A LOVE SO REAL debuts on SPOTIFY's Official New Music Friday Philippines Playlist!

 

With our third song released for this year, our latest one finally made it to SPOTIFY's Official New Music Friday Playlist! "A Love So Real" is an updated version of our classic song from some 20 years ago. We've updated it to suit the modern times as we sing about that ONE TRUE LOVE that we all should have in our lives. This 20th anniversary re-recording of our old track now features improved production and musicality that doubles down on our 90’s pop/rock roots. Drawing influences from popular female pop/rock acts of the late 90’s to early 2000’s, the song is like a time machine ride for our listeners who had grown up to the music of their youth as they head on to their mid-life adventures. We've recently made a comeback early this year, releasing new tracks as we continued on our journey to “help uplift wounded souls” with our brand of music. As our story goes, we started our humble beginnings as part of our Church’s music ministry before we decided to come up with an album full of songs and donated the proceeds to our Church’s youth ministry. The album called “In Awe of His Amazing Love” was recorded as a raw and honest love letter that talks about our journey with our Christian Faith. Since then we've been active in the local music scene (mostly in our hometown Cagayan de Oro) but went on a long hiatus in 2009, just at the heels after being nominated in the prestigious 2009 edition of the NU Rock Awards under the category of college band of the year.   

 

Now 20 year later, we are retreading our steps as we revisit that album. Working with a now matured Thrina's vocal chops and Wilbert's improved musicality that reworks the songs from that album for the new generation of listeners. “A Love So Real” is the second one on the list, and it followed from the recently released Praise and Worship track called “Savior”, which was also part of the aforementioned album. With the advent of digital streaming music, we are working to improve our production values as we work on expanding our national (and global) reach as a regional band from Cagayan de Oro. Banking on our mission to “help uplift wounded souls” with our brand of music, “A Love So Real” is a song that pierces through the heart of our listeners as we speak about the truth that we have always been loved. That our failures, inadequacies, dark days, could not match the love that was promised to us by our savior Jesus Christ. That is the gist of the song, and we hope that the song would heal wounds being experienced by the loveless and the hopeless. Which would also explain the artwork design of the song. Amidst the darkness and the hopelessness, one can only be saved when REAL LOVE is felt and experienced. Like the BIG BANG when the world began, or in Biblical history when God said "Let there be light", our song's artwork took inspiration from those stories. When light pierced through the darkness and life began. Along with life, HOPE was born. And a covenant was made.

As for the recording process, "A LOVE SO REAL" had been in constant evolution since its inception from way back in 2006. Originally titled "BETRAYAL", it was written as an emo song in the veins of Dashboard Confessional's emo charged songwriting, but was later on transformed into a more hopeful and positively charged song. Originally it bore the line "Betrayed by a love so real..." but was consciously changed to "I'm saved by a love so real..." It was originally a break up love song, but changes were made that rather than talk about the story behind the break up, the band's lyricist decided to talk about the process of how he was saved by an extraordinary love that one can only find in God. 20 years later, the message of the song still rings true to this day. As more and more people try to look for acceptance and love during this time of uncertainty and hopelessness, we decided to revitalize this song by improving its overall quality. Drawing roots from our influences of an era that brought about empowered female artists such as Natalie Imbruglia, Jewel, Chantal Kreviazuk, Paula Cole, and other such artists. We're still over the moon with how this updated version of the song turned out and sounded extra nostalgic. Apart from this being an updated 20th Anniversary version of the song, the 90’s pop/rock elements sprinkled all over the song is strongly influenced by the 90's to 2000’s female pop/rock artists. While the original version was more foreboding and darker (which drew inspiration from the original “emo” lyrics influenced by Chris Carrabba/Dashboard Confessional's songwriting). Which we then discarded and came up with a more hopeful lyrics. So Wilbert never really worked on blending the sound with the new lyrics.... until now! And this one right here fits perfectly.

We hope to take our listeners through a recipe of timeless songs that influenced us to come up with this song. Hoping that the song could bridge their journey from hopelessness to finding hope in this troubled times. So we'd really be happy if our listeners could join us in our journey with this new version of the song and ride the time machine with us.

You can listen to the song on this link: 

https://bfan.link/a-love-so-real

 

P.S. 

This is our third song that got featured on Spotify’s Official New Music Friday playlist ("Beloved Savior" and "What Real Christmas Means to Me" were the previous ones). With another song called “FREE” being featured on Spotify’s Fresh Finds Philippines Playlist.

We're re-imagining our first ever Praise and Music track for the Lenten season!

 

 

We are re-imagining an old song that we wrote from way back in 2005. Our first ever Praise and Worship track just in time for the Lenten Season. We've added new textures to the song as well as updating it for the current generation of listeners. Fresh from our reunion announcement and the release of our brand new single “Countdown to Forever” last January, we are gearing up for a special new song release this Lenten season. It’s been 20 years since the band started our foray in the local music scene and this latest comeback attempt inspired us to re-imagine our first ever Praise and Worship track called “Savior”. Savior was the first ever Praise and Worship track that we recorded from way back in 2004 for our debut album “In Awe of His Amazing Love”, a 10-track album that was intended as a fund-raising project for our Church. The album featured a then 15 year old Thrina Dimaano, our lead vocalist, making her first attempt at recording an album full of songs. Assisted by me (chief lyricist), and the band’s lead guitarist Wilbert Tan, the album was mostly an amateur effort from the three of us, mostly inspired by our background as part of our Church’s music ministry team. The album was supposed to be a stand-alone project only, until a Christian Music record label discovered us and offered us a distribution contract. This opportunity would encourage us to explore the local music scene and was able to release the album nationwide way back in 2006 in CD-format. For a time, the band became active in the CDO music scene until we went our separate ways in 2009, culminating in our nomination in the 2009 NU Rock Awards. Before we went on a hiatus, we were able to release two albums that we would later on release in the Digital Music streaming platforms last 2021. Savior is an updated version of our song from some 20 years ago. Adding new elements to the song to make it sound fresh while also highlighting our maturity as artists to ensure that the song will live on for generations to come. 20 years ago we recorded this Praise and Worship song out of our love and desire to praise and honor God. It was with no expectations but just an expression of our Faith and appreciation of God’s Love. This year, we revisited the song and re-recorded it. Giving it a fresh new sound for this generation of listeners. 

We formally reunited earlier this year, and we've decided to retrace our roots by deciding to re-record our first ever praise and worship song, as we've matured over the years. We have decided to update the song by improving the sound elements and added new textures to the song. This time with a much improved musicality and artistic maturity that sets this song for generations to come. Back then, the song “Savior” was being performed by various Churches in CDO and still enjoys radio play in Cagayan de Oro’s premier source for Positive Christian Music, The New J 103.3FM. We hope to reach out to our old listeners and reintroduce them to the rebirth of the band while banking on the nostalgia of being able to listen to an updated version of the song “Savior”. Of course, the full debut album, “In Awe of His Amazing Love” is still available for streaming and downloads on various Digital Music streaming platforms. The album as well as the new version of “Savior” is a perfect listening experience for those who are eager to celebrate their Christian Faith during this season of lent. And be reminded of God’s amazing love for us.

 

We’ve also been hiding under a rock for the past 15 years. And we’re slowly trying to come out of our shell and start performing (at least on pre-recorded videos like this video here) our songs once again. We’re trying out things which we didn’t experience back in our days (smart phones and social media wasn’t that huge yet). Hope you could join us in our next journey. Maybe encourage us more to start recording live performances. But this one here, we only did because we want to sing this Praise and Worship song for our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we remember him this season of Lent. The story of our band Thoughts And Notions started with this very first song that we wrote. And we’re retracing those steps as we move forward with our music. Looking forward to write and produce more songs not only for you, but for God as well!

Do follow our Facebook Pages for updates. Savior (the 20th Anniversary Edition) is now streaming on your favorite digital music streaming platforms:

bfan.link/savior-8