Draft:Raining in Manila

"Raining in Manila" is a song by the Filipino rock band Lola Amour and the lead single from their self-titled debut studio album (2024). It was released on June 14, 2023, by Warner Music Philippines. Pio Dumayas and Raymond King wrote the track and composed it with David Yuhico. A city pop tune, "Raining in Manila" has an upbeat production featuring drums, guitars, and syncopated brass riffs. Its lyrics are about the feelings that ensue after a friend's departure to another country, inspired by Dumayas' personal experiences.

"Raining in Manila" peaked at number two on the Philippines Songs chart and earned the biggest streaming day and week for a Filipino song at the time. The accompanying music video, directed by Mairus Talampas, depicted Manila in a flooded state and focused on two lovers reconnecting with each other.

Background and release
Warner Music Philippines released "Raining in Manila" in June 14, 2023. Its lyric video was released on the band's YouTube channel the next day.

Composition and lyrics
"Raining in Manila" was written by Pio Dumayas and Raymond King, both of whom composed it with David Yuhico. It was recorded by Rener Serna at Spryta Productions, Inc. The song was mixed by Jorel Corpus and mastered by Jeff Galindo, which he had done at Bakery Mastering. Critics categorized "Raining in Manila" as an upbeat city pop tune, which was a style that inspired the song. It was described by Manu Dumayas as their "hardest song to play".

All band members contributed to the song's production with their associated instruments: Pio Dumayas on vocals, King on bass, Yuhico on keyboard, Angelo Mesina on trumpet, Jeff Abueg on tenor saxophone, on Manu Dumayas on trumpet, Raffy Perez on drums, and Zoe Gonzales on electric guitar. It also features strings, percussion, piano chords, syncopated brass riffs, and saxophone solos. The song contains breakdowns at two points in its duration. Kara Angan of Billboard Philippines thought it borrowed elements from other Lola Amour songs, specifically citing "Fools" (2017) and "Pwede Ba" (2018).

"Raining in Manila" was written for Pio Dumayas' friends, those who left the Philippines to pursue a better life. In the lyrics, Dumayas reminisces on a person with whom he had a close relationship and shows no signs of going back to Manila again. He continues to be concerned about them ("Cause it's been raining in Manila, hindi ka ba nilalamig? Mahirap bang mag isang nanginginig?") (lit. 'Cause it's been raining in Manila, aren't you cold? Is it hard to be shivering alone?'), and "wishes them happiness and [...] that they are doing well".

Reception
"Raining in Manila" came out at the time when the wet season was prevailing in the Philippines. Some journalists believed that this was an ideal period to release the song and that its lyrics about missing someone would be even more appealing at this time.

"Raining in Manila" became the first OPM track to simultaneously reach the top of Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube Music charts. On Billboard Philippines Songs, the song debuted at number 23 issued on July 22, 2023. On the chart's next issue on July 29, it reached a new peak of number two, behind Jungkook's "Seven". The song stayed on that spot for eleven consecutive weeks and became its ultimate peak on the chart. At one point in that time frame, "Raining in Manila" broke the records for the biggest streaming day and week for a Filipino song on Spotify. The track lasted for 28 weeks on the chart; its final appearance was issued on February 2, 2024.

Critical reviews for "Raining in Manila" were generally positive. Some of whom thought it delivered a "playful" production that contrasts the song's melancholy lyrics. Robert Requintina of Manila Bulletin said that it "beautifully captures the essence of being in love and missing someone, and the struggles that come with it". In Bandwagon list of the year's top tracks, "Raining in Manila" was featured—Camille Castillo lauded the efforts that was put into the song and picked it as Lola Amour's best track to date.

Sypnosis
The music video for "Raining in Manila" was directed by Mairus Talampas and produced by the Arcade Film Factory. The video's premise is a fictional reality of Manila in a flooded setting with continuous rain going on for 1427 days. The narrative focuses on a man named John (Jal Galang) grieving over his wife Sheila (Kat Galang), who went missing when the rain began. John reconnects with Sheila, believing that she turned into a "magic" gecko, and prepares an aquarium and a dinner to show his love for her. He later discovers that she has been abducted and tries to fight for his life to get her back. The video concludes with Sheila transforming into a human-sized gecko and the rain stopping.

Release and reception
The video was announced in a 30-second teaser released on Lola Amour's social media accounts on October 24, 2023, which depicts the band singing joyfully in a bangka during a flood. The teaser was met with mixed reactions from fans, with criticism for how it idealized poverty and the Philippines's experiences with natural disasters. The band responded to the teaser's reception and apologized for "not [being] sensitive enough" on the way it was presented. They added that fans should give the video a chance despite of how the teaser "greatly misinterpreted" it.

The video premiered on the band's YouTube channel on October 25, 2023; it raised over 50,000 views that day. In an opinion piece, Eric Cabahug of The Philippine Star commented that the video had a "playful, dark comedic tone" that made it "odd" to watch. He also criticized how it featured violence in a disturbing and superfluous manner that made the final scene "eerie". On the other hand, the video was included on SunStar Cebu list of the year's best music videos, where its author Christian Tugunon praised the production as cinematic and the story as creative.

Live performances and covers
Lola Amour debuted "Raining in Manila" during the "We Play Here" concert series on April 27, 2023, and dedicated it to the former bandmates Joxx Perez and Renzo Santos. The band reprised their performance at the Castaway Music Festival in May 2023. To promote the song after it was released, they embarked on the Raining in Manila Tour, which started at Manila on August 12 and ended at Parklinks on November 26. Aside from that, Lola Amour performed "Raining in Manila" live at The Cozy Cove, Rappler, and at the Wish 107.5 Bus, all of which were uploaded onto YouTube. They recorded an official performance of the song and an "Ambon" version at Spyrta Studio and uploaded them onto YouTube.

On January 19, 2024, the band performed an acoustic version of "Raining in Manila" during Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour.

Personnel
Credits are adapted from YouTube and Wish 107.5.


 * Pio Dumayas – vocals, writer, composer
 * Raymond King – writer, composer, bass
 * David Yuhico – composer, keyboard
 * Zoe Gonzales – electric guitar
 * Angelo Mesina – trumpet
 * Jeff Abueg – tenor saxophone
 * Manu Dumayas – trumpet
 * Raffy Perez – drums
 * Rener Serna – recording
 * Jorel Corpus – mixing
 * Jeff Galindo – mastering