#toneejay

something significant happened today. as im writing this, ive surpassed 100k listeners on spotify. i know that statistic could be fickle... bukas pwedeng bumaba, bukas pwedeng tumaas. but the point is, for at least a month, my music reached 100k real people. thats crazy when i think about how i started this year with barely 1k people listening. and nung sinimulan ko yung solo career ko, naisip ko na pag umabot ako sa 100k, then i know ive made it (whatever making it means). and i know that im on to something here. syempre yung nangunguna na kanta ay yung "bawat piyesa (secret verse)." kung tutuusin, lumang kanta na talaga siya, pero may mga bagong dinagdag that makes it something else, something more (at least in my opinion). naisip ko, parang metaphor pala ito sa career ko noh. marami sa inyo matagal na akong kilala at kabisado niyo na ang mga dati ko pang ginagawa. pero natutuwa ako na marami rin sa inyo ang tuluyang nakikinig sa mga bago kong ginagawa at mga bagong sinusubukan. kaya from the bottom of my heart, salamat. grateful ako for everything this year. gusto ko rin magthank you sa marilag recordings specifically ang matagal ko nang mga kaibigan na si glenn and nukie for believing in me since day one and for giving me a chance to keep doing my music. gusto ko rin magthank you sa araw sa gabi management kay jana and sud sa pagpulot sakin at sa paglakbay kasama ako. syempre thank you rin sa mga sessionists na kasama ko lagi sa mga gigs this year: si kerith, eb, patrick, ralph, andrei. thank you sa inyong lahat na nagtiyatiyaga kayo sakin hahaha. thank you syempre sa mom ko na lagi akong pinagdadasal, at tsaka sa siblings at friends ko. thanks yall for being proud of me. and syempre thank you kay sam for being my best friend. lagi kong kakantahin ang kanta mo. hindi naman ako nanalo ng award pero bakit nagtutunog ganun? hahaha. yung award ko ay kayo. naks. cheesy. salamat wonderful people. kung may wish man ako para next year, hindi lang dumami tayo.. pero na sabay-sabay rin tayo maggrow as people. maging more loving, understanding, patient, kind, wonderful. i believe this is what our community is all about. that we all continue to become something else. something more. ang lagi kong hinahangad: ang maging malaya, kasama ka. p.s: eto na rin siguro yung year end reflection post ko. dahil medyo maghahibernate ako for the next few days. tamang schedule lang ng social media posts bago mag xmas tas video games all day orayt. see yall next year!! stream kasama kita album photo by miguel go

But REALLY. Imagine someone dreaming FOR you. 🤧😭

Ukay with Toneejay and Anadecs

parang magic <3

(published on my social media dec. 10, 2022) some time ago i lived in japan for a year on a student exchange program. this is a photo of me at a beach in kamakura, one of the prettiest places ive ever been. kung napakinggan niyo na sa album yung "alaala," yung audio na may beach sounds sa 4:25 onwards, dito yun. i was supposed to meet up with some friends i made from a church in tokyo. but i remember i was feeling kinda depressed those days, so naisip ko pumunta nang mas maaga para makapag soul-searching. alam mo yun, yung day trip na mag-isa ka lang tas sakto japan so parang anime. it was just a few train rides away from where i lived. and pagkapunta ko dun, umaambon tas medyo foggy so imagine grabe para akong nasa makoto shinkai film. naglakad-lakad ako na wala masyadong goal in mind. and then tiningnan ko yung mga temples, kasi meron dun sobrang laking buddha statue (google niyo sikat yun), tas pumunta ako dun sa train station na nafeature sa slam dunk kahit di naman ako nanonood ng slam dunk. sayang.. hindi ko sure kung saan ko linagay yung mga pictures from that trip. imagine niyo na lang muna with me. now that i think about it, sobrang life-altering pala nung trip na yun. there's really something about walking and wandering that touches something integral in one's soul... ewan ko kung ano yun. can't explain it. pero basta if you ever get the chance to be a stranger somewhere, take it. sa totoo, yung trip na yun was supposed to be a water baptism ceremony. if like me you grew up in an evangelical christian church, then you know what that is. yun yung ilulublob ka ng pastor sa tubig for a few seconds tas iaaangat ka. it's supposed to symbolize that your past has been washed away and now you're a new creation. that's why dun sa audio, people were happy and shouting... because it was my turn to be saved. these days i don't consider myself an evangelical, but i'm still a big believer in spiritual experiences no matter what tradition it comes from. i had already been baptized as a kid, but doing it again as an adult was the first time it meant something to me. and i needed that--i needed to feel new. and it was the perfect way to end my year in japan. fun fact, i wrote "sa hindi pag-alala" and "solomon" during that year. and then not long after when i got home and went back to my normal life, a friend asked me to contribute a song for her thesis film ("sa di pagparam" by ezra borlagdatan... shout out kung binabasa mo ito). that's when i wrote "alaala." and even if it's a song about childhood, i can't help but feel today that perhaps it was also about that one year when so many things happened that wouldn't happen anymore. when i felt so many things i wouldn't feel anymore. and when i met so many people i wouldn't meet anymore. pero naaalala ko pa rin sila... "kay bilis naman ng oras..." -- listen to "alaala" from my new album KASAMA KITA: https://youtu.be/css7hzK_XYA stream the new album on spotify and everywhere else