The iconic Maris Racal starts off 2022 with her latest single "Pumila Ka" featuring Raven! The new duo talked about the process of making the song, the story behind it, and their future plans in music on All Out with Rico and Karla.

Maris has spent her new year preparing the release of her witty and empowering single titled "Pumila Ka". Maris shared that her new single was supposed to be released in 2021 but her schedule was really packed with her acting projects. Maris is one to be really focused on her music promotions, but couldn’t due to her busy schedule, which made her decide to release the song this year.

"Pumila Ka" is heavily inspired by a famous Filipino internet slang, which is mostly used in the world of fangirling. It’s an expression used by fans to other upcoming fans saying “Get in line!" when it comes to stanning artists/idols.

The song was heavily inspired by a funny experience Maris had when she started to fangirl over Alice In Borderland star Kento Yamazaki. After tweeting her thoughts about the actor, a lot of people reacted jokingly saying “‘Te, pumila ka!” saying that these other fans were the “first one in line”. 

In another perspective, it also means empowering oneself, working hard for your dreams and waiting in line for the destination. "It's all about celebrating your territory, celebrating where you are in life." Maris quoted.

In terms of her music, Maris is always hands on with the creative process. She always has ideas on how she wants her music to play out, even saying that it is her favorite part in releasing songs. Maris describes it as "very anxiety-inducing but in a good way".

Maris also decided to shoot a music video to accompany her single, making the song extra special. She wants to spoil her followers with content for her song. The making of music videos is usually a creative process and for this one, she brainstormed with director Treb Montreras (who also directed her music video for "Ate Sandali"). Maris is thankful for director Treb making her vision come to life as well as giving out ideas on how the music video would look, resulting in the "Pumila Ka" music video, a tribal, ethnic element with a futuristic vibe.

Maris shared about the songwriting process of the song – it was actually a collaboration between her musical other half, Rico Blanco! Maris expressed how she has always wanted to make a danceable, upbeat track, and Rico explained that a beat like that is called "dancehall and afrobeat.” Rico then started playing chords in those beats and Maris just randomly sang the chorus of the song which resulted in the making of "Pumila Ka". Perks of having a partner who is also well-rounded in the world of music! 

Maris then decided that the song needed a rap verse and instantly thought of musician and rapper Raven, as she was in awe of his talent in rap lyricism. Raven also shared how he was ecstatic when he was tapped by Maris to collaborate on the song. The songwriting process for Raven was quite easy as both Maris and Rico Blanco immediately gave his lyrics a green light without much revisions needed. 

What made Maris pick Raven to work with on "Pumila Ka"? Maris spilled that even before Raven gets his songs released, Maris already gets to listen to his songs first hand, which according to her are LSS-worthy. She already developed a deep liking to his works, making him stand out and eventually be hand-picked by her to collaborate with.

Raven also got inspired by real life experiences in relation to "Pumila Ka'' when he first listened to the demo track, citing school experiences of students always lining up for enrollment, even cutting in line – and on a deeper perspective, about how falling in line is a part of life's journey. He combined school stories and the story of life into one great rap verse! 

What can fans expect from these talented artists? Raven has kept mum so far in terms of releasing an album but for now, he has released several amazing songs and will be coming up with more this year. For Maris, she hinted on releasing a canned performance of "Pumila Ka" with Raven and even assured that they’d both be planning on something (a live performance, maybe?) once the situation gets better. Definitely something to look forward to! 

Watch Maris Racal and Raven on All Out with Rico and Karla here:

We also had Raven on the Concert Series last May, 2021! Check out his performance on the RX93.1 Youtube channel!