With 47 concerts and nearly 90,000 tickets sold, Rozalén was the highest-grossing female artist on Spain’s national tour charts in 2024, according to the Asociación de Promotores Musicales de España (APM).

“It’s been years of nonstop work, starting in very small venues to now performing in Spain’s biggest arenas,” says Rozalén, an artist known for her intimate songs and a voice that evokes iconic Latin American singer-songwriters, despite being Spanish. “I think we’re living a really sweet moment, and maybe we’re reaching that point of being established.”

That idea of “being established” can also apply to Spain’s music market. Compact but powerful, the country that saw the international success of artists like Raphael, Joaquín Sabina, Joan Manuel Serrat, Mecano and, more recently, Alejandro Sanz, is now experiencing a new era. Rosalía is one of the most talked-about artists globally today, and others like Pablo Alborán, Melendi and Aitana are making waves internationally. At the same time, Spain’s robust circuit of concerts, as well as 900-plus yearly music festivals, ensures a steady flow of local, Latin American and international music within its borders.

Beyond its thriving market, Spain remains an inexhaustible creative force. After hitting its lowest revenue point in 2013 (159.7 million euros [$185.9 million]), its music market has been steadily growing across all sectors. According to Promusicae, by the end of 2024, the market was valued at 568.8 million euros ($662 million) compared with 519 million euros ($604 million) in 2023. Midyear data for 2025 also shows that revenue from music consumption in Spain increased by 10.4% compared with the first half of 2024.

Live music has also been booming. According to the APM, revenue from ticket sales reached 725.6 million euros ($844.5 million) in 2024, marking a 25.3% increase from the previous year and the third consecutive year of growth in the sector.

To celebrate this remarkable musical year, Billboard gathered five Spanish artists representing different genres, styles, generations and backgrounds, united by their impactful music: Singer-songwriter Alborán just wrapped up a Latin American tour in December; Ana Mena is starring in a new movie; Vanesa Martín is preparing for a tour of the United States and Latin America; Omar Montes is working on a reggaetón EP; and Rozalén is taking a well-deserved break after her exhaustive tour. All will be part of Billboard No. 1s España, the first Billboard No. 1s event outside the United States, hosted by Starlite in Madrid on Dec. 15.

What’s the current vibe in Spain and its music scene?

Pablo Alborán: I feel like Spain is in a phase of huge artistic energy — there’s so much new talent, bold ideas and a curious audience. That pushes you to be brave and keep growing. My new album, KMO, is both wild and classic. It has experimental elements but also a lot of roots. The music scene here is encouraging artists to explore and experiment more.

Ana Mena: We’re in such an exciting and positive moment — not just for music in Spain but for Spanish-language music worldwide. You can see it growing year by year. In Spain, there’s such a promising wave of young artists breaking barriers, something that used to be harder. But in the past five years, we’ve seen careers crossing borders.

Omar Montes: The music scene is growing like crazy right now because we’ve got so many urban artists who are killing it. Thanks to them, we’re reaching audiences all over the world.

Vanesa Martín: Spain’s music scene feels alive, awake, with young artists making a strong impact and an audience more open than ever to diverse sounds. That’s exciting. There’s this beautiful energy, like we’re all looking ahead but staying rooted in our identity.

Rozalén: There are more bands and projects than ever. There’s an overwhelming amount of festivals and music — it’s wild. But luckily, people are responding to all of it. There’s a big need to experience music. It feels like we’re in a sweet spot. Hopefully, it won’t burst.

There’s been a lot of talk about the explosion of live music in Spain. Do you feel the excitement surrounding that?

Montes: People are going to live shows much more now. For example, I spent half a million euros on the set design for my tour. I re-created my neighborhood — three stories high — and I bring my whole neighborhood vibe to my shows, like the village festivals. This level of detail wasn’t as common before.

Mena: There are so many festivals and opportunities to perform live. You see a lot of Latin artists; the lineups in Spain are packed with artists from all over the world.

Martín: Live music in Spain has become a refuge and a celebration. People want to connect, feel, experience, sing and share emotions together. That’s making live music bigger and more important than ever. It’s inspiring for me as an artist to be part of this moment, improving my performances and growing alongside it.

Rozalén: I’ve noticed nights in Madrid where there are five, six, even eight big concerts happening and they’re all sold out. I guess people, after not being able to embrace each other for so long, are eager to live everything fully now.

How has Latin music — meaning, music coming from Latin America — influenced your own music and the market in Spain?

Montes: Without Latin music, especially in urban and reggaetón genres, we wouldn’t have those styles in Spain. The pioneers of those rhythms — like Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam — set the foundation, and we’ve absorbed that and built on it.

Alborán: Latin music has always been a part of my life — I grew up with ballads, boleros and Latin pop. Its impact on the Spanish market has been beautiful because it’s created collaborations, cultural exchanges and blends that enrich everyone. It’s like a growing bridge. In my new album, for example, I experimented with salsa and merengue and worked with Colombian producer Julio Reyes, along with musicians from different cities and countries. That kind of diversity adds so much depth.

Rozalén: You can feel the Latin influence in my music from the very first album. Even though my music is eclectic, there’s always a Latin touch. Traveling has played a big role in that — I’ve absorbed so much during my trips. I’m really drawn to folklore and the roots of each place, especially the African roots that everything stems from. My music features norteño, ranchera, rock, cumbia, champeta, Cuban son — it’s all there.

Conversely, do you feel like Latin America and the U.S. Latin market are more open to Spanish artists now?

Alborán: Definitely. There’s a mutual curiosity that’s leading to amazing collaborations. I feel like Latin America and the U.S. Latin market see Spanish artists with more warmth and connection now. When doors open both ways, music becomes freer. Thanks to the Spanish language, music is music. It doesn’t matter where the artist is from unless their roots play a big role in the arrangement of the songs.

Mena: Things are definitely improving. Every time I go there, they treat me so well. I’m incredibly grateful. Of course, it takes a lot of hard work, just like in my own country. I started working when I was 8 or 9 years old, and everything I’ve achieved has been through sacrifice and consistency.

Rozalén: I think the connection is growing stronger. Spaniards now proudly say we feel like part of the Latin world, and I think Latin America sees us as siblings. The bond has always been there, but now it feels more equal, which I love.

Montes: There’s still room for growth. We welcome Latin artists more than they welcome us. Maybe they struggle to connect with our “flamenquito” vibe. I think mixing flamenco with urban genres like reggaetón, trap or Afrobeat can help make it more accessible.

What makes Spanish music or the current movement in Spain special right now?

Martín: It’s bold. It’s mixed. And it has a poetic touch that’s uniquely ours, blending tradition with modernity without losing its identity. There’s honesty and personality in what artists are creating, and that’s connecting with people.

Rozalén: It’s hard not to mention Rosalía. We’ve never had a Spanish artist who’s been so massive and international before. She’s huge and everyone is talking about her. And she doesn’t forget her roots or the flamenco essence, which is such a big part of Spain’s identity.

Alborán: Spain has a very unique kind of honesty right now. Our flamenco roots play a big role globally. I love seeing voices that weren’t mainstream before now becoming references. Early in my career, some radio stations wouldn’t play my music because my voice sounded “too flamenco,” but now it’s the opposite — they want more of that personality in my songs.

Ana, do you feel like there’s a pop comeback?

Mena: I love pop! I think there’s always room for everything. Urban and pop sometimes follow the same path. But it’s great to hear more organic classics, rock hits and older songs in the top charts. Maybe young people are discovering classics on TikTok or younger audiences have fewer prejudices.

What excites you about 2026?

Montes: I’m releasing a new EP with old-school reggaetón vibes, like the style of Héctor el Father. I want to go back to the roots and bring that sound back.

Alborán: I’m excited to keep creating without rushing, but with passion. I’ve got new songs taking shape, exciting collaborations, and I’m dreaming of an incredible tour. After a tough year with my family — one of my relatives underwent chemo and a bone marrow transplant but recovered — I’m entering the new year with hunger for experiences and opportunities.

Mena: I’m thrilled to finish my album and go on tour with it, visiting Mexico, Argentina and the U.S. again to promote my music. Plus, I’m getting back into acting. On Jan. 23, a MotoGP movie called Idols will premiere, where I play a tattoo artist. Fun fact: I didn’t have any tattoos when we filmed, but now I do!

Martín: I’m starting to spend more time in Mexico and I’m loving it. It’s such a multicultural, magnetic place. I’ve got a tour in Latin America and the U.S. coming in May, new songs and some exciting collaborations lined up.

Rozalén: For me, I’m looking forward to taking a step back after such a busy year and seeing what’s next.

Billboard No. 1s, in its first edition outside the United States, celebrates artists who’ve had hits on Billboard charts in Spain and beyond. This inaugural event will take place Dec. 15 at IFEMA Madrid as part of Starlite Madrid. Other performers include Rosana, Chucho Valdés, India Martínez, Nil Moliner, Ari Malikian, Arthur Hanlon and Yami Safdie.

Taylor Swift is practicing for her future cool aunt era. A day after celebrating her 36th birthday on Saturday (Dec. 13), Swift was in her usual spot on Sunday (Dec. 14) in the family skybox watching fiancé Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Los Angeles Chargers in what was a do-or-die game for the three-time Super Bowl winner and his on-the-bubble team.

And while the Chiefs struggled in the tough 16-13 loss at home in which quarterback Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and the team was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, Swift was busy making nice with her future nieces. TikTok videos from the singer’s latest visit to Arrowhead Stadium showed Taylor hoisting one of Kylie and Jason Kelce’s daughters onto her hip as Kylie held one of the couple’s other four children; Kylie and former NFL star Jason share four daughters: Wyatt Elizabeth, 6, Elliotte Ray, 4, Bennett Llewellyn, 2 and Finnley Anne, 8 months.

Though the result was not great for the home team, Swift had plenty to celebrate at the game, which took place just two days after the first two episodes of her six-part The End of an Era docuseries debuted on Disney+, pulling back the curtain on the career-spanning global tour. In the first episodes, we learn that the combination of the pandemic lockdown and her (ultimately successful) fight to regain control of her masters inspired Swift to dream up the sprawling tour at a time when live music was shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions.

It was the second week in a row that Swift has played supportive fianceé, coming seven days after she and longtime BFF Selena Gomez and writer/actress Lena Dunham watched the Dec. 7 Chiefs game, which the team lost 20-10 to the Texans.

New episodes of The End of an Era will roll out on Fridays, with episodes three and four due to drop on Friday (Dec. 19), followed by the final two on Dec. 26. Swift and Kelce got engaged this summer and at press time had not yet announced plans for their wedding.

(Editor’s Note: Billboard interviewed Rob Reiner in September about making Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead Sunday, Dec. 14, at their Brentwood home in Los Angeles).

Oasis’s Noel and Liam Gallagher aren’t this year’s only long-anticipated musical reconciliation.

As Spinal Tap II: The End Continues opens, it’s revealed that Spinal Tap bandmates Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) have been estranged for 15 years. While not actual blood brothers like the Gallaghers, the two musicians grew up together in England and had been pals since they were five.

The fortuitous timing is, of course, completely coincidental, Spinal Tap II director Rob Reiner notes, but he still gets a kick out of “life imitating art imitating life,” he says over a Zoom interview, sporting a Spinal Tap baseball cap and t-shirt. “In Oasis’ case, they’re real brothers, but with Spinal Tap, the two guys were best friends since they were little and break apart and come back together.”  The movie opens in theaters nationwide Friday (Sept. 12).

In the sequel to 1984’s This is Spinal Tap — the revered mockumentary about a British heavy metal band touring America as their fortunes are fading — Tufnel and St. Hubbins, along with bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), are forced to reunite because, as it is revealed after the death of original manager Ian Faith, the band is contractually obligated to play one more show.

“The emotional ballast of the movie is the relationship between the two guys. Now, many years later, they’re older. The same issues are happening, but it’s deeper because they’ve known each other longer,” says Reiner, who recreates his role as documentarian Marty DiBergi. “[The sequel] couldn’t be just a straight satire; it had to have some kind of emotional underpinnings. And it’s not easy because satire and emotion, they don’t like to be with each other.”

The original film wasn’t a box office success, grossing only $5.98 million — but over the decades, thanks to home video and word of mouth, it has become a cherished cult classic among musicians, comedians and music fans. At first, it did have a few detractors among rockers who felt it cut a little too close to home, Reiner says.

“Initially, you had people like Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and, God rest his soul, Ozzy Osbourne, they were not so happy with it because they thought we were making fun of their music and all that,” Reiner says, noting that many of the incidents in the film “we took from the real world of rock and roll: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers getting lost backstage; Van Halen demanding backstage there be no [brown] M&Ms.”

Despite — or perhaps because of– the film’s iconic status, the quartet never truly considered making a follow-up. “I mean, people approached us all the time to do a sequel, and we always felt like we did it, you know,” Reiner says. “We don’t want to do it again. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh god, we’ve got to do a sequel.’ Nobody ever talked about it that way.”

Then in 2016, Shearer filed a lawsuit against Vivendi and its StudioCanal division, which the other three later joined, alleging they had made less than $200 each on the mockumentary due to “Hollywood accounting.” The quartet asked for damages — but more importantly, to reclaim the rights to Spinal Tap. The case settled in a California federal court in 2020, allowing the filmmakers to move forward should they wish.

Once the lawsuit was resolved, Reiner, Guest, McKean and Shearer gathered at Shearer’s house in Santa Monica, once again broaching the idea of a sequel. “The first meeting we had we talked about, ‘Do we really want to do this, [given] the high bar that we were dealing with?’” Reiner says.

The film’s mythical status had only grown in the intervening decades: it’s now in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry — and Tufnel’s now-classic “These go to 11” quote, as he shows DiBergi his amplifier, is even in the Oxford English Dictionary to reference anything that goes to an extreme. At the real Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England (not the 18” replica in the first movie), a display wall with quotes from philosophers, scientists and poets about the ancient, prehistoric site includes Tufnel’s lyric, “No one knows who they were or what they were doing,” from the band’s masterpiece, “Stonehenge.”  “This fictional thing that we created — we have definitely invaded the real world,” Reiner says.  

Around their third meeting, the quartet landed on the basic theme of a forced reunion and decided to incorporate a plot point spurred on by another real-life event: Kate Bush’s 1985 song, “Running Up That Hill,” soaring to the top of the Spotify charts, and Bush earning her first No. 1 album on a Billboard chart after being used on Netflix’s Stranger Things: “We said, ‘Wait! What if some big musician is screwing around at sound check and sings one of [Spinal Tap’s] songs. Someone captures it on an iPhone, throws it on TikTok and it goes viral?’”

Enter Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, who appear as the superstars singing Spinal Tap’s classic “Big Bottom” at a soundcheck. Reiner had met the pair at Jeff Bezos’ annual Campfire retreat and had mentioned the possibility of a sequel. He then called them when it became a reality, and they were immediately in.  

Like with the first film, after basic ideas for the scenes were agreed upon, the dialog for second film was entirely improvised. Similarly, the quartet brought back the “Grimsby Method” to work out primary plot points: While creating the first movie, Shearer was dating a woman who worked at ABC News, and he brought home a small stack of promotional cards with then WABC news reporter Roger Grimsby’s face on them that had a blank back. “We had a big bulletin board where we put ideas for scenes and if we came up with something, we thought, ‘Does this warrant a Grimsby? Should we sacrifice a Grimsby to put the idea down since we have a limited amount?” Reiner recalls.  Though Grimsby died in 1995, McKean found his picture on the internet, and came up with similar cards while they workshopped the ideas for the sequel.

Other than a significant callback to Stonehenge, “The charge was to create a film that worked on its own,” Reiner says. “If you’ve seen the first one, there are little references that you might pick up, but if you haven’t, it works on its own.”

The sequel also continues Spinal Tap’s horrible track record with drummers, all of whom have either spontaneously combusted or died in unfortunate incidents, such as a “bizarre gardening accident,” with the most recent drummer succumbing to a lethal sneeze.

To find a new drummer, Spinal Tap held real tryouts — there are fake auditions for comedic effect shown in the movie — ultimately choosing Valerie Franco, a professional drummer who has played with Hayley Kiyoko, Halsey and Kylie Minogue, among others.

“We had a place at SIR [rehearsal studio] in Los Angeles and Valerie kicked ass,” Reiner says. “We thought, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’ And then we thought, ‘Well, why not? Let’s have a female drummer.’ She had never acted before, and she just took to it right away. “

The film features a number of cameos from rock royalty, including Paul McCartney and Elton John.

McCartney’s scene is based on a real visit that happened years ago when the members of Spinal Tap and the Beatle were both rehearsing for tours in the same facility in Burbank. McCartney dropped by and suggested they play a song together (Reiner thinks it was an acoustic version of “Start Me Up”). That scene takes a different turn in the film, “but came out of a real place that Paul McCartney stopped by to say hello.”

After improvising scenes with McCartney, Reiner declares, “He’s really funny. He’s glib. He was great. When [Dibergi] interviewed him, he didn’t know what I was going to ask him. We just started talking to see what comes out of it. Same with Elton.”

Similarly, John adlibbed his lines as he comes into the studio, and joins the band on “Flower People” and later on “Stonehenge.”

Both songs with John appear on Interscope’s The End Continues — a new album from Spinal Tap, also out Sept. 12 — which includes nine new songs, including “Rockin’ in the Urn” and “The Devil’s Not Just Getting Old,” as well as four remakes with John, McCartney and Brooks and Yearwood.

Given the title Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, could there be another sequel, especially since the film ends on a cliffhanger? “Who knows? We never know,” Reiner says, admitting he has a “love/hate relationship” with the characters.

But he does know that he wants fans to see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues in movie theaters for “the shared experience, to laugh with others. If you’ve seen the first one, I want them to feel nostalgic and to feel for the emotional part of it, which is the relationship with the guys,” he says. “We’re living in a rough time right now and [I’m for] anything that can make people have a good time and get some good laughs in.”

In 2025, no Filipino band has defined the sound of the era quite like Cup Of Joe. Their ascent from a tight-knit group of high school classmates in Baguio City to becoming the Philippines’ number one band feels like the kind of career arc reserved for fiction. Yet here they are: the year’s most streamed local act who sold out the Araneta Coliseum not just once, but five times — and creators of a phenomenon called “Multo,” which dominated the Billboard Philippines Hot 100 for 27 straight weeks and continues to rule the Billboard Philippines Top Philippine Songs chart for 35 weeks and counting. And at the inaugural Filipino Music Awards last October, the group sealed their place in modern OPM history, taking home song of the year for “Multo” and album of the year for Silakbo.

For a band that started in classrooms and lunch breaks, the scale of their success still feels surreal.

“Sobrang (very) unexpected,” vocalist Gian Bernardino says when asked how it feels to hold records that even legacy acts would envy. “Kasi if we talk about how we began, it’s a very, very one-in-a-million chance na mangyari sa amin ‘yun, kasi nga (that this would happen to us, because) we started the band for fun and we didn’t really expect or envision us na makakapag-achieve ng ganitong klaseng (to achieve this kind of) milestone.”

Fellow vocalist Rapha Ridao nods, recalling the band’s earliest days with the same clarity he brings to his lyrics. “Yeah, tapos andaming nagtatanong din na, ‘Anong sikreto? Bakit naabot sa ganito ‘yung banda?’ Wala naman talagang secret, eh — hard work and dedication talaga. Tapos dahil sa hard work naming lahat, sabay-sabay kami nag-evolve, gumaling sa craft namin. Tapos tinuloy-tuloy lang namin ‘yung kung anong gusto naming gawin. [We’re] very thankful na ngayon, nagkakaroon kami ng maraming chances to showcase what we have to everybody.”

(“A lot of people asked us, ‘What’s your secret? How did the band reach that level?’ There’s really no secret — just hard work and dedication. And because of it, we evolved together and improved in our craft. We just kept going in doing what we loved. We’re very thankful that we now have many chances to showcase what we have to everybody.”)

Carving a Scene in the North

The band’s roots are inseparable from the city that shaped them. Baguio’s creative pulse — its mix of quiet, cold air and a deep tradition of visual and musical artistry — forms the backdrop to Cup of Joe’s identity. While Manila long held the reputation as the country’s musical capital, the band’s rise has turned long-held assumptions on their head.

Lead guitarist Gab Fernandez has seen the ripple effects firsthand. “Parang naging effect niya — ‘di lang sa amin, pati rin sa mga ibang bands at sa mga ibang artists sa Baguio na dati hindi masyadong nabibigyan ng spotlight or ng audience… unti-unti ring nag-evolve ‘yung music scene sa Baguio — mas nagiging rich, mas maraming nadi-discover na mga artists na matagal nang nakatago doon sa Baguio.”

(“Its effect wasn’t just for us, but also for other Baguio artists that didn’t have the spotlight or much of an audience. The music scene in Baguio has evolved gradually — it has become richer, and more of them are being discovered, especially the ones that have been obscure for a long time.”)

Rhythm guitarist CJ Fernandez adds that Baguio’s artistic atmosphere has become a magnet for musicians from elsewhere. “Medyo ironic siya, kasi dati dito (Manila) ‘yung center ng lahat,” he explains. “Pero ngayon, ‘yung ibang artists na nandito, [sa] Baguio na ngayon dumadayo, kasi medyo matunog ‘yung name ni Kuya Shad (in-demand Baguio-based producer Shadiel Chan). Parang gusto rin nilang i-explore. May mga [Manila-based] artist friends din kami na panay nagtatanong na, ‘Ano bang meron sa Baguio?’ Natural na talaga sa lugar ‘yung artistry.”

(“It’s ironic, because Manila used to be the center of everything, but now a lot of Manila-based artists head to Baguio because Shadiel Chan has made a name for himself, so they want to explore creating music there. A lot of them ask, ‘What makes Baguio special?” Artistry is really just natural to the place.”)

And while the local gig infrastructure remains limited — “‘Yun ‘yung medyo (that’s the slight) constraint,” CJ admits — the city’s biggest strength lies in what it evokes in those who create there. Whenever the band returns home, something clicks.

Gab says it best: “Feeling ko nakakatulong ‘yun, kasi lalo na pag magkasama kaming lima doon, parang bumabalik ‘yung feeling na parang kami ‘yung mga high school students na gusto lang talagang magsulat ng songs na gusto naming isulat. Walang pressure — pure and sincere songwriting lang.”

(“I feel that all five of us being together in Baguio fuels our creativity, as it somehow brings back the feeling of being high school students again who just want to write the songs that we wanted to write. There’s no pressure — just pure and sincere songwriting.”)

From “Tingin” to “Multo”

Before “Multo” took over the nation, there was “Tingin”— the collaboration with singer Janine Teñoso that became a breakthrough hit that hinted at Cup Of Joe’s potential. But inside the band, there was no pressure to chase or replicate success.

“Every time na nababalitaan namin na nag-chart ‘yung song namin (we get news that our song is on the charts), we’re like, ‘Wow! Congrats [to us]!’” Gian says, emphasizing that they never approached writing with chart performance in mind. “Lagi lang talaga kami nasu-surprise (we’re all just sincerely surprised). It’s in that way that we maintain our authenticity.”

Rapha describes “Tingin” as a turning point — not for fame, but for clarity. “It gave us the idea that our songs could reach that much [of an] audience or make that much impact on people. Dahil sa ‘Tingin,’ nag-click [sa amin] na kaya pala ng music namin ‘yung ganito (it clicked in us that our music is capable of achieving such things). I guess nagtanggal siya ng limit namin (it took away our personal limits of what we hoped to achieve).”

Then came Silakbo, and within it, “Multo,” a song that transcended the band’s own expectations. Its longevity across charts is unmatched in 2025, and its emotional grasp only widened the band’s listening community.

The Album as Art, The Band as a Unit

In a landscape dominated by streaming algorithms, Cup Of Joe chose to build their identity around a full-length album — a deliberate statement in an age of singles and curated playlists.

“Para sa akin (For me), there’s something really deep and personal with making an album. Lalo na sa process — ‘yung lima kami sa studio, tapos nag-overnight (especially in the process, where all five of us are in the studio doing all-nighters),” Rapha explains. “Seeing ‘yung lahat ng effort and emotion na nilalagay namin sa lahat ng songs, may ibang feeling, eh. Mahirap siya, pero nung natapos, may satisfaction (seeing all the effort and emotion we put in all the songs gives a unique feeling. It’s difficult, but satisfying in the end).”

Keyboardist Xen Gareza expands on the significance of the format: “You can tell so much more [about] an artist through their album compared sa paisa-isang song lang (to single releases).” He then likens albums to feature-length movies, as opposed to YouTube shorts that aren’t as rewarding, adding, “May something talaga about sa length ng isang [piece of] entertainment or art (there’s something about the length of a piece of entertainment or art).”

Thematically anchored in the five stages of grief, Silakbo is a collection of songs that works as a narrative designed to be experienced from start to finish. “It’s a narrative of feelings na tinatago natin (that we keep hidden),” continues Rapha. “And ang hope namin (our hope) is by the end of listening to it, mas na-understand mo [ang] sarili mo, ang pinagdadaanan mo, and hopefully, may magawa ka in order to put yourself in a better space (you will understand yourself more and what you are going through, and do something to put yourself in a better place).”

What Comes Next

With five sold-out Araneta Coliseum shows in 2025 and a runaway hit that refuses to be let go of by its audience, Cup Of Joe seem destined for even broader horizons. After having just toured both North America and the Middle East before closing out the year, the band is preparing for a big nationwide trek in 2026. “Our next step would be to [get] in touch with our international fans,” says Gian at the time of this interview, which preceded both tours. “We’ll start from there.”

Rapha adds, “Gusto namin mag-reach out sa (We want to reach out to our) international fans while being there for ‘yung mga fans namin (our fans) here sa Philippines, kasi sila rin ‘yung rason kung bakit kami nakaabot dito (because they’re the reason we got this far).”

And if there’s pressure to surpass their No. 1 hit? Gab shrugs off the notion. “Wala namang ganoong [goal] talaga (it’s really not our goal),” he insists. “Siguro nag-top lang [‘yung ‘Multo’] para maging (perhaps ‘Multo’ topped the charts to serve as a) platform for the new fans to get to know us. We have so much [more] to offer them. Basta kami, tuloy-tuloy lang kami (We’ll just keep making music).”

“Tuloy ‘yung pagsulat, ‘yung pagkanta, kasi ‘yun talaga ang na-e-enjoy namin,” closes Rapha. “And just hope na ma-appreciate din ng fans ‘yung mga ginagawa namin, kasi kami, super proud kami sa lahat ng ginagawa namin.”

(“We’ll keep writing and singing, because that’s what we enjoy the most. And just hope that the fans appreciate what we create, because we’re super proud of all of it.”)