Healing is among the key words often mentioned in these numbing times. What a way for singer-songwriter Adjeng to address it by revisiting old wounds in her new single “If Only,” dropped in digital stores just last Friday, May 14. The song is a a ballad vocally anchored on Adjeng’s impassioned singing, which meant she had maximized her range to send across the message that is both timely and timeless.
“While I wrote the words to ‘If Only’ ten years ago, unearthing it during this pandemic made me revisit old wounds. To face the pain I may have nursed years ago made me feel refreshed to declare that, yes, we can actually say we are healed after giving ourselves time to fully grieve over a loss,” she revealed.
Approach-wise, nothing in the track implied it was put together during a pandemic when the people involved had to make do with remote recording. Adjeng and her songwriting partner Nino Regalado kept their integrity for lavish studio production intact. The two, by the way, are frequent finalists of national songwriting competitions, including Philpop and the Levi Celerio music festival. They also collaborated on Adjeng’s debut “O Sige Lang” released last month. They’re on such a creative streak they decided to make a follow up as quickly a monthly bill arrives.
Adjeng related, “Doing home recording demands that you use both right and left brain.
You’re the artist singing and the tech person as well, making sure you’re able to work with your collaborators in the most efficient ways possible. It’s a lot of work and I love challenges. It gives me room to grow.”
Adjeng may be technically new as a solo act, but she has been around, having established herself in the pop band scene fronting for Wink, which released a full-length album in the mid-2000s. The group, also slated to release songs in digital format, includes Junjun Regalado on drums, Adam Cesante on guitars, and JC Magsalin on bass.
Lyrically, “If Only” revolves around the title phrase with a hold as tight as the much-needed embrace these days, especially from someone who cares. She explained, “I sincerely wanted the title to be emphasized over and over because it’s the core message where emotions go around. I think those words aren’t easy to declare because they reveal strong regret. Often, we don’t want to deal with those strong feelings because that’s acknowledging our own weaknesses and mistakes.”
She added, “I like my song’s chorus to be easy to sing. I consider it a gift that the words I write blend well with the music that Nino composes.”
Adjeng worked with a director for her new song’s music video. The clip will be shared on her YouTube channel ADJENG Buenaventura.
If Adjeng’s debut solo was a sweet dance, this one’s a heartbreak glance.
“Saying the words ‘if only’ makes us vulnerable to remembering what words we said, recalling moments we wish we captured and clung to longer. Only when we can fully cry and find ourselves broken can we find a way to piece ourselves together again,” she explained.
That being said, listeners’ access to this song presupposes that some wounds are bound to be healed.
