Rico Blanco pens first single in four years with the timely "This Too Shall Pass"

05/07/2020 08:54:42 PM

Rico Blanco kicked off the month of May 2020 with a new song – his first since hiatus in 2016. 

The legendary singer-songwriter returns with This Too Shall Pass, a rousing new anthem to help us deal with the uncertainty of the times. The song was also Blanco's first under Sony Music Philippines and was written from a place of discomfort and fear, witnessing how the much louder tremor of pandemic anxiety instantly changed our lives and left us with little time to mourn and move forward.

With frontliners risking their lives with little protection, people going hungry, and the social order crumbling to pieces, Rico felt powerless by the situation. Hence, he had to forego his difficulties of living alone and coping with his own emotional troubles, as there was work to be done. 

“My efforts are little in light of a pandemic like this,” shared Blanco. “As big as my imagination is for this song, I also feel that it’s not enough. But it’s what I can do and contribute as a musician.”  

In its press release, Sony Music Philippines said This Too Shall Pass succeeds in repurposing music’s mission: Outside of its function as an entertainment fodder and a way to escape, it carries the resilience of the human spirit. In the darkness, it shines brighter. 

The big, sprawling pop tune is his most personal to date, which he struggled over the course of two weeks to finish, and almost did not. 

“Some songs are anchored on truth, but they are wrapped and adorned in a lot of romanticized thoughts,” said Blanco. “This song is real, inwards and also outwards; it’s something that I really want to tell every single person. I wasn’t able to give a message to the frontliners, and I feel very guilty about this. I needed to finish this, and I want them to hear this. I know each one of us is going through something. I wrote this song as my way to reach out.” 

With sonic elements that span continents and a carefully honed production which he supervised himself, Rico’s latest single defies convention with a global sounding opus that incorporates musical dispatches and personal anecdotes. From samples of his nieces laughing culled from a family chat group to his attempt to blur the cultural lines by incorporating European techno, hip-hop beats, Asian riffs, Afro chanting, and Pinoy fiesta in a seamless, genre-bending extravaganza, This Too Shall Pass is ambitious in scope and sound design, but its heart is for the people who need light and love.

There’s a sliver of joy in finding one of the most prolific artists emerge from a long silence, as one Sony Music executive points out. 

“Music is important – we all know this. But never more so than when we are faced with uncertainty, because it is then that the power of music becomes unquantifiable, almost limitless, said As Sony Music’s GM Philippines and VP Business Development Asia, Ms. Roslyn Pineda. “Music can make you feel you’re not alone. Music can save you from despair.  And so it is with a song like This Too Shall Pass.  It is so relevant to the times that it becomes a declaration, a prayer, a mantra -- all rolled into one.”

Rico Blanco’s “This Too Shall Pass” is now available on all digital platforms worldwide. Watch out for the music video to be released soon.

Author: slickmaster | © 2020 The SlickMaster's Files