After a four-year hiatus in making songs of his own, RicoBlanco returns with a rousing new anthem to help us deal with the uncertainty of thetimes.This Too Shall Pass is Rico Blanco’s first solo single in four years, as well as his firstunder Sony Music Philippines. The song was written from a place of discomfort andfear, witnessing how the much louder tremor of pandemic anxiety instantly changed ourlives and left us with little time to mourn and move forward.With frontliners risking their lives with little protection, people going hungry, and thesocial order crumbling to pieces, Rico felt powerless by the situation. Hence, he had toforego his difficulties of living alone and coping with his own emotional troubles, as therewas work to be done. He shares, “My efforts are little in light of a pandemic like this. Asbig as my imagination is for this song, I also feel that it’s not enough. But it’s what I cando and contribute as a musician.” This Too Shall Pass succeeds in repurposing music’s mission: Outside of its function asan entertainment fodder and a way to escape, it carries the resilience of the humanspirit. In darkness, it shines brighter.
The big, sprawling pop tune is his most personal to date, which he struggled over thecourse of two weeks to finish, and almost did not. “Some songs are anchored on truth,but they are wrapped and adorned in a lot of romanticized thoughts,” he shares. “Thissong is real, inwards and also outwards; it’s something that I really want to tell everysingle person. I wasn’t able to give a message to the frontliners, and I feel very guiltyabout this. I needed to finish this, and I want them to hear this. I know each one of us isgoing through something. I wrote this song as my way to reach out.” With sonic elements that span continents and a carefully honed production which hesupervised himself, Rico’s latest single defies convention with a global sounding opusthat incorporates musical dispatches and personal anecdotes. From samples of hisnieces laughing culled from a family chat group to his attempt to blur the cultural linesby incorporating European techno, hip-hop beats, Asian riffs, Afro chanting, and Pinoyfiesta in a seamless, genre-bending extravaganza, This Too Shall Pass is ambitious inscope and sound design, but its heart is for the people who need light and love.There’s a sliver of joy in finding one of the most prolific artists emerge from a longsilence. As Sony Music’s GM Philippines and VP Business Development Asia, Ms.Roslyn Pineda sums it up: “Music is important – we all know this. But never more sothan when we are faced with uncertainty, because it is then that the power of musicbecomes unquantifiable, almost limitless. Music can make you feel you’re not alone.Music can save you from despair. And so it is with a song like This Too Shall Pass. It is so relevant to the times that it becomes a declaration, a prayer, a mantra — all rolled into one.”Rico Blanco’s “This Too Shall Pass” is now available on all digital platformsworldwide. Watch out for the music video to be released soon.