Singer, TV and movie actress Rachel Alejandro has a new single entitled “Takipsilim.”

This she announced during an online press conference last week, Friday March 12, 2021. The single, released under Rebel Records and distributed for streaming worldwide by Warner Music Philippines, is the singer’s first single in a decade. And according to their press was “made more special because it was completed during the pandemic.”

“It’s an unprecedented time for performers like me around the world. The pandemic has definitely impacted nearly all of us financially but worse than that, it did a number on our self-esteem. For someone who loves her job as much as I do, to say it’s been tough is an understatement,” said Rachel.

It was during the holidays last year that Rachel got the idea to make new music. “I figured, ‘all bets are off!’ I haven’t had a certified hit song for many years but who’s to say it can’t happen in 2021. I thought: ‘sure, I can’t be performing in concerts now, but I can certainly be recording.”

Good thing that there is always music for Rachel. And good thing too she comes from a musical family. In particular, Nino Alejandro, a cousin who is equally if not more into music. Nino is a musician and also happens to be Managing Director of Rebel Records.

It was Nino who announced a song search for Rachel online. It didn’t take long and they found one in 19-year-old Rain Santana. The song was “Takipsilim” in which the pair immediately latched onto for its “haunting melody (and) emotional yet hopeful message.”

“We fell in love with it immediately,“ said Rachel, and working with Nino, within a few weeks, Rachel recorded the song at the latter’s studio and also made manage to shoot a music video with director Chuck Ronquillo and Aris Magayanes.

The song “is very apt for the times,” declared Rachel, adding: “when you look it up, ‘Takipsilim’ translates to ‘twilight’ – that time of day when practically all the light has gone. But not quite.”

Rachel likened her new song to the current situation, what with the new rounds of lockdowns and the end of the pandemic seemingly a far thing still. But yes, hope is in the horizon. Rachel hopes that her song will be “an anthem for romantics and an ode to everyone who’s struggling during this time.”

On a lighter note, Bulletin Entertainment asked Rachel how a veteran artist like her keeps up with the popular music of today? “My nieces (Nino’s daughters) Bella and Aria, just ask them what the kids are listening to. Sila talaga yung nanunuod ng YouTube,” she said.

“If you think about it, for someone my age I’m not so into Kpop and all this new stuff. I have to admit that some of the music that I am very in love with come from my favorite musicals. Because it’s really something that I really like to do.”

Still Rachel keeps an open mind about pop.

“Nino made me listen to a song actually (from) this girl group that he produced. It’s very poppy (and) my sister Nickie who’s in New York who raps and writes her own music, she wrote the rap part for the girl group song, now I’m not into rap, but I thought it was fantastic.”

“I think it’s great. When I hear a song regardless of what kind and where it came from, as an artist, you know good music when you hear it.”