Felip’s fans were caught by surprise as he dropped his newest single Kanako on the eve of December 22, 2023. No heads-up or anything. To think that it was posted at exactly midnight when the majority are supposedly sleeping, the song still became an instant hit. It became#1 in iTunes Philippines just hours after he announced its release.
Written by Felip himself, Kanako is a rock ballad in Bisaya with some English lyrics. His ability to convey the song’s emotions supersedes the language barrier for those who don’t understand Bisaya.
Kanako is another testament to Felip’s versatility as an artist. Check out his discography and see how his songs could cater to people with different tastes in music. He has a broad music niche and yet the quality of each song doesn’t suffer.
Only 4 days after Felip announced its release, Kanako continues to climb charts. It’s currently at #2 in iTunes Philippines but it’s nice to note that just hours after the announcement, it quickly reached #1. It has over 2K streams on Spotify while both YouTube videos – the official music video and official audio – are trending in YouTube for Music. Currently, Kanako Official Music Video is at #20 while the Official Audio is at #26.
Following Kanako’s release, Felip continues to indulge his fans with a couple of gigs in UAE. One at Winter Carnival in Dubai on the 23rd Dec and one at Cubes Club, Abu Dhabi on the 24th Dec.
Here’s the first live performance of Kanako at Winter Carnival in Dubai on the 23rd Dec.
The following day, the 24th of Dec, the crowd was heard delightfully singing I Want You along with Felip.
X exploded with tweets about the song’s Tagalog translation and their different interpretation of the song. The song is in Bisaya and big props to Felip for bringing this beautiful dialect to the mainstream.
I’ve always thought how lucky Filipinos are because foreigners who are admiring SB19’s songs in Tagalog, despite of the English translations, will not be able to fully grasp the beauty of the songs’ Tagalog lyrics. Now I can say the same thing for Filipinos who don’t understand Bisaya, as I’m sure no amount of Tagalog translation will capture the depth of the song with beautiful lyrics in Bisaya.
Kanako can easily pass as an anime soundtrack and true enough, in just a few hours after the song’s release, a fan has already edited a video of the anime Black Clover with Kanako as its background music and I say it was perfect.
Felip inially dropped the Official Audio (or the Lyric Video) and fans, upon hearing the lyrics, went speculating as to whom the song was written for – for God? For a partner? or them fans? But when Felip dropped the 2nd video, the Official Music Video, Felip’s A’tin and Sisiws went crazy and ugly-cried because guess what, Kanako’s Music Video is full of them – yes, the fans are all over the video. Now see for yourselves.
A True Rocksta
Felip is a true definition of “maangas’, ang gwapo at ang lakas ng dating talaga. But his A’tin, Sisiws and those closest to him know how soft he is. Always grateful. Consistently grateful from the first time I’ve known him up until now. He is also a man of faith – always displaying his highest regards for God.
He is very endearing. Mommy Atin want his fora son. The ladies swoon over, and yes, even some fanboys are expressive of their love for him.
