It used to be Catriona only a few weeks ago. Everybody just adored grooving along to the soft hip-hop beat of the song and its success instantly catapulted the once unknown rapper Matthaios to the top of the hit charts. Now, I thoroughly get why Matthaios chose to extol the virtues of a woman named Catriona in song. After all, we have Catriona Gray, a Miss Universe winner who is known to be beautiful, smart and compassionate.
This time around though the lovelorn rap plaint goes out to a woman named Ivana. The name first gained popularity back in the early ‘80s when the future president of the US of A, a real-estate tycoon named Donald Trump, was married to a former model named Ivana. As all of you surely know, the woman who is now First Lady in the White House is named Melania. Ivana was the first wife and she and The Donald are divorced and they have a daughter named Ivanka, who is known for her shoe brand.
Performed by the group that calls itself Soulstice, Ivana goes out not to that Ivana but to a Filipino actress and social media influencer of the same name. Ivana Alawi, though also beautiful, is not a Miss Universe or holder of another beauty title. Her bio says she is 22 years old and of part Moroccan descent. She is known to be rather secretive about her family but is very daring as far as the poses she strikes in her Instagram account are concerned. She has over 1.5 million followers. Only time will tell it if this Ivana will someday be somebody like Catriona. But for now, serenading her hip-hop style is working wonders for the career of Soulstice.
They go like this: “Look at you girl, ang ganda ganda mo/ the way you smile makes me high parang Ivana to/ Ivana nararamdaman/ Ivana nararamdaman/ you’re the best girl I’ve ever seen/ kapansin-pansin and iyong mga tingin/ Ivana, nararamdaman/ Ivana, nararamdaman.”
The poetry can stand some improvement but it is a sure bet that Ivana of social media is very flattered about being the muse of Soulstice. The group is made up of Rome Lagarde or Mscript; Jerome de Leon of Rowmee G; and Ronald Abasta who is known as Seth. I must say they have done very well with their debut single, the lyric video of Ivana now has 9.3 million views on YouTube and also made No. 1 on Spotify.
Some new singles: There is no escaping the Hugot trend and the famous band Ben&Ben has decided to jump aboard the bandwagon. One of today’s most popular acts, the group fronted by twins Paolo and Miguel Guico, have released a new single titled Sa Susunod Na Habang Buhay. In English, that translates into In the Next Forever. I dare you to get more Hugot than that.
The song comes on the heels of the group’s regional collaboration in the Pan-Asian recording titled Forever Beautiful. Released to express solidarity and support for all those affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the single has Ben&Ben performing with 15 other artists from nine countries signed on to Sony Music Asia label.
These are Eric Chou and Kelly Cheng from Taiwan; Wafa and NYK from Malaysia; Benjamin Kheng, Narelle and Sezairi from Singapore; Ha Le from Vietnam; E.viewz from South Korea; Fatin from Indonesia; Jocelyn C from Beijing; and Phil Lam, Jason Chan and Cath Wong from Hong Kong.
Back to the Hugot trend and this time, it is the talented quartet of Feel Day in its bid to find the right words with the single Habang Wala Kang Masabi. Feel Day is made up of Jek Buenafe on vocals and keyboards; Jin Solomon on guitar; Kim Casim on bass; and Ram Gloria on drums. Watch out for the release of the music video which will also feature Hans Dimayuga.
Of course, there is no stopping alt-rockers This Band from coming up with more Hugot tunes. They, after all, are among the leading and most saleable proponents of the genre out here. This time around it is the ballad Rebound, which I think presents a more optimistic look at the future of one’s love life than the group’s previous releases like Kahit Ayaw Mo Na, Di Na Babalik and Di Sapat Pero Tapat.