MANILA, Philippines—The year 2022 has been absolutely great for Baguio-based indie-alternative band Dilaw, and the band—featuring the core duo of vocalist and chief lyricist Dilaw Obero and guitarist/instrumentalist Vie Dela Rosa—is adding yet another milestone to their collective.
Images courtesy of Warner Music Philippines
Their recently released single “Uhaw” is ending the year with a bang, charting at second place in Spotify Philippines’ Viral 50 chart, and from the looks of things, just might make it to the coveted spot at number one.
Deeply irresistible with its suave and dreamy sonic layers and infectious vocal stylings courtesy of Obero, “Uhaw” comes unexpectedly as a ballad from a group known for its past penchant to charge through the gates with raw, unbridled commentary on socio-political issues, as heard on their previous singles “3019” and “Kaloy.”
The band’s latest ditty, however, shows a more sensitive side and reveals that there’s a lot more than just anger and rage in their creative process; in short, the single solidifies the fact that theirs is a group that knows no limits, and that they’re just as excited to explore the limits of musical creativity in the coming years.
“‘Uhaw’ simply started at one of our drinking sessions, like most songs do… it was a basic two chords progression we came up with, and we basically had one thing in mind: that feeling one gets when you long for someone—which we felt could best be described in one word, which is ‘uhaw’ or ‘thirst…’” says Obero when asked about the origins of the track. “And when it came to recording the song, we wanted to keep it as simple as possible, because the goal was to let the meaning shine—we wanted it to be about the message rather than about everything else happening in the music.”
Albeit being straightforward with its original production and recording, listeners will still be able to hear a refreshed inventiveness and craftiness of the song’s progression, since the former duo is now a complete band: which is why Dilaw recently released “Uhaw (Tayong Lahat)” a full band version of the song last December 16th. Dela Rosa explains: “during the production of the alternate version of the song, we had one thing in mind: we wanted to launch Dilaw the band, so the process was kept open—we had everyone contribute their own flair and input, and we were simply following where the song would take us, and by the time we finished, we were more than happy with how it sounded and felt to us.”
As of this writing, “Uhaw” is currently second on Spotify’s Viral 50 chart, and it is not by any means an easy feat to pull-off—with the number of talented artists releasing new music this season, all of them seemingly fighting for the attention and clamor of listeners for memorable and well-crafted tunes. And both Obero and Dela Rosa share that they were just as surprised as anyone that the single was so well-received.
“As musicians, all we want is for people to hear our music and relate to our journey, so this is definitely overwhelming news for us,” says Obero, and adds “all we can be now is excited and we’re filled with nothing but gratitude to those who gave ‘Uhaw’ a listen.”
Dela Rosa reveals that they intend to spend more time with their families and each other as a group for the remainder of the year when asked about their plans for the remainder of the holiday season and the following year. “We’re getting together and are all looking ahead and brainstorming for the near-future since we want to find more ways to connect with our listeners and people who have supported us throughout the journey so far,” he says, and finishes, “we want to hit the ground running this 2023.”