MANILA, PHILIPPINES — With a penchant for romance, Valentine’s Day is a significant celebration for Filipinos, be it for couples or girlfriends gearing up for a Galentine’s night out. And Pinoys are striking the right chord by celebrating the most romantic day of the year with music. The Philippines is one of the top 10 countries creating love-centric playlists, with more than 22,000 playlists created in the lead up to February 14.
Love has always played a central role in Filipinos’ everyday lives, with more than half a million user-generated playlists in the Philippines titled “love,” “senti,” “hugot,” and “harana” to date. Spotify playlists Hugot, Sappy and Senti and Kilig Pa More, have also racked up millions of likes.
In a country full of balladeers, music by the likes of Zack Tabudlo and Moira Dela Torre continues to capture the many emotions Pinoys experience when in love. And with Spotify’s latest Lyric sharing feature, users can now express themselves with their favorite artists’ lyrics on social media.
For Zack, love helps deepen his craft. “Lyrics give definition to love, and music gives more color and beauty to these words.” This year, his song Pano tops Spotify rankings for Most Played Love Songs. Pano, Habang Buhay, Binibini, Nangangamba, and Give Me Your Forever also made the Top 20 for Most Repeated Love Songs to date.
Moira Dela Torre continues to enthrall romantics with hugot songs. She reflects on her track, Tagpuan, where she penned one of her most memorable lyrics: at tumigil ang mundo, nung ika’y nakita ko. It is no surprise that she is the most-streamed Filipina artist in the country during the Valentine’s Day period. Her song with December Avenue, Kung ‘Di Rin Lang Ikaw, is amongst the Top Ten Most Played Local Songs during Valentine’s Day.
“A lot of times, we don’t know what we want to say until we write them down. And they are even better remembered when accompanied by a melody,” Dela Torre discusses unabashedly, the importance of lyrics, “I used to write songs about the man of my dreams, now I write songs with him.”
With Spotify’s Lyrics feature, celebrating and serenading songs that are the source of one’s kilig, hugot, or both have never been easier. Located at the bottom of the ‘Now Playing View’ in the Spotify app, Lyrics also has an interactive, shareable feature that lets listeners dive deeper into the songs and artists they already love.
Here’s how it works:
- Open the Spotify app on the mobile and play any song.
- Swipe up from the bottom of the ‘Now Playing View’. This will display the track’s Lyrics that scroll in real time as the song is playing.
- Click the “Share” button at the bottom of the Lyrics screen. Highlight the selected lyrics as well as which third-party social platform to share it to.
- Voila! Lyrics are now shared on social media.
“We’re always looking for new ways to innovate and improve our listeners’ experience on Spotify. Being able to provide another tool for our listeners to connect with both music and their community through the addition of the lyrics sharing feature fills us with excitement. Now, it’s faster and easier for listeners to share their thoughts and feelings with friends and loved ones through the power of music on Spotify.” said Kossy Ng, Asia Head of Music at Spotify.
To know more about this feature, visit www.spotify.com/ph-en/promo/lyrics/.
