A vision of warmth, serenity, and calming vibes as SB19's Justin de Dios released his debut single, "surreal." 

Inviting his friends, family, and members of the press, Justin conducted a private media launch for his single held at the Novotel Manila in Araneta City on Feb. 27. 

During the interview session, Justin opened up what inspired him to record the single.

"For this single po, surreal means having someone na pareho kayo ng vision, nagkakaintindihan kayo. So yung ganung feeling yung gusto ko ilabas sa song na ito. And I actually wrote this song way back but ngayon ko lang talaga siya nirelease," Justin said. 

(For this single, surreal means having someone with the same vision, you understand each other. So that's the feeling I want to bring out in this song. And I wrote this song way back, then I decided to release it now) 

He expressed his desire for his music to be dreamy and fall into the acoustic genre.

"For me as a musician, I really wanted my music to be dreamy, and siguro factor na rin is I always listen to acoustic songs, like Ed Sheeran and Stephen Speaks," he added. 

(For me as a musician, I really wanted my music to be dreamy, and maybe another factor is that I always listen to acoustic songs like Ed Sheeran and Stephen Speaks)

The laidback track reflects the beauty of meaningful coincidences and dreams and how the impossible becomes a reality when a huge shift takes place, thanks to the perfect mix of timing, perseverance, and hard work.

Justin penned the lyrics with the tactile vulnerability of someone conveying his thoughts and projections straight to the listeners.

Justin explains, "It's all these scenarios that are unlikely to happen in the real world, but you find them as an escape from reality, so you continue to dream and dream... And surprisingly, you found someone who enjoys imagination as much as you do."

"surreal" serves as a collaboration with Radkidz's PABLO and Josue, with both producers adding dynamism to Justin's compelling brand of introspection. 

Although it was a great move for Justin to finally release his music, he also said that there were fears and doubts about transitioning from a group song to working on his own. 

"Siguro one of the struggles for me is thinking na ako na yung nasa spotlight. Parang nakakatakot na baka magkamali ako, yung mga ganung overthinking na parang hindi ko kaya kasi it's not for me. But naovercome ko yun, kasi inisip ko na lang na kung hindi man maganda yung kinalabasan at least sinubukan ko siya. Para next time may improvement akong makukuha," Justin said. 

(Maybe one of the struggles for me is thinking that I'm the one in the spotlight. I'm scared to think that I might make a mistake, I tend to overthink things like that, because what if it's not for me? But I overcame that because, even if the outcome turned bad, at least I tried it. The next time that I'm going to do it, I know what I need to improve) 

Justin also shared that he asked advice from his co-members from SB19 when he started to create his way to his solo debut. 

"Yung mga ineexpect niyo na advice na parang cheesy, hindi po ganun yung sinabi nila sa akin, more of the technical side. Kasi yung iba sa amin nag release na ng solo singles before," Justin said. 

(Please don't expect the advice they gave to me to be cheesy, it was more of the technical side advice. Because some of us already released their solo singles before) 

Acting and directing 

Making his way as a solo artist, he is also taking steps towards acting and directing.

As a graduate of multimedia arts, Justin made his TV debut during the finale of the ABS-CBN series "Senior High" where he made a short cameo as Jared. 

During the event, Justin shared how got the role of Jared in the primetime show.

"Sinabi lang po sa 'min ng project manager namin na sabi niya: 'mag-guest ka rito.' Mayroon ngang gusto akong mag-guest sa 'Senior High.' Sige po, gusto ko rin pong mag-try mag-acting," Justin said 

(Our project manager just told me that told me: you'll be a guest here. People are requesting if I can be a guest in "Senior High." So I said, sure because I always wanted to try acting) 

Justin, accustomed to live audiences, experienced culture shock on a TV set.

"Medyo na-culture shock po ako kasi medyo magkaiba po siya sa life as a musician and sa acting po. Hindi naman in a negative way na culture shock, 'yung buong set is something new for me," he said

(I got a bit of a culture shock because it's a quite bit different from being a musician and being an actor. And it's not in a negative way, it's just the whole setup is something new for me) 

Aside from making his short cameo, Justin also wanted to do directing in the future. He expressed his desire to play a character who dies at the end of the film.

"Pangarap ko talaga na masama sa isang film or series pero ayaw ko ng main character, weird lang pero ang pinaka-dream ko more of coming of age na genre, gusto ko 'yung character na mamamatay ako sa ending. 'Yun 'yung nai-imagine ko na sana mangyari," Justin added. 

(I've always dreamed of being in a film or series, but I don't want to be the main character. It's a bit weird but my dream genre is more of a coming of age, I want to be the character that dies in the end. That's what I imagined would happen)