Rhodessa and the hits of the halfway year

The year 2023 has passed its halfway mark and it is another rainy summer season again. Would you believe, in just like the wink of an eye, we are now closer to 2024 than we were to the New Year’s Day of this year. And as always, we now have the sounds by which this time will be remembered in days to come.

The carry-over tunes from last year remain strong. Leaders are Ikaw Lang by Nobita, Mahika by Adie and Janine Berdin and Pasilyo by Sunkissed Lola. New acts have joined the chart race like the engaging Uhaw by Dilaw and the light rap Elevate by Jeff Grecia.

Thanks to streaming platforms songs from two or three years ago got another chance to become hits like Umaasa by the defunked Calein and Fallen by Lola Amour, which has resumed releasing new materials. There are also Bahala Na by new heartthrob Keneniah, Pakiusap by boy band soloist Josh Cullen, and I Want You by the K-pop inspired SB19.

Other acts that made good showing these past six months are the harana boys Arthur Nery carrying over his Pagsamo, Zach Tabudlo with Pano and Ace Banzuelo with Muli. So did the bands like Sugarcane with Leonora and Alamat with Maharani. There are also interesting new acts like Sassa Gurl with Maria Hiwaga, Yno with Hangin, Iluna with Panaginip and from veterans at the hit charts like Al James with Ngayong Gabi and Moira dela Torre with Ikaw at Ako.

Hovering over this list of chosen ones from her ceiling perch is newcomer Rhodessa, who is singing Kisame. She is Rhodessa Marie S. Uy in real life and a recent college graduate. She was an indie singer-composer who started her career by uploading her self-made performance videos on the Net. Viva Music noticed her nice alt-pop sound and songwriting talent and signed her up.

Her first single release with a label was the cute Isa, Dalawa, Tatlo from two years ago. This is an upbeat pop tune about wanting to get out of the house, a feeling we all encountered at the height of the COVID-19 invasion. The song survived the pandemic period with a satisfactory showing and Rhodessa decided to come up with a new single. The result of that was the lovelorn Kisame where she goes:

“Nakatitig sa kisame/ kakaisip kung pa’no sasabihin sa ‘yo/ na gusto, gustong-gusto kita/ hindi nakita maalis sa isip ko/ ‘di maikaila na ikaw ang tahanan ko.”

Kisame is a strange one. Just think, at a time when pop music sales seem to have settled down with those aforementioned big names and seemed like it will remain so for quite a while, there came this young girl named Rhodessa with her song about deep unrequited feelings while drawing inspiration from whatever she saw in the ceiling.

I so get how Rhodessa feels. You know, you lie down on your bed, pillow under your head and then you stare at the ceiling while going over an experience you want to forget or to retain in memory for future playbacks. It was while thinking about such moments that Rhodessa composed a song which, of course, she titled Kisame, as in ceiling.

Sung softly with Rhodessa’s wistful tones, it was initially thought that Kisame would spend all its days just outside the circle of hits. Just one of those songs. And then all of a sudden it started trending and to the surprise of even Rhodessa herself Kisame topped the Viral 50 Philippines chart of Spotify.

Now, hopefully the song’s powerful viral presence, its over 6.2 million and still growing streams on Spotify and all those gigs coming Rhodessa’s way will bring Kisame higher up the hit lists.