The bilingual pop anthem, conveying the intricacies of romantic relationships amid language and cultural differences, won PhilPop 2020 Songwriting Festival.
Noah Alejandre and Reanna Borela, who penned “Suyo” bested 14 other entries from Metro Manila, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao clusters on the PhilPop Finals Night held online last Sunday, December 20, 2020.
Alejandre and Borela also served as the interpreters of their own track under the moniker, reon.
For this, the composers bagged a grand prize of P1 million, tax free.
Meanwhile, Aikee’s “Bestiny” and Sherwin Fugoso’s “Pahuway” won the first and second place, taking home P500,000 and P250,000, respectively.
The former entry was interpreted by Kevin Yadao and Jr. Crown, while the latter was sung by Ferdinand Aragon, who composed the PhilPop 2018 runner-up song, “Di Ko Man.”
Breaking Borders
With #MusicBreakingBorders as its newest tagline, PhilPop 2020 is committed to championing the diversity and global appeal of Filipino music across the country.
READ: PhilPop goes international with #MusicBreakingBoarders
All entries were chosen for their outstanding contribution to the contemporary Pinoy pop canon and its potential in bringing the unique value of Filipino culture and experience to the international music arena.
Despite the challenges of the new normal, the country’s premier songwriting competition managed to step up its game by mounting a virtual finals night that honors the finest in homegrown pop songwriting this year.
Smart People’s Choice
A special award called Smart People’s Choice was also handed out to the standouts in every cluster namely: “Kasadya,” composed and interpreted by XT on Sax with Jay-ar Vaño for Mindanao; “Suyo,” composed and interpreted by reon for 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 Benj Manalo for North Luzon; and “Huling Sayaw,” composed by Kian Dionisio and interpreted by Nyoy Volante for Metro Manila.
The winners of this special award were determined based on the cumulative number of streams and views via Spotify and YouTube.
Week-long celebration
PhilPop Songwriting Festival 2020 kicked off its celebration with a week-long series of online events featuring the 15 finalists.
Meanwhile, a five-part series called “PhilPop 2020 Podcast” was produced by digital media agency Connect this month to showcase the finalists per clusters and the stories behind every song.
The episodes ran from December 12 to 18.
Aside from these, 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. The visuals for each song are now available on Warner Music Philippines’ official YouTube account.
PhilPop 2020 Songwriting Festival is an initiative of the PhilPop Music Foundation, chaired by Manny Pangilinan. The festival was co-presented by Smart, Meralco, Maynilad, Warner Music Philippines, Multisys, and Connect Productions. —Rosette Adel
