Looking back on the year that was...

This year, one of the things that we sought out to do was to build our Youtube Channel by releasing lyric videos that you could sing along to. We have always been about the heart of the message and we feel that being actually able to read the words itself will help impact the message that we wanted to share thru our songs. So we asked for Mary Ozaraga's (a very talented Christian Artist herself) help in creating beautifully produced music videos that suit the song's mood. With her help, we were able to release three lyric videos, namely, Savior, A Love So Real, and Brand New Day. Countdown to Forever was self-made. And I kinda accepted that my video editing skills are limited and it would be better to commission someone to produce one for us. And you could plainly see the improvements done when we asked Mary to help us produce our lyric videos. So we're hoping that we could build on what we started this year on our YouTube channel as we look forward to 2026. Hopefully we can upload all of the lyric videos from our full song catalogue so that you guys can sing along to our songs.  

To recap, early this year we officially released the comeback single with our long-time vocalist Thrina Dimaano Escaño. “Countdown to Forever” was the song that marked our longtime vocalist and co-founder of the band Thrina Dimaano’s formal return to the band. While the song is devoid of the energetic sound that was a staple of our old songs from when we were younger, it nevertheless showed a glimpse of the maturity of the band’s new musical direction. Calmer, introspective, and perhaps wiser? The song would be the first song that Wilbert Raagas Tan and I have written in years with Thrina in mind to deliver the vocals. I wrote the lyrics of the song just when I was in a personal crossroads if continuing to write and produce music was still something that I wanted to do. And I wouldn't have made the decision to continue it without the co-founders of Thoughts And Notions making a joint decision to re-join me in this pursuit. Personally, there's no other way to continue Thoughts And Notions if it wouldn't be with Wilbert and Thrina. “Countdown to Forever” is a sort of declaration from the band that we are back for good and here to stay for the long haul. The song is a back to our roots approach, drawing influences from the era when we started the band while also updating our sound with a modern twist. We also took a conscious effort to double down on our positive themed Christian Faith based lyrics that aims to uplift wounded souls with our brand of music. And the song expresses that firm resolve to commit our life to God in spite of the turbulent waves coming our way. We believe that the song is the perfect comeback vehicle for us as we are reinvigorated to restart the mission that we've started 20 years ago. 

But instead of releasing new songs, we decided to revisit our debut album from 2006 called "In Awe of His Amazing Love". Since it's going to be the 20th anniversary of the album next year, we decided to re-record the album and give it an updated version. And the first song that we decided to re-record was the song "Savior". “Savior” was one of the first songs that we’ve ever written when we started this Thoughts And Notions project. At that time, there were no expectations or any plans except to just write this song as our way for praising and worshiping God. 20 years later, we decided to update the song by improving the sound elements and added new textures to the song.  We released the updated version of the song during the Holy Week this year while hoping that the song will live on for a new generation of listeners to discover… and hopefully to find God during their times of trouble and uncertainties. The original version had a more edgier sound to it. Giving it a more "rock" music feel with the heavy electric guitars. The new one however featured a lot more layered keyboards. Giving the praise and worship song more at home for Praise and Worship use in churches. We took inspiration for this direction from the time when the original version was used in different churches for their Praise and Worship activities. So we're hoping that this new version would be even more conducive for Praise and Worship use.  

 

The next song we released was “A Love So Real”. This was the song that surprisingly made it to Spotify’s New Music Friday Philippines Playlist. And we are thankful for the opportunity that this playlist placement gave it a wider audience reach. “A Love So Real” is a song that we hope 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. The song is the 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. This 20th anniversary re-recording of the song 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. I think this song would basically represent the sound that Wilbert is going produce for the other songs in this album. Because while the songs in this album's basic melodies were from 2006, there's a conscious effort to modernize the re-recordings. Perhaps make it sound nostalgic while also introducing some of the best music influences that we had from that era to the current audience.

 

And that's where "Brand New Day" comes in. This was the last song that we released this year. We were supposed to release the song this December as a bridge to the New Year, which we feel the song is a perfect theme. But we encountered some delays in the recordings of our other songs due to the earthquake and typhoons that ravaged Cebu. Thrina, who is now based in Cebu, had to delay the recordings as she focused on her family after all the calamities subsided. And since "Brand New Day" was already finished, we decided to just release it last September. This was also during the time when our country was facing with the flood control corruption scandal. So the devastating events of the typhoon and the calamities coupled with the corruption of the ghost projects and substandard flood control structures felt so deflating. So we thought that maybe it was the right time to release the song. At least to help remind our fellow Filipinos that there will always be hope that a Brand New Day brings. I also guested on Jam 88.3's MONDO Manila program to reintroduce the band to the radio listening public. It was a decision I made as I feel it was the right time to talk about our music to Manila's radio listeners. And we submitted Brand New Day for their radio's regular playlist consideration. And months after the song premiered on Jam 88.3, and after being on their radio's regular playlist rotation, we've been getting quite a considerable number of SHAZAM's for this song. So I guess we've made a successful attempt at making this song relevant and interesting to the current generation.   
 

So what's in store for 2026? We're diligently finishing the recordings for the 20th Anniversary Edition of our debut album "In Awe of His Amazing Love". We're dropping a new single this January and followed up by another one on February. So you'll have to look out which song these are. We just can’t wait to finish the entire album and share it with you guys. So from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for joining us in our journey this year. You guys continue to inspire us to write and produce more songs in line with our mission to “help uplift wounded souls” with our brand of music! We wouldn’t be here without your valuable support! Do revisit our full song catalogue on these links:

 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6i9X1vKsBAUjGqFPmRWXgy?si=cc8mUmiGSYC2NOx-9uZ0pg

 

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thoughtsandnotions?si=F5XVR1MlY1AgN2Cm

 

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/thoughts-and-notions/1590631542

 

 

To God be the Greater Glory!