After bagging five wins including Album of the Year at the recently concluded Awit Awards 2022, Ben&Ben returns with a new single that captures the essence of romantic love without forcing or expecting anything in return.
Setting itself apart from the conventional themes often associated with the subject, the nine-piece band encapsulates love that is earned through perfect timing and experience.
On “Dear,” Ben&Ben interprets a love song that is unapologetically bare in its messaging.
“We think it’s equally important to drop any notion of wanting to deliberately steer clear of potential sounds and themes we may have already done when being unapologetic and honest in songwriting and arranging,” the folk-pop collective says in a statement. “Like in love, the more you fight the feeling, the more one might feel internally dissonant.”
Penned by Paolo Benjamin and Miguel Benjamin, “Dear” serves as a reflection of the band’s collective and individual experiences with love so far and how one becomes stronger after going through bittersweet lessons in life. The song was recorded at A.R. Rahman’s Firdaus Studio during their time at Expo 2020 Dubai.
“Dear is a song that tries to capture the feeling of a deeper kind of romantic love; one that begins when a person surrenders the pursuit of a lover itself to a higher power,” reveals Ben&Ben.
From a production standpoint, “Dear” evokes the timeless feeling of nostalgia and earnestness, while capturing the sound of a generation drawn into ‘70s singer-songwriter calm and pop-rock vigor.
“Not only were we able to use their world class studio space and equipment, but we also had the pleasure of working with the stellar team at Firdaus Studio, including Peter El Khoury, Alexander Theux, Theodore Danso, and Ali Hassan,” says the multi-award-winning band. “Unlike most of our tracks that we record individually in the studio, we decided to record this one together as a full band, and we feel the final track really reflects that more ‘old-school’ feeling of looseness and authenticity.”
Ben&Ben hopes that music fans will connect instantly with the song and get a very valid answer to the question, “How do I know when I’m sure about somebody?” As the Paninindigan Kita act puts it, “We also just really hope this song connects people together in a way that they remember the people in their lives whom they can really call ‘Dear’ as well.”
Ben&Ben’s “Dear” is out now on all digital music platforms worldwide via Sony Music Entertainment. Watch the recorded live version here.
