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Rico Blanco reveals how girlfriend Maris Racal helped him with the new PBB theme song

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Rhea Manila Santos

After collaborating on their first single last year, Rico Blanco said he enjoys working on projects with his girlfriend Maris Racal who is also a musical artist and former <a href="https://ent.abs-cbn.com/pbbs10" target="_blank">Pinoy Big Brother</a> housemate. Before he released the latest version of the PBB theme song “Pinoy Tayo” this month, Rico said that Maris was a big help to him in completing the updated version of the well-loved song. “It’s also very helpful that I let Maris listen to it when I was still writing it, yung hindi pa produced version. I asked her what she thought of the melody and I remember we were on video call and when I sang it sabi niya, ‘Hindi ko na maalala yung original, ano nga ba yung original na melody?’ So that gave me confidence kasi yun yung unang worry ko eh. I purposely didn’t listen to the original in the first stage of songwriting. And then pinag-aralan ko talaga yung original nung production stage,” he shared during the Pinoy Tayo mediacon.<div><a href="https://push.abs-cbn.com/2021/9/15/fresh-scoops/rico-blanco-on-what-he-admires-about-maris-racal-195740" target="_blank">READ: Rico Blanco on what he admires about Maris Racal: ‘She’s serious about her craft’</a></div>Even with a 25-year age gap, Rico said he and Maris work well together when it comes to their passion for music.“Tuloy tuloy yung collaboration namin ni Maris. So may single ako ngayon na pino-promote itong ‘Pinoy Tayo’ and then siya naman may bagong single under my label. We co-wrote a track with her and I produced it. I feel like it’s my single also as a producer. Sa music video pinaghirapan din namin dalawa. I think tuloy tuloy lang. We really enjoy creating music together,” he said. <div><a href="https://push.abs-cbn.com/2020/9/22/fresh-scoops/maris-racal-releases-rico-blanco-produced-song-on-188382" target="_blank">READ: Maris Racal releases Rico Blanco-produced song on her 23rd birthday</a></div>While producing the latest version of the PBB song, Rico said that he remained faithful to a lot of elements in the original version.“From the sounds to the adjustments of the songwriting, yung pagka-OC sa verses, yung phrasing, yung sukat, and yung lyrics ni Jonathan (Manalo) na nag-ra-rhyme yung mga dulo. It was like a game to me, those days na I was trying to find out paano ko malalagay yung naka-square yung mga sinulat na lyrics ni Jonathan and then at the same time hindi naman ako sobrang lalayo na mawawala yung essence nung original version.“In fact, I kept the chorus almost intact and also paying homage with the old version with some guitar parts down to the echoes sa vocals sa chorus. Sabi ko sa mixing engineer gusto ko nandun yun. Sabi ko, ‘Dapat ilagay natin yan kasi hahanapin yan pag nawala yan.’ So it was a delicate balance that I really enjoyed. I admit, nahirapan ako pero na-enjoy ko yung process kasi aware ako na this is going to be such an honor talaga for me. Tumigil lahat ng trabaho ko nung time na yun eh. Medyo na-delay yung ibang trabaho noon,” he explained.

‘Pinoy Tayo’ singer Rico Blanco shares why he loves collaborating with Maris Racal on their music.