Indie-influenced music duo reon based in Ormoc, Leyte is launching its debut single under Warner Music Philippines (WMP) dubbed “Back To The Times.”
Formed in January 2020, singer-songwriter and producer Noah Alejandre and singer-songwriter Reanne Borlea decided to name their group by combining the first two letters of their first names—“reon” in Kanji means “beautiful sound.”
The duo won first place at the PhilPop Songwriting Competition in 2020, getting a full signing deal with Warner Music Philippines in 2021.
“We have a lot of future plans for reon and which direction it is going,” said the group of how it is going for them after the national songwriting contest. “We were also both improving in our own ways in terms of production, songwriting and communication skills.”
With that, reon launches its debut single under WMP, “Back To The Times.” The track is “centered on the pureness and the joys of childhood,” according to the band.
“The song reminisces innocent and care-free moments where things are focused on childhood games without any sense of time and the burden of serious responsibilities.”
One of the biggest things about the track is that reon collaborated with Grammy-nominated producer Xerxes Bakker. Bakker is known for his collaborations with top acts Maroon 5, Snoop Dogg, Imagine Dragons, Cee-Lo Green, Ella Eyre, Tungevaag and Quintino.
“We feel honored to work with Xerxes who’s been in the industry for quite a while plus he’s someone who has worked with a lot of great artists. We thought of how big of an opportunity that is and we were looking forward to working with him when our A&R first introduced us to him,” said reon. The duo also revealed that they would also like to collaborate with Keiko Necesario, Leanne & Naara, and international artists like Charlie Burg, Clairo and Jeremy Zucker.
“When we first met Xerxes, we were kind of intimidated because of the fact that he’s a foreigner and being this multi-platinum producer we thought that maybe he’s gonna come off as strict and intimidating. But when we got to know each other, it turns out that he’s a really fun, humble and goofy guy. Not just that, he’s also very open-minded and very careful in improving our sound. He made our song so much better. Ten times better to be exact.”
Xerxes, on the other hand, is equally raving about reon:
“They gave me a pure and contemporary indie-pop vibe. They have such great voices combined with inspiring lyrics and melodies. Mega talents. We went effortlessly through the song. The aesthetic state of ‘Back To The Times’ gave me so much inspiration. I just needed to enhance the beautiful essence of the demo.”
“We feel honored and humbled to be a part of this big project because we have been given this platform to prove to the world that Filipinos are capable of a lot of amazing things, one of which is music. Filipinos have a lot of talents but recognition is what it lacks. Also, not only did we raise our flags as Filipinos on the international stage but we also proved to the people globally that youngsters have a shot in this industry. To inspire all the aspiring musicians that no matter what race, or what age you are, just dream big and you will get to where you’re supposed to,” reon added.
Stream “Back To The Times” reon now on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.