Happy International Women’s Month, everyone! To kick off this month’s celebrations (although women should be celebrated EVERY.SINGLE.DAY), Sony Music Philippines has prepared a curated playlist which highlights local and international female artists and a series of videos/online performance from March 17-29, 2022. Included in the playlist is Ace Banzuelo’s Babae — a serenade to women all over the world!

Filipino singer-songwriter/producer Ace Banzuelo continues to carve out a new lane in pop music with the release of Babae, an ‘80s inspired track steeped in warm, analog-sounding synths and romantic lyrics.

The retro-infused jam serves as the official anthem for #BabaeAko, an International Women’s Month campaign by Sony Music Philippines which aims to put a spotlight on women and female artists under the label’s roster through several online and promotional activities this March 2022.

According to the Alive hitmaker, it’s an honor to lend his platform to an important cause that empowers women in creatives who have long been deprived of equal opportunities.

“Babae was already finished months ahead and it was set to be released earlier than the target date,” says the 21-year-old artist. “When the team approached me about the possibility of using my song as part of a women-focused campaign, I immediately said yes. I’ve worked with many talented women all my life, and it’s about time that we recognize their legacy and how they have contributed significantly in pushing the culture forward. They are as great or even as better than their counterparts if truth be told.”

The music video of Babae is in fact, helmed by Katrina Arciaga, a budding female director who has worked with Banzuelo on several projects before.

The visuals tell a story of a person earning someone’s trust. In Banzuelo’s words, it’s a “sweet, magical and mysterious” metaphor on the various stages of liking someone, including the challenges that come with it. 

“I came up with the playful concept last minute actually,” the eclectic pop phenom shares in a statement. Aside from its interesting music video concept, Banzuelo also takes pride of writing a multilingual song that highlights the poetic beauty of Tagalog and Cebuano, with a generous sprinkling of English, Japanese and Spanish.

To make this possible, the talented newcomer asked help from friends and family in taking into account preciseness and proper word usage when it comes to writing the lyrics of the song: “I always felt that adding those little language twists would add an interesting layer to the track.”

Babae is Banzuelo’s follow-up to the sparkly bop Alive, which kicks of his new era with genres that range from K-Pop to city pop, ‘70s disco to dance music. To date, Ace has racked up more than 12 million streams on Spotify alone, and is slated to release his full-length debut album this year.

“Babae” is out now on all digital music platforms worldwide.

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