Ben&Ben’s song Lifetime has been the number one most searched in Melon, South Korea’s most popular website for online music services. Even Korean pop superstars like Young K from the group Daily 6 and Mark from NCT27 tweeted about their wonderful songs.
However, it seems that Ben&Ben’s work has been making waves even before the song “Lifetime”. Their song “Leaves” was played by Renjun (from NCT27) on his radio show. While Wendy (from Red Velvet) appreciated the song “Maybe The Night”.
Here is a brief introduction of how the band Ben&Ben evolved overtime, from their creation to their expansion, music festival wins, accomplishments and everything in between.
1. Ben&Ben are composed of 9 members. Before, they were previously known as The Benjamins.
2. They became active in 2015 as an indie band composed of the Guico twins (Paolo Benjamin Guico and Miguel Benjamin Guico) with Ben Sasis. However, Ben Sasis left the band to pursue other career.
3. Their first name was actually “Ben, Ben &Ben” but later changed to The Benjamins as they deemed it to have more impact.
4. Their get their music writing inspiration from their personal lives and from other people.
5. They identify their music as a combination of jazz, pop, folk, world and alt-rock.
6. They have already participated in music competitions even before they became mainstream. The song “Tinatangi” won the Best Music Video and the second runner up in the PhiPop Music Festival in 2016. The band Itchyworms won the grand prize with the song “Di Na Muli”.
7. They had their sold out concert in 2016 at the Teatrino stage.
8. The two Benjamins released their first EP, Ben&Ben, in 2016.
9. By that time, they expanded from a 2 piece group to a band with 9 members. The twins said that they realized that their song-writing skills thrive best when they work with other collaborators. Their experience also grow when they work with friends. Hence, from a 2-piece band, they became 9. Paolo and Miguel Guico are both the lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Poch Baretto plays the lead guitar and backing vocals, Jam Villanueva plays the drums, Agnes Reoma plays the bass, Patricia Lasaten plays the keyboards, Andrew de Pano and Toni Munoz both play the percussions and backing vocals and Keifer Cabugao plays the violin and the backing vocals.
10. 2018 was their breakthrough. Their songs have been used as soundtracks for the movie Goyo:Ang Batang Heneral (“Susi”) and Exes Baggage (“Maybe The Night”).
11. Their song “Kathang Isip” is the most streamed Filipino song in 2018, in Spotify. It garnered over 75 million streams!
12. They only released their album in 2019, Limasawa Street, which is their debut album.
13. The album was named after the street where Paolo’s girlfriend lives. It was because many of the songs in this album were composed there.
14. The dynamics and harmony of the band could also be attributed to the twin’s mother, who does corporate workshops and team buildings to facilitate fluid workplace. With the mother’s help, the band became aware of each other’s personality traits and how they could understand each other’s working style.
15. The song “Lifetime” was recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, the band had to be creative in suing various techniques to achieve their vision with this song.
What are you waiting for? It is time to open up that Spotify app (they are there!), grab yourself some coffee, and relax somewhere comfy, for you are about to listen to one of the most exalted Filipino albums to date. Don’t forget to bring some tissue as well, for surely, you can empathize to their songs and the emotions that are masterfully embedded within their music.
