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Angelika Sam Ortiz in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News. Photo by Nestor Licuanan.

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Angelika Sam 05112024

ABS-CBN News Intern

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1715415839486ARTICLE COVER PHOTO.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Angelika Sam Ortiz in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News. Photo by Nestor Licuanan. "/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Angelika Sam Ortiz in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News. <em>Photo by Nestor Licuanan. </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA – Determined to finish her entry at a song camp in February 2023, Angelika Sam Ortiz felt that something was missing in the lyrics to the piece she had entitled &quot;Pantropiko.&quot;</p><p>But she struggled to find the words.</p><p>&quot;Bigla na lang siyang pumasok sa isip ko like ‘Oh shux, wala na akong maisip’,&quot; Ortiz said.</p><p>(Suddenly, it entered my mind like, &quot;Oh shux&quot; I can&#x27;t think of anything.)</p><p>Then, it hit her.</p><p>&quot;Sabi ko why not ilagay na siya sa song, and ayun!&quot;</p><p>(I said why not put it in the song, and that&#x27;s it!) </p><p>And so a hit was born–but one that would wait almost four months to become one.</p><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzwAyuVSbhm/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=675&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A18879523%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="587" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><span style="color:rgb(17, 85, 204);background-color:rgb(255, 242, 204);text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Pantropiko”, the summer bubblegum pop anthem released in November that year and made OPM group BINI household names, was the first song composed by Ortiz, a film-major student.</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It took her ten days to write it, and five more to create the demo track with help from colleagues at FlipMusic Productions Inc.</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br/></span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"></span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The newbie songwriter — who said she also wanted to express herself in writing and music aside from photos and films — never imagined “Pantropiko” would be a hit, not just in these tropical islands, but globally. </span></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-2" src="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5nL1fnrubm/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=675&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fnews-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A2%2C%22os%22%3A18901554%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="881" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-2" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>‘Feels like summer’ </strong></span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The song is both a celebration of love and summer — as also seen in BINI&#x27;s &quot;Pantropiko&quot; performance video, which was uploaded on YouTube five months ago and garnered more than 15 million views as of writing.</span></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zx31bB2vMns?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></div><div><span style="caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0)" id="isPasted"></span></div><p>Making the song, Ortiz visualized one thing: the Philippines’ world-famous beaches–thus the main theme and title.</p><p>&quot;Actually po ang una kong naisip dito is kung anong unang magiging itsura ng MV since I’m a film student din po… Naisip ko na ang gandang visual kasi ng beach, lalo na sa Philippines,&quot; she shared in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN.</p><p>(Actually, the first thing that came to my mind was what the music video would look like since I&#x27;m also a film student... I already thought of the beautiful visuals of the beach, especially in the Philippines.)</p><p>Was she also inspired by love?</p><p>The singer-songwriter blushed and admitted that she thought of her crush when she wrote the song.</p><p>&quot;Para maka-relate din yung younger generations,&quot; Ortiz said.</p><p>(So that the younger generations can also relate.) </p><p>Online, Filipinos matched up &quot;Pantropiko&quot; with another weather-inspired OPM song–&quot;Raining in Manila&quot; by rock band Lola Amour.</p><p>&quot;Nung sumikat raining in manila laging umuulan. ngayon na sikat pantropiko ang inet,&quot; wrote X user @eiju_les. </p><p>(When it was the rainy season in the Philippines, the song &quot;Raining in Manila&quot; became popular. Now, the song &quot;Pantropiko&quot; became popular this hot summer.&quot;) </p><p>User @maloiku,  meanwhile, said: &quot;Mga season sa pilipinas: Raining in Manila, Pantropiko, Christmas in our Hearts.&quot;</p><p>(Seasons in the Philippines: Raining in Manila, Pantropiko, Christmas in our Hearts.)</p><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/5/9/bini-fever-ramdam-na-sa-singapore-1922">RELATED: BINI fever ramdam na sa Singapore</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;Humble&#x27; beginning</strong></div><p>Ortiz was a runway and print advertising model and belonged to a girl group before FlipMusic Productions Inc. founder Julius James &quot;Jumbo&quot; De Belen discovered her potential. </p><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAngelikaSamOfficial%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0KpN6MExDhseinfY2Lgscmbf7L93BNTqDdDzVzYybHPzS1Sss51VCdSPusuLhv6tkl&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500&amp;is_preview=true" width="500" height="640" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">De Belen described it as a &quot;very humble beginning.&quot;</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It started when the two met each other at an event, with Ortiz following De Belen on Instagram after.</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There, De Belen saw Ortiz’s potential in music through her cover songs, inviting her to write a song for BINI. </span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">De Belen, the producer and writer of Popstar Royalty Sarah Geronimo’s “Tala”–which became a hit in early 2020 five years after it came out–shared it was their practice to invite people from outside FlipMusic to experience writing songs. </span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“May mga ibang songwriters na we feel na may potential na puwedeng magsulat para we try them out.”</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(There are other songwriters that we feel have the potential to write so we try them out.)</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As a newbie songwriter, Ortiz needed more confidence and struggled to determine whether she was capable of finishing the whole song.</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She was only used to writing poems, a chorus, or a verse part of a song. </span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ortiz even came to a point when she wanted to message De Belen to say she could not finish the song. </span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Fortunately, it really felt like summer when Ortiz finished the song for BINI.</span></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/5/2/exo-s-lay-praises-bini-on-china-s-show-it-all-1537"></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/5/2/exo-s-lay-praises-bini-on-china-s-show-it-all-1537">READ: </a></span><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/5/2/exo-s-lay-praises-bini-on-china-s-show-it-all-1537">EXO&#x27;s Lay praises BINI on China&#x27;s &#x27;Show It All&#x27;</a></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>‘Icing to the cake’ </strong></span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">De Belen next worked on the song with a team that included fellow hitmakers Paula Patricia &quot;Pow&quot; Chavez, Mart Sam “Mat” Olavides, Migz Cortes, and Rap Sanchez.</span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1715414635280Photo taken by_ Sophia Potenciano.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="ABS-CBN News team in FlipMusic studio with Pow Chavez, Jeli Mateo, Mat Olavides, Angelika Sam, Wilen Valdes, and Jeremy Mateo of FlipMusic."/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">ABS-CBN News team in FlipMusic studio with Pow Chavez, Jeli Mateo, Mat Olavides, Angelika Sam, Wilen Valdes, and Jeremy Mateo of FlipMusic.</span></span></span></span></div><p>&quot;Putting a song together is really teamwork,&quot; Chavez said.</p><p>Chavez shared that they supported the newbie Ortiz and added &quot;icings and toppings&#x27;&#x27; to the already delicious &quot;cake&quot; Ortiz had brought to FlipMusic’s table–making it more attractive and added something that people can appreciate more in &quot;Pantropiko&quot;. </p><p>Describing himself as the &quot;go-to producer when it comes to tropical sounds&quot;, Olavides updated the music to current sound. </p><p>The arranger also applied three main genres to the song: African, Latin, and Caribbean music. </p><p>It was during Ortiz&#x27;s school finals nearly a year since she began writing that she found out that her song was chosen to be part of BINI&#x27;s EP recording &quot;Talaarawan.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Pantropiko&quot; was released on November 17, 2024, then the tail-end of the rainy season.</p><p>Chavez added that no matter what season a song is released, when listeners find it &quot;catchy and beautiful&quot; it will eventually be appreciated and made viral.</p><p>Some songs that they wrote and composed through FlipMusic, such as Ron Henley&#x27;s &quot;Biglang Liko&quot; (2013) and Nadine Lustre&#x27;s &quot;Paligoy-ligoy&quot; (2014), also became viral more or less ten years after their release. </p><p>Another element that helped &quot;Pantropiko&#x27;s&quot; virality is its choreography. </p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/4/26/dive-into-bini-s-pantropiko-from-one-member-s-challenge-to-a-summer-dance-craze-1145">Dive into BINI’s ‘Pantropiko’: From one member’s challenge to a summer dance craze</a></div><p>The &quot;easy to remember&quot; steps of the song’s chorus part is meanwhile the brainchild of BINI’s youngest member and main dancer, Sheena Catacutan.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Hiling sa mga tala&#x27;</strong></div><p>Still unable to process &quot;Pantropiko&quot; reaching millions of listeners and topping in charts, the &quot;once a dreamer, now a hitmaker&quot; Ortiz is grateful for the opportunity given to her.</p><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBINIph.official%2Fvideos%2F1789550071527528%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0" width="267" height="476" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>&quot;Sobrang feeling blessed and thankful syempre sa FlipMusic, sa Star Music, and BINI for having &#x27;Pantropiko&#x27; as one of their songs sa EP nila.&quot;</p><p>(Feeling very blessed and thankful of course to FlipMusic, Star Music, and BINI for having Pantropiko as one of their songs on their EP.)</p><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FFlipMusicRecordsPH%2Fvideos%2F2769540893200311%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=560&amp;t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>Ortiz is set to release her first debut single &quot;Ningning&quot; under FlipMusic on May 29.</p><p>She said she was inspired by singer-songwriter Adie and the band Cup of Joe to write songs, adding that she wishes to collaborate with them in the future. </p><p>Her song has joined her inspirations&#x27; songs in Spotify&#x27;s Top 50 Philippines chart–with &quot;Pantropiko&quot; at #1, Janine Berdin and Adie&#x27;s &quot;Mahika&quot; at #22, and Janine Teñoso and Cup of Joe&#x27;s &quot;Tingin&quot; at #23 as of writing.</p><p>Ortiz said she was also able to balance her academic responsibilities and career aspiration..</p><p>&quot;Kapag gusto mo talaga [i-purse], parang laging may way and time for it.&quot;</p><p>(When you really want to pursue something, there will always be a way and time for it.)</p><p>To other aspiring student-songwriters like her, Ortiz&#x27;s message is to just keep writing and never doubt themselves.</p><p>&quot;Labas niyo lang nararamdaman niyo sa songs and eventually darating din sa time na makukuha yung songs niyo or mari-release din yan.&quot;</p><p>(Let out your emotions through songs and eventually the time will come when you will get an opportunity or the song will also be released.)</p><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/4/5/k-pop-group-unis-covers-bini-s-pantropiko-2128"></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/4/5/k-pop-group-unis-covers-bini-s-pantropiko-2128">RELATED: </a></span><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/2024/4/5/k-pop-group-unis-covers-bini-s-pantropiko-2128">K-pop group UNIS covers BINI’s ‘Pantropiko’</a></div>

<p>“Pantropiko”, the summer bubblegum pop anthem released in November that year and made OPM group BINI household names, was the first song composed by Ortiz, a film-major student.</p>

“Pantropiko”, the summer bubblegum pop anthem released in November that year and made OPM group BINI household names, was the first song composed by Ortiz, a film-major student.

Meet Angelika Sam: The student composer whose first song became BINI’s hit

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Meet Angelika Sam: The student composer whose first song became BINI’s hit

ABS-CBN News Intern,

Shannel Tanggol

Published May 11, 2024 04:41 PM PHT

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Updated May 11, 2024 05:19 PM PHT

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