The Filipino band Lola Amour has certainly entered every Filipino’s radar. Their latest hit “Raining in Manila” is even gaining international attention, proving the group’s immense talent.
For those who’ve fallen in love with their music and want to dive deeper into the band, we’ve put together a list of Lola Amour facts that’ll turn you from casual listener to an avid fan.
Some of the Lola Amour members in high school.
Image credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
Lola Amour is made up of 2 rival bands from De La Salle Santiago Zobel School, namely Sinigang Na Baboy and Decaf.
But don’t be mistaken. There was no bad blood between these bands. In fact, the members were friends and were part of the same student music clubs.
Sinigang Na Baboy only had 3 songs in their repertoire when they were invited to perform in their school’s Buwan ng Wika event, so they enlisted the help of the other band, Decaf. Since then, they worked as one group and began performing at other school events and their schoolmates’ birthday parties.
Lola Amor, from whom the band was named after.
Image credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
The band adopted the name Lola Amour when they went to college. The name came from lead vocalist Pio Dumayas’ grandmother, Lola Amor.
In an interview, Dumayas revealed that his grandmother – who recently turned 92 – is fine with them using her name.
Image credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
In 2017, Lola Amour won first place at Wanderband, an annual indie band contest at the Wanderland Music and Arts Festival.
At that time, the rookie band had no clue it was a serious competition and only had one original song. Despite this, they emerged victorious, opening up new opportunities for them to showcase their talents at bars.
The band members shared that back then, their dream was just to perform at bars. In fact, they used to cover their own expenses just to make it to their gigs.
“Hirap ka na, lugi ka pa,” Mesina joked in one of their old podcasts. (“You’re already facing hardships and you’re still at a financial loss.”)
“But you got to perform, which was why we kept doing it,” added Dumayas.
Image credit: @coletures via Instagram
If you’re unsure of how many members Lola Amour has, we have an answer straight from the source. This dynamic band boasts a total of 7 members.
The lineup includes Pio Dumayas as the captivating lead vocalist, Raymond King skillfully handling the bass, David Yuhico adding magic with the keyboards, Angelo Mesina wielding the trumpet, and Zoe Gonzales shredding it on lead guitar. In addition, Jeff Abueg brings the saxophone melodies to life while Raffy Perez keeps the rhythm flowing on the drums.
The band’s former keyboardist Martin Kim.
Image credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
The band used to have a Korean member, keyboardist Martin Kim, who left the group in 2021. Prior to his official departure from Lola Amour, Kim also went on hiatus from the band in 2019 to render his mandatory military service in South Korea.
In 2020, due to the pandemic, Kim had to return to South Korea, where he discovered a new career opportunity that ultimately led to his departure from the band.
Before Kim left, he sang the Korean version of the band’s song “Pwede Ba”. His last song with the group is “Fallen”.
Lola Amour also had several other former members which is pretty common for bands. Incidentally, some of the former members left to go abroad which resonates with the message of their song “Raining in Manila”.
Video credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
The band’s latest single “Raining in Manila” is so catchy that it’s not just Filipinos who are jamming to it. The song has even caught the attention of several K-pop idols.
It began with ENHYPEN’s Jake playing it on his livestream, followed by Heeseung and Jay. The latter even did a short guitar cover of the song in one of his livestreams.
In response, Lola Amour made a Weverse account the band created a Weverse account to express their gratitude to ENHYPEN. They also released an English translation of “Raining in Manila” to make it accessible to new, non-Filipino-speaking listeners.
Besides the members of ENHYPEN, P1Harmony’s Jiung also covered the song on a livestream and live at their Manila concert on 9th September 2023.
Image credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
Lola Amour is setting new streaming records, thanks to their sensational hit single “Raining in Manila”.
Currently, the band proudly holds the record for the most number of streams in a single day for an OPM song in the history of the Spotify Philippines chart, boasting an impressive 841.3K streams.
As of writing, “Raining in Manila” has also spent 33 days at #1 on the Top OPM Songs on Spotify PH. The song has even entered the Viral Songs chart in various countries, including the UAE, Singapore, New Zealand, and Canada.
Image credit: @lolaamourph via Instagram
Catch Lola Amour at their Raining in Manila Tour, which kicked off on 12 August 2023 at the Open Air Auditorium in Rizal Park, Manila.
So far there have 8 schedules going as far as Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo, and Cagayan de Oro. The latest tour date is 28th October in La Union, with more tour stops expected to be announced soon.
The Raining in Manila Tour is only the group’s second tour following their Fallen Concert Tour last year.
As Lola Amour’s popularity continues to soar, it’s without a doubt that they will be bagging trophies at local year-end music award shows. And with their repertoire of impressing international artists, we might even see a collab soon!
Get to know more local bands with this list of sensational Filipino bands. Or if you prefer dance music, check out these rising P-pop groups!
Cover image adapted from: @lolaamourph via Instagram
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