Ben&Ben croons about forgiveness after a painful breakup

Ben&Ben is at it again.

The band’s newly-dropped international single The Ones We Once Loved is truly heart-rending that when Ben&Ben crooned it in a virtual media conference on a rainy afternoon, the hurtful emotions were deeply felt, adding to the melancholic, gloomy feeling of the day. The track is its take on forgiveness, admitting faults and mistakes of both parties, who are dealing with a painful breakup.

From the melodic instrumentation, the title, down to the lyrics, The Ones We Once Loved utterly captures the agony of saying goodbye to someone, as expressed in the lines, “But I apologize/ For coming into your life/ Just to break your heart to pieces/ And then leave you in the night/ I tried my best to stay by your side/ But who knew the rolling seasons would reveal that sometimes/ We aren’t meant to be the one/ So goodbye to the ones we once loved.”

“Because reality hurts sometimes,” Ben&Ben violinist Keifer Cabugao offered the blunt truth when asked about their sad music. “That’s what we love (about) what we do because we talk about the real things. Sometimes, it’s so hard to talk about it, right? So, why not just listen to it. At least, it helps you reflect and really think about life and all that.”

The Ones We Once Loved was penned by Ben&Ben’s very own Paolo Benjamin (vocalist) and produced by Johnoy Danao and Jean Paul Verona.

Paolo pointed out that there’s a wordplay in the song, as in the O-N-E-S we O-N-C-E, but the “deeper meaning behind it,” is that, “It’s like a letter to the people who have come and gone in their lives and parang it’s something that we rarely express, but we wanted to verbalize it more. A bit more in this song than we usually do na parang, ‘Oi, thanks. Sorry. Goodbye.’”

“It’s a song that owns up to one’s faults, makes proper apologies, but also expresses hurt, as breakups are often two-way things,” the nine-piece collective said in a statement. “It’s also one of the hardest songs we’ve written, because it requires the writer to forgive himself for his past and own up to his faults and mistakes. The painstaking process towards that state, the cycles of anxiety and catharsis that the writer went through, and the eventual expression of all of that in the form of this song, as an encapsulation of such a heavy journey, is what makes this song stand out among our other songs.”

“We are hoping that this song somehow helps people bridge that gap (with one self and the other person in the grieving process) and feel the importance of really letting go through a multi-faceted forgiveness: one of the other, and of the self,” they added.

The Ones We Once Loved also served as the group’s official single in support of its Philippine send-off concert and North America/Canada tour happening this year.

They dreamed of performing the song with Adele one day and hoped for future collaborations with Filipino-American artists, such as H.E.R., Olivia Rodrigo, Bruno Mars, among others.

The band members also expressed their excitement for the upcoming send-off concert on Saturday, Sept. 3, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Open Grounds.

Expect an “explosive, tasteful and colorful (musically)” performance from them, Keifer declared. “We’ve been rehearsing a lot, and ako nga I keep telling them na guys, come on, one more set and going through that whole set (again) ‘coz it’s really fun, right. Like we’re really excited to actually… The fact that we feel that energy and that fun sa rehearsals pa lang, we can’t wait to play and show it to everyone who’s going there.”

Bassist Agnes Reoma is equally thrilled as well and recalled, “While we are rehearsing, there’s a different kind of energy. But usually yung energy namin is really a reflection kung kumusta din yung audience and it’s gonna be the first time ever. Kasi nag-Kuwaderno concert kami last year, but that’s a different story because it’s online. But this is the first time na medyo pa sold out na tayo eh… nandun na tayo sa ganung number of Liwanag (fan community) na manonood.”

“Excited ako how are we gonna play na may ganung kadaming crowd na who knows our songs, so parang excited nga ako maging audience eh. Kung pwede lang maging audience,” she uttered.

With their hectic schedule, milestones, and attempt to make a break in the global music scene, how are they doing?

“It’s complicated,” answered Keifer. “To simplify things, it’s a mixture of (feeling) excited, kinakabahan and we go back and forth at the same time. Physically, we’re energetic, especially when we’re together. We’re also tired because we really (are) working hard. Not that it’s bad, in fact, yun yung simplest (description).”

“More than anything, we’re really excited as a band every day we get to wake up and then you know just how things grow right in front of our eyes, parang we’re really grateful na we get to observe this and really, you know, be present and live it out and experience it,” mused Keifer.

“Not just because of our hard work, but the hard work of all the people who (are) part of the team and also our listeners, Liwanag, who support us endlessly. And so I’d say we’re OK actually.”

(The Ones We Once Loved is out now in all digital music platforms worldwide via Sony Music Entertainment.)