After a four-year hiatus in making songs of his own, Rico Blanco returns with a rousing new anthem titled “This Too Shall Pass.”
The new song, released May 1, is Blanco’s first solo single in four years. It is also his first song under Sony Music Philippines.
The record label said that the new anthem, a combination of music dispatches and personal anecdotes, seeks to help the Filipinos deal with uncertainty of times.
It said that it was “written from a place of discomfort and fear, witnessing how the much louder tremor of pandemic anxiety instantly changed our lives and left us with little time to mourn and move forward.”
Blanco felt powerless by the COVID-19 pandemic with frontliners risking their lives with little protection, people going hungry, and the social order crumbling to pieces, and felt that there was work to be done as a musician.
“My efforts are little in light of a pandemic like this. As big as my imagination is for this song, I also feel that it’s not enough. But it’s what I can do and contribute as a musician,” Blanco said.
“This too shall pass” is Blanco’s “most personal” single to date, which he struggled to produce over the course of two weeks to finish, and almost did not.
“Some songs are anchored on truth, but they are wrapped and adorned in a lot of romanticized thoughts,” the artist said.
“This song is real, inwards and also outwards; it’s something that I really want to tell every single person. I wasn’t able to give a message to the frontliners, and I feel very guilty about this. I needed to finish this, and I want them to hear this. I know each one of us is going through something. I wrote this song as my way to reach out,” he added.
From samples of his nieces laughing culled from a family chat group to his attempt to blur the cultural lines by incorporating European techno, hip-hop beats, Asian riffs, Afro chanting, and Pinoy fiesta in a seamless, genre-bending extravaganza, This Too Shall Pass is ambitious in scope and sound design, but its heart is for the people who need light and love.
Roslyn Pineda, Sony Music’s general management in the Philippines and vice president in business development asia said that the release of Blanco’s inspiring song was very relevant.
“Music is important – we all know this. But never more so than when we are faced with uncertainty, because it is then that the power of music becomes unquantifiable, almost limitless. Music can make you feel you’re not alone. Music can save you from despair. And so it is with a song like ‘This Too Shall Pass,’” Pineda said.
“It is so relevant to the times that it becomes a declaration, a prayer, a mantra — all rolled into one,” she added.
Blanco’s new single is available on all digital platforms worldwide.
He also released a lyric video of this on his YouTube channel.
“This Too Shall Pass” is out now everywhere!! plus a lyric video!! 🤯 TY @ricoblanco for all the inspiration you’re giving us with this song! Stream it now or watch the lyric video!!https://t.co/D2KiU1hiVHhttps://t.co/2VtEYTNAzp pic.twitter.com/9cwBZnuYC1
— Sony Music Philippines (@sonymusicph) May 1, 2020
