020 kicked off its celebration with a week-long series of online events featuring the 15 finalists.
Connect, a digital media agency based in the Philippines, produced a five-part series called PhilPop 2020 Podcast. The digital documentary, which ran from Dec. 12 to 18, put a spotlight on the finalists per cluster and the stories behind every song.
During the week-long promo spot, the finalists also guested at Wish 107.5’s Connect to talk about their respective entries in the competition.
A day before the Finals Night, PhilPop 2020 also debuted the music videos of the PhilPop finalists. They are now available on Warner Music Philippines’ official YouTube account.
