( Photos via reon's official facebook page)
The young indie music duo 'reon' has just been proclaimed as the Grand Champion of the PhilPop 2020 songwriting festival for their original composition "Suyo" on Sunday night, December 20.
The original Pinoy music (OPM) pop song "Suyo" tells a story of two lovers who had a fight but are trying to win each other back by reminding of their love for each other. The song fits the theme #MusicBreakingBorders, featuring a couple from different parts of the country and reflecting the Visayan and Filipino language in its lyrics. Its light and pleasing melody made it a fan favorite, and ultimately being chosen as Smart People's Choice for the Visayas Cluster.
reon is a budding Filipino indie pop duo formed in 2020 by Noah Glynn Alejandre and Reanne Julia Borela who both hail from Ormoc City in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines.
"We wanted our music to be perceived as something that you cannot find in a typical duo band," said Noah about their craft. "There's some kind of lightness and youthfulness that our music gives off and we wanted our listeners to feel that kind of vibe to make them feel young again," added Reanne.
The young pair bagged the PHP1,000,000 grand prize as they bested 14 other aspiring songwriters who made the cut from thousands of entries all over the country.
The official music video of "Suyo" uploaded in reon's official Facebook page has garnered 11,000 views with 1.7 thousand likes as of writing.
PhilPop Songwriting Festival is an annual competition organized by the Philpop MusicFest Foundation that started in 2012. PhilPop sees Filipino music as a "cultural treasure and as a reflection of Filipino’s identity". Its main advocacy is to search for and inspire excellent Filipino musical composers. This year, the music festival was made into a year-long celebration of original Filipino music composition highlighted by a series of events that put the spotlight on new OPM songs.
Here are the two other winners of the PhilPop 2020 Song Fest:
1st Runner Up - Bestiny composed by Aikee, performed by Kevin Yadao and Jr Crown Villanea
2nd Runner Up - Pahuway composed by Sherwin Fugoso (Haring Buang), performed by Ferdinand Aragon
Watch Suyo's official music video on YouTube here:
Additional text by Joseph Pilapil