This love song is affecting.
Singer-songwriter Ethan Loukas looks across from the studio control room into the recording booth at Janine Teñoso and smiles. And just within the earshot of this writer Loukas said, “she’s so talented, it’s easy to fall for her” as he looks on and awaits his turn inside the recording booth to sing his parts on their duet. Said song finally saw the light of day and is actually a reimagining of the JADINE hit “Hanap-Hanap” that was originally part of the “Diary Ng Panget” movie soundtrack.
Written by Philpop songwriting champs Thyro Alfaro and Yumi Lacsamana for the then budding love-team of James Reid and Nadine Lustre, the song naturally is filled with ‘kilig’ feels. Something Loukas has no problem of radiating as he drank up the moments he spent with Janine Tenoso during their time together to record a much simplified, easy going, but nonetheless affecting acoustic version of this ‘kilig’ hit.
Janine Teñoso for her part, seems unaware of Ethan’s admiration for her. But she knows who Ethan Loukas is. “I’ve heard of Ethan’s single “Manghuhula” during an online benefit gig last year. That was the first time we had a gig together but we didn’t really have the time to get introduced. I really like his song. He has an amazing voice and a unique style in songwriting.”
Janine also added that “working with Ethan on “Hanap Hanap” was super fun and memorable.” “The day we recorded the song was the first time I met Ethan and we instantly vibed with each other.” The two singers also discovered that they shared the same interests in music. “It was a pleasure working with him,” added Janine.
As for her thoughts on the beloved Jadine hit that they have reimagined, Janine said “I’ve heard of Hanap Hanap many times before because I used to watch a lot of their shows on TV. I was surprised that this was going to be the song that I will be recording with Ethan because knowing the song, it really wasn’t our style. But when Ethan sent the acoustic arrangements he made for this song, I immediately got excited at the prospect of making a different take of the song.”
Former The Youth bassist Robert Javier and Jaworski Garcia of Blacksheep Records Manila produced the song with Ethan Loukas. All agreed that going relaxed and acoustic was the way to go about the song, which in its previous incarnation, was a midtempo pop number designed for James Reid and Nadine Lustre.
As for Ethan Loukas' admiration of her co-singer, he’s not pushing things. “I just look forward to doing the promo for the song with Janine,” he said and added, “this may just be an admiration of her skills as a singer, and whatever happens, I’m just glad I got to sing and record this song with her.”
Uh huh, we've heard that one before.