Comeback season for P-Pop is in full swing, and Press Hit Play just released their comeback single ‘Tell Me’ on January 21st. It’s a retro-inspired pop/disco/EDM song that takes us back to the big hits of the 80s. Not that we remember the 80s. Moving on.
Some Serious Self-Creation
PHP is living up to its former name, PowerHouse Philippines
It’s the first time in a long while that we’ve seen a P-Pop group lean so wholly toward American Pop music, especially retro pop. What we aren’t over is the level of self-creation that we see in Press Hit Play’s music. ‘Tell Me’ was written by JP and Zi.O, and we mean entirely. JP wrote the lyrics and the composition while Zi.O wrote the rap lyrics. Add in JP as co-producer and all six members as creators of the concept and storyline of the music video, and PHP is living up to its former name, PowerHouse Philippines. ‘Tell Me’ is their fifth digital single and a love song about doing everything for someone you love. It’s thinly based on ‘A Whole New World’ from Disney’s Aladdin, but with a serious spin.
Welcome to the 1980’s
[...] everything about the music video makes us wonder if it fell straight out of the early days of MTV
In case the retro vibes in the music aren’t enough, everything about the music video makes us wonder if it fell straight out of the early days of MTV. We’d call it kitschy if everything from the lighting to the expressions on their faces wasn’t so intentional. The six members are taking on different personas, sporting mullets and 80s rocker-chic style while calling forth some classic dance moves. The MV also highlights the playful side of PHP with recreations of iconic scenes from the hit 80s music videos and cult classic movies. It’s basically a guessing game of which scenes came from which classic video.
An OG Comeback
Press Hit Play are known in the P-Pop community as OGs even if they only just debuted last year
With energetic dance rhythms, hard-hitting rap, and lyrics sung in English and Tagalog, ‘Tell Me’ is everything the Pearls expected from their idols. Who can possibly be surprised by the sheer quality of PHP’s work when they consider the group behind it. Press Hit Play are known in the P-Pop community as OGs even if they only just debuted last year. Our eyes are on them, and everyone else’s should be too.
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