Filipino Band Lola Amour Is Never Afraid of Being Themselves

Intense heat greeted concertgoers as they lined up to enter the Globe Circuit Events Grounds in Circuit Makati last Saturday, April 13 for Lola Amour’s Album Concert. Despite the 36° heat, fans were eager to enter the concert grounds and showed up at the venue hours before the gates were set to open at 4 PM.

Lola Amour also braced for the heat, with most donning a sando & button-up shirt combo while the rest sported button-up shirts with Tito-esque patterns. Still, the band admits that without the help of their stylist, Flo Trinidad, they would typically wear simpler clothes.

Because of this, the eight-member band (composed of Pio and Manu Dumayas, Raymond King, David Yuhico, Zoe Gonzales, Angelo Mesina, Jeff Abueg, and Raffy Perez), Manu quipped, has the reputation of “being the most underdressed band.”

“Comfort is King,” David said, while Raymund added: “I guess we’re not visuals.”

True, we may not be able to imagine them as your typical K-Pop boy bands with designated “visuals,” still Lola Amour has their own character that their fans, or Apos, admire. And yes, while they’re aware of their “conyo” reputation, Pio simply said that they don’t pay attention to those comments.

“We stay [true to] ourselves. Be conscious, but not too conscious. Be in good taste; don’t offend anyone. But also don’t compromise your own individuality. The way we grew up is the reason why we make music like this,” Pio said.

“They’re just words,” Ray said. To which, Pio joked: “They’re just salita,” swiftly remarking that it was a joke as the room erupted in laughter.

With their relaxed nature, it seems Lola Amour has either settled into their fame with ease or is unaware of their popularity. And it seems to be a mix of both, as Pio said that there’s no time for them to reflect on their success.

“It’s cool at the start, but we just keep working and doing what we have to do. It gets busier, you get press, but most of it’s still the same,” Pio said. David added that their day-to-day remains the same.

Still, it’s not like the band denies the almost-overnight success of their hit single: “Raining in Manila.” On Spotify Philippines, the chart-topping single earned the most single-day streams for a Filipino song last July 2023. It kept racking up streams and went viral on social media channels (particularly TikTok) as its release coincided with — you guessed it — rain in Metro Manila. The song was officially released on June 16, 2023, and during that month, Manila experienced 11.2 inches of precipitation spread across nearly two weeks.

Rain has come and gone, but the song remains a massive hit. British rock band Coldplay held their concert at the Philippine Arena on January 19, 2024, during which Chris Martin sang the first few lines of “Raining in Manila,” eliciting a roar from the audience. He then invited Lola Amour onto the stage with him and they played the rest of the song together. For fans of both bands, that moment was like a fever dream come true.

When asked if the band feels any pressure about creating another hit song, Pio admitted that he did feel like the band needed to come up with something more: “[Raining in Manila] is our first hit song — I mean, 2nd hit song, but the first of that scope since umabot ng (it reached) Coldplay. I mean, it can’t be the peak [of our career]. But after a while, you just keep trying [to create good songs]. If you keep overthinking it, wala kang mapapala (you won’t get anywhere).”

And create good songs, they did. The band launched their namesake debut album on April 10, 2024, including nine tracks (including the hit singles, as well as “Namimiss Ko Na”). Ray said that each song in the album sounds different from one another.

“We have disco, funk, ballads, something borderline rapping [and] gospel. A lot of experimental stuff,” Ray revealed.

David then recommended that people listen to the album as a whole, “It will take you on a journey. It starts off [on a] high energy [and] fun, then the energy dips but the emotions increase towards the end.”

Pio also adds that while fans can still expect “cute” lyrics, the themes are more mature than their previous songs. They tackle mental health twice in the album and even the love songs are based off of real-life experiences, rather than blanket, all-encompassing songs on love.

One of their songs, “Part II: Bliss,” Pio said, was written for their high school classmate who went through depression and eventually took his own life. While it was an “out of character” topic for the band, Pio explained that they were very respectful in creating the song, paying close attention to every little element of the song that aimed to convey what their classmate was going through.

“We have [his] family’s support and when the sibling of our friend heard the song, he cried. [The family] will be here today, actually,” Pio said.

Having these songs in the mix is partly the reason why the band decided to create an album. While they initially thought releasing an album was merely a “formality,” they eventually realized that the process changes a band in a good way.

“You can explore and experiment with ideas that you can’t with just a single. ‘Cause you don’t have the [same] worry of promoting [it]. ‘Cause it’s together with other things that are a part of the whole,” David said.

Another reason for the album was because of the upcoming departure of Raymond King. Pio said that it became the goal of the team to release an album before he left. Although the vocalist stressed that the album was not rushed (and was even supposed to be released last year), they simply had to focus on promoting “Raining in Manila” when it exploded.

When asked about his reason for leaving, Ray said that he wants to continue running the family business: “Ayaw ko ‘yun pakawalan (I don’t want to let that [family business] go); there’s a lot of responsibility there. So I’ll be doing that and even though I’m not with Lola Amour, the music for myself won’t stop. I don’t know how that will be, or when that would be, but I love music so I’ll keep doing that. Bahala na (We’ll see).”

For the band, Pio admitted that they’re sad but at the same time, happy for Ray. He added that the bassist has taught them everything he needed to teach Lola Amour and the band is ready for his departure.

“Dapat lang (You should be),” Ray quipped in response.

For Lola Amour, the future has never looked brighter and there is a lot more in store for the eight (soon-to-be seven) man band. While nothing’s set in stone yet in terms of future singles, music videos, or collaborations with other artists, Pio did reveal that they’re working with PLAYERTWO.

“Nothing set in stone, but we do want to make a collab with [PLAYERTWO] and they do want to collab with us. We hang out and try to make music. Nothing too special yet, we’re still getting to know each other in that way. But sana (hopefully), soon,” he added.

Even though the band is mum on future plans (but they did announce the release of their Deluxe CD Set this June and the vinyl album in September), there’s no doubt that their fanbase will only grow bigger. And while Lola Amour said they “never chased” success and are merely lucky, they are sincere about connecting with their Apos, and not just through their music.

Pio said, “There’s a level of sincerity that you have to have to stay connected with your fans. A lot of our fans are our friends; [they’ve] been with us since 2018. Sometimes we hang out with them after gigs and they help us with our initiatives. We give them the attention they deserve cause they’ve been helping us all these years. Lahat naman ‘to, syempre (All of this, of course) we did the heavy lifting, but a lot of it is because of the fans.”

As a sea of Apos flocked to the concert grounds to see Lola Amour, it’s clear that they’ve formed a genuine connection. One that, hopefully, stands the test of time.

Any Name’s Okay and Cup of Joe were the opening acts at the Lola Amour concert, while PLAYERTWO and DJ Marco Molina ended the concert with a bang. Lola Amour will also be hosting a sold-out album launch event this April 27 in Draft Punk, Cebu City.

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