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In the right spaces, you will be heard without shouting. You will be seen without showing your wounds. You will be understood without changing who you are.

There are so many rant-worthy thoughts running around in my head: trolls, irresponsible reporting, malicious agenda, toxic OT1s. But I need to get my priorities straight.

I have to talk about Pinuno’s body of released solo work before he overwhelms me with his musical and lyrical mastery on his upcoming albums.

Even before this highly anticipated news came out, it was already my opinion that Pablo’s lyrics need to be studied. In universities. By literary experts. Just one example: he incorporated astrophysics in the song Liham. Astrophysics in a PPop song of a “boy group”? Yeah, Pablo did that.

So, apologies in advance for this loooong yet woefully deficient rambling that no one asked for✌🏼:

LA LUNA

In La Luna, #Pablo introduces his vulpine alter-ego, someone who lets his dark side out in the open, with his rap skills on full display. Initially, he seems to be expressing conflicting emotions about the duality he needs to maintain as the leader of a highly visible and representative PPop group, while keeping his seething rage at bay - rage at the disrespect he and his group is getting for staying true to their art. Towards the middle of the song, the duality is abandoned and the wolf emerges howling.

I think of it this way: in #SB19, he claps back at haters in a PG manner, but no longer holds back in La Luna: “Dugo'y dadanak na sa mga kaluluwang mapanghusga

Ito'y hinding-hindi magtitimpi”.

In this song, the Alpha was born.

DETERMINADO

Pablo continues unleashing on Determinado, where, with his brother Josue, he threatens those who doubt his commitment to his craft with a skull bashing, though by his verses.

Oh, the bars! The bars in this track are dizzying! Let’s take one example:

“Katumbas ako ng dalawa na ipo

Bawat suntok ay may bigat na mala-hippo

Kahit si Aeolus, hindi ako mahipo

'Pag nag-dempsey roll, bira mo'y sa anino”

This verse has alternating references to wind and boxing. Dalawang ipo is IPOIPO, which is whirlwind or tornado in English. The second line translates to “Every punch has the weight of a hippo”. The third line goes back to the wind reference, saying, even Aeolus (the ruler of wind in Greek mythology) can’t touch him. The final line in the verse roughly translates to: “if I do the Dempsey roll (a boxing move), you’ll be punching at a shadow”. Guess who is supposedly known for using the Dempsey Roll as a signature technique in boxing? IPPO Makunouchi, a Japanese slugger. If that’s not a full circle of bars, I don’t know what is.

Need I mention the fire bars? (Yes, they ARE 🔥). A whole verse of references to fire: matchstick, toasting, burning, Prometheus, blazing cities, ignite, heat.

Schools probably need to dedicate several sessions just for this song.

AKALA

Akala, or“assumption “ in English, is a song that, from its first line, may make you think that it’s just straight up (pun intended) about drinking. “Paabot naman ng alak, halika pare walwalan”

It is, and it isn’t. It did popularize “Shat!” even more as the go-to invitation to drink. It cautions against the pitfalls of turning to alcohol as a means to deal life’s realities. “Alak akala ko mawawala lahat ng aking problema”.

But that word play on alak and akala is not gratuitous witticism: it lays the groundwork for the song’s transition to its more central theme - the struggle against assumptions that could imprison a person in doubt and insecurities while trying to live an authentic life:

“Di ko na malaman ang gusto niyo

Gusto ko lang subukan na maging ako

Ng walang panghuhusga sa mga mata niyo”

EDSA

Leave it to Pablo to discuss the travails of survival without losing sight of your goals under the guise of an upbeat plaint against traffic and the usual mishaps traversing EDSA.

He even humorously brings up holding back the call of nature while dealing with EDSA’s usual congestion.

But in its heart, the song is really about not giving up on your dreams despite the roadblocks.

“Marami ma'ng aberyang hadlang sa 'yong daan

Patuloy lang ang andar sa 'yong pupuntahan”

名月の輝く空に君想う

Taken from Lakewood Colorado at 8:15 p.m.

“What did they expect?

We’re fed the lie that we can do anything.

That we can change the world.

We looked up to the Chosen One, the Dauntless, the Mockingjay.

We keep going even when all seems lost.

When our worlds are imploding.

Nevertheless, we persevere.

We don’t complain; we fight.

We’ve taken pages out of the books of our youth.

Fight for what you believe in.

Don’t falter in the face of fascists.

Stop tyranny at the source.

And they laugh at us.

They cry because we’re ‘killing’ industries.

As if healthcare means less than rocks mined by slaves.

As if the world wouldn’t be better off with one less food chain objectifying women.

As if begging for a job that doesn’t require a college degree in a world they created to be classist is crazy.

Where we live with more debt than they’ll even accrue because of a system they created.

Don’t pull that "you made that choice” bullshit with me.

I was 17.

I was trusting you to steer me right. Instead you jerked the wheel and I ended up drowning.

Drowning in debt and financial woes before we are even adults!

We’re told we’ll be nothing without it.

We won’t get hired without it.

Who could we even be without it?

Now it’s our turn,

To fulfill our duty to the next generation,

With all our degrees, our debt and our drive.

Sit down, shut up, and watch us climb.

We’ve fought so many battles we’re practically bulletproof.

And we’re coming for you.“