The first batch of nominees for the 36th Awit Awards was announced recently by the Philippine Association of the Recording Industry (PARI).
It is a mix of familiar and not-so-familiar names.
21 entries made it to the nominations list for Album of the Year.
These include albums by Gigi De Lana, Janine Berdin, Lian Kyla, Angela Ken, Gabriel Tagadtad, Kanishia Santos, former IV of Spades members Zild Benitez and Blaster Silonga, Ena Mori, The Juans, Spongecola, of Mercury, Any Name’s Ok, Cheats, alt-pop duo No Lore, solo Hip Hop acts BECAUSE, Jrldm, BGYO, Bini and ALAMAT.
47 acts will vie for Record of The Year and some of the more familiar names on the listing includes Rico Blanco, Ben & Ben, Nobita, SB19, BGYO, Zack Tabudlo, Juan Karlos, Ebe Dancel, Side A, Sitti, Morissette, Nica Del Rosario (with Gab Pangilinan), Clara Benin, Nobita and Sarah Geronimo.
Mixed in are younger acts Siddharta (with Kiyo), Ace Banzuelo, Denise Julia, Jarlo Base, Al James and acts that’s been dominating current playlists and charts that include Sunkissed Lola, Cup Of Joe, and Dilaw.
XOXO, Garrett Bolden, Hannah Precillas, Maymay Entrata, Arron Rebustes, Chan Millanes, of Mercury, Dionela, Zild, Shanti Dope, Jason Dhakal, Noah Alejandre, Arthur Miguel, Jrldm, Paul Pablo, Felip and Leanne & Naara rounds off the list.
The Song Of The Year category almost has the same number of entries with 46. Mentioning a few songs that made a mark the past year (within the ascribed cut-off) include Moira Dela Torre’s “Kumpas,” Sunkissed Lola’s “Pasilyo,” “Uhaw” by Dilaw, rappers Lo Ki’s “Manifest,” and Shanty Dope’s “City Girl,” Cup Of Joe’s “Estranghero,” “Nahuhulog Na Sa’yo” by Noah Alejandre and “Rosas” by Nica Del Rosario x Gab Pangilinan. Popularity counts, and aforementioned songs have upwards of 15 million streams (or listens) based on their current Spotify count.
Songs by Nobita, Any Name’s Ok, Rico Blanco, Jason Marvin, Radkidz’ John Paulo and Joshua Daniel Nase, Ben & Ben’s Paolo and Miguel Guico, Tanya Markova, Zack Tabudlo, Ronzel Bautista & Jet Danao, JK Labajo, Zild Benitez, Tim Dionela, Jonathan Manalo, Angela Ken & Gabriel Tagadtad, Denise Julia, Louie Canaria, Lolito Go, Nathaniel de Mesa, Garrett Bolden, Arron Rebustes, Anna Aquino, Chan Millanes, Blaster Silonga, Johnvie Villoria, Leonard Obero, Jerald Laxamana Mallari (Jrldm), Rob Deniel and Jin Chan also are the songwriters whose recent works have made it to the list for Song of the Year.
In the Genre Category, the Best Pop Recording has the greatest number of nominees this year with seventy-seven. The Best Alternative and Best Ballad Recordings category comes in next with forty-seven and forty-six listed respectively.
This year’s Awit Awards will see the addition of a Best Global Collaboration category that will give a nod to the significant collaborations of Pinoy music acts with global acts. Similarly, the rock and heavy metal genre will have its own category via the Best Rock/Metal Recording list. Other additions include Best Musical Recording, Best Recording by A Child or for Children, Best Remix Recording, Best Dance/Electronic Recording, Best Original Soundtrack Recording and an Awit Lifetime Achievement Award.
The rest of the artist nominations on the aforementioned categories will be posted this week on Awit’s official Facebook page.
An official finalists listing will later be announced by the Awit Awards who has set November 9 as the event date.
A total of 948 entries not including the Lifetime Achievement and Dangal Ng Musikang Pilipino honors were sorted by a committee that saw and heard a smorgasbord of original Pilipino music spread out across various categories that include Performance, Genre, Special Recording, Technical and the major awards that comprise of Album, Record and Song of The Year.