Featured image courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment.
MANILA, Philippines — Culture-shaping group, Ben&Ben, turns a new leaf for the new year as the multi-awarded nine-piece collective sets out to drop a new hymn, now with a more intimate yet optimistic note with the release of their new single “Duyan”—out now on all digital music platforms worldwide via Sony Music Entertainment.
Written and composed by frontman Miguel Benjamin and produced by longtime collaborator Ziv alongside Ben&Ben, “Duyan” is described to represent a profound, romantic bond that “defies distance, time, and obstacles”. The rousing pop-rock ballad talks about the real meaning of “true love”: deep affection, unwavering loyalty, and the choice to remain committed even when faced with challenges and adversities.
Benjamin notes that the song three days before his wedding, while sitting alone in his car, containing everything he wanted to “tell his then-future wife”.
“There are songs where artists write themselves in the music, and this is one of them,” he explains. “That day, the idea of fully offering oneself to another person stayed with me. It’s a love inspired by lifelong commitment, shared journeys, and selflessness. More than anything, I realized that I was ready to make the promise before God. I felt it in the deepest part of my heart.”
Musically, the band worked closely with their good friend and constant collaborator to honor the song’s emotional core, while “maximizing the soul and expanse of the band’s instruments to take it to the fullest version it was meant to become.”
Image courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment.
The song is part of the Mahiwaga Trilogy, Ben&Ben’s thematic arc on romantic relationships. The series began with “Pagtingin,” a groovy meditation on love at first spark and infatuation, and continued with “Araw-Araw,” a folk-pop ode to choosing your partner every single day. Rounding up these hymns, “Duyan” closes the chapter with finality, speaking of lifelong commitment and assurance.
“Two years after I wrote ‘Duyan’ and kept it as a very personal part of my life, it made sense for it to be put out there,” Benjamin furthers. “It also made sense for it to be the conclusion of the trilogy of songs/videos ‘Pagtingin’ and ‘Araw-Araw’.”
To no surprise, Ben&Ben has long since solidified the group’s berth in Philippine entertainment as one of the most important voices of OPM and in 2025, the acclaimed band made history as the first Filipino act to surpass three billion streams on global streaming platform Spotify, while also earning major wins at the 28th Awit Awards, including Album of the Year for their third studio album, “The Traveller Across Dimensions”, and Best Performance by a Group Recording Artist for “Triumph.”
As the year drew to a close, Ben&Ben’s music found itself intertwined with national consciousness when “Kapangyarihan,” their collaboration with SB19, re-emerged as a modern anthem in protest spaces, echoing public anger amid allegations of corruption surrounding flood control and infrastructure projects.
Actors Gabbi Garcia and Khalil Ramos. Video still courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment.
This track drop also comes with the release of a music video starring real-life couple and actors Gabbi Garcia and Khalil Ramos, who also appeared in the previous installments of the Mahiwaga Trilogy.
With Lunchbox Studios at the helm and with the direction of Daniel Aguilar, the wedding-themed music video brings the trilogy to a close through rosy, introspective visuals with a blend of magic and everyday life in the music video.
The band highlights, “We’ve been working with (Lunchbox Studios) for a while now, and for this video, we wanted to do a very intimate but expansive conclusion to the videos we’ve done before. We collaborated on a concept of a portrayal of the stages of commitment done in magical realism.”
For Ramos, returning to the project was a full-circle moment for the pair. “Thematically, it’s beautiful to see how the story progressed since ‘Pagtingin’,” shares the Filipino actor, singer, and filmmaker. “I vividly remember how we shot those two videos, and the film LSS. Gab and I grew alongside these songs. At every stage of the trilogy, we could deeply relate to it, because it reflected the different phases of our own relationships through the years.”
“It was so good to be able to work with our longtime friends Gabbi and Khalil once more in this music video. You could say we’ve both grown so much in life and in our careers ever since the last project we did together. It was great catching up and telling stories of the past and making new memories,” Benjamin shares when asked about the collaboration with the actors for this release.
Ben&Ben’s “Duyan” is out now on all digital music platforms worldwide via Sony Music Entertainment. Watch out for the music video of “Duyan” on Ben&Ben’s official YouTube channel
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