Filipino folk-pop collective Ben&Ben on Friday dropped the new version of their 2017 single “Leaves” which features Seoul-based singer-songwriter and rapper Young K.
The team-up came after the Filipino band topped the search chart of South Korea’s most prominent music streaming site, Melon in 2020.
The re-recorded track set for an international release has a fuller and more intricate arrangement.
“The new version of Leaves is based heavily on how the full band adapted the song for live performance through the years,” lead singer and guitarist Miguel Benjamin said in a statement.
“As compared to the original piano and guitar only arrangement, the new one features the rest of the band’s full instrumentation and additional choir-esque harmony arrangement by Toni, Andrew, and Poch on the intro and first verse,” he added.
Working with Korean sensation Young K
For the new version of the single, multi-talented artist Young K of rock band Day6 contributed vocals to the second verse and chorus of the song.
Paolo Benjamin, lead singer and guitarist of Ben&Ben, said the collaboration was an extremely seamless process.
“No revisions were needed, as everything worked as a result of natural chemistry, and Young K’s affinity to the band sound as well,” Paolo said.
Young K started out as the bassist, vocalist and rapper of Day6.
In 2015, he scored a No. 1 hit as the featured artist in Baek A-yeon’s multi platinum-certified single “Shouldn’t Have,” and earned songwriting credits for some of the biggest K-Pop acts such as GOT7, Park Ji-min, Nakjoon and Eric Nam—to name a few.
Young K and the Filipino band’s partnership started after several K-Pop artists listened and reacted to “Leaves” on their V Live as requested by the respective fanbases.
The videos propelled Ben&Ben’s “Leaves” to trend at No.1 and occupy the No. 2, 3, 6 and 7 positions on the Melon real-time search chart.
“The band’s and Day 6’s management were able to reach out to each other, and the artists’ mutual respect for each other’s music eventually led to Young K agreeing to a collaboration,” percussionist and background vocalist Andrew de Pano said.
The K-pop star, on the other hand, said he chose to work with the nine-piece band because he believes in their talent.
“Out of the few songs that I listened to, ‘Leaves’ caught my ears the most. The message given through the lyrics and the entire vibe was very heart-warming. And the vocals were amazing,” Young K said.
“It would’ve been better if we could meet in person, but still the fact that I could have my voice with them is enough for me. Maybe in the future we could work on a new song together,” he added.
“Leaves (feat. Young K)” is out now on all digital platforms worldwide via Sony Music.
Its lyric music video is now on the top 20 trending videos on YouTube Philippines while the official music video directed by Jorel Lising premiered at 7 p.m. —Rosette Adel
