Playlist #12: The only constant is change, yada yada yada

Returning to my favorite city after five years reminds me that a lot of things have changed. Thank you, pandemic. Thank you, national security. Thank you, me.

The last time I went to Singapore—well, before a couple of months ago—was seven years ago. It was a layover on our way back to Manila from Kuala Lumpur. (There are direct flights, but Singapore Airlines tickets were on sale, so it’s a no-brainer, really.) I remember two things from it: it was the first time I had tried cendol (think the Korean bingsu, but with green jelly strips made of rice flour), and I had a broken belt, which meant my pants were falling as we made our way across three countries.

On the other hand, I got to visit Hong Kong more. At one point I was there every year; in one year I was there twice in one month. Most of those trips were for work—I attended a conference, the same reason I was in Hong Kong last month—but I still had enough time to explore my immediate surroundings. I mostly did that on foot, walking from my hotel to the edge of Victoria Park and back, and then to the Monocle stop on the other end of Wan Chai and back.

It’s no surprise that Hong Kong is my favorite city—I’ve been there a lot! Funny, because as a kid I was convinced I would like Singapore more. Growing up just outside Manila, you had the feeling this place is too chaotic and you can be in a place where everything just works. Whenever my father traveled for work I always asked for maps (and newspapers, but that’s for a different day) and I was fascinated at the (not accurate) idea that all of Singapore’s roads are one-way. Also, they had a train map, and my home city barely had any! That fascination got me through in my first few visits to the Little Red Dot—I stayed there for a week in some instances—but I eventually realized its attempts to be a utopia has made it boring. And its attempts to seem exciting through flashy structures just highlights it. Hong Kong, on the other hand, has kept enough of its grit to make it a little more exciting. It also helps that it’s generally cooler.

I haven’t been there since 2018—thank you, pandemic—and yet I was surprised at how I still knew where I was going without relying on a map, never mind that I was staying in a different hotel. I suppose it’s my apparent sense of direction, but it’s also because I’ve been walking to the same places all those years. Psychologists say what matters most is not the amount of brain cells you have, but how strong are the connections between them. They must be firing on all cylinders as I rediscovered the places I’ve been to before, and visited some that I had taken for granted, like that banyan tree at Dominion Garden (thank you again,

Dr. Kathleen Waller

) that tells me I’m near the Monocle shop, or the Pawn, an old building that still stands proudly amidst the modern buildings (and foreign burger chains) at Johnston Road.

But then I realized that a lot of things have changed after all those years. For one, I was a different person at the time. Not that different, really, unless you call the end of a long-term relationship a massive personality-altering thing. But I found myself trying to figure out if the places that I have been going to are still worth going to, because my reference points were from a different version of me. Like, there is this art store tucked away in a high-rise along Lockhart Road. It was the only place I could buy Copic markers, when the ex talked about nothing but those. And then I made the mistake of buying a blue marker—she hates blue. Anyway, I went to that store last month. I’m not sure why I felt I had to do it. I wasn’t even going to buy anything.

Also, Hong Kong itself is changing. It’s entirely possible that the romance is wearing off now I have seen enough of the city, but there definitely are other factors at play. My first business trip happened right at the end of the Umbrella Revolution in 2014. While the authorities had dispersed most of the protest sites, I was still able to walk past one at Causeway Bay, smack in the middle of the shopping district’s busiest streets. It was the last one to be dismantled—without the violence that marked other dispersals—in December of that year.

I was supposed to visit the city in 2019, but was not allowed by my bosses, because of that year’s protests against the city’s new extradition laws. Those felt more widespread and intense—I remember stories of citizens refusing to use their Octopus cards to pay for their commutes, for fear of being surveilled—and from my vantage point, it felt like a turning point.

Now, on Hong Kong radio—I must note that I listen to public broadcaster RTHK, because it has an English station and I really like the Pop Fugitives on a Sunday—I hear “March of the Volunteers” at eight in the morning. I hear a lot of talk about how “patriots” should “strive to win the votes” in upcoming (well, not by the time this is published) elections. And one of the leaders of the student protests in 2019 announced she is not returning to the city, choosing to stay in Canada. I don’t think I heard it on Hong Kong radio. I first saw it on a Singaporean news channel—of which there really is only just one, come to think of it.

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Ah, damn, I said I would write more about the music on my playlists.

This one’s different, in a way. Whenever I do these playlists some songs stick out to me and I end up focusing on them, something that came in handy when I recently did a “reboot” of the Once Monthly’s format. Most of the songs on this month’s playlist, however, came together because I thought of honoring the 50,000 steps I apparently took across sixty hours in Hong Kong. My doctor would be happy, momentarily, before saying I should do more.

The starting point, oddly, did not come from Hong Kong. I watched Mix Fenix perform earlier in the month—you may have seen photos on Instagram—and since she’s the only act I hadn’t heard of up until that point (Ysanygo and Nameless Kids were also on the bill) I thought I’d put her new single, “Two Feet In”, in. She said she wrote it during the pandemic; I couldn’t help but think of, well, other things.

And then I thought I could segue it with the Ting Tings’ “We Walk” because, well, I walked, and the next thing I know, half my playlist was about walking and generally evoking the feeling of rediscovering your favorite city.

But then again, a lot of the stuff that end up in my playlists—and by extension, most of the songs I’ve written about on the old music blog—are the products of serendipity. I mentioned that I listen to a lot of foreign radio, and I pick up a lot of songs from there. Although, in Maki’s case, it’s local radio—I mean, he is a Filipino artist, a singer-songwriter whose ethereal, almost-indie sound belies the fact that “Saan?” is a very accessible, radio-friendly track, never mind if you haven’t been to the places he sings about.

It is a song about lost love, referenced by the places the former couple used to go to. And despite the fact that it is released under a more forward-looking label (Tarsier is also home to the aforementioned Nameless Kids) it’s a song that does not recognize social class, at least ideally.

Sa QC, sa UP, sa kalsada ng BGC
In QC, in UP, in the streets of BGC
Pagkalipas ng ilang taon
After many years
Makikita mong walang tinapon
You’ll see nothing was thrown away
’Di ko binaon bagkus tinanim
I didn’t bury it, but planted it
Sa aking puso at isip
In my heart and mind
Nung gabing iniwan mo ako
The night you left me
Habang buhay na ‘kong maghihintay sa’yo
I will wait for you for the rest of my life

I swear the thing about places you used to go to is not a factor in why I added it to this playlist. It was there before I went to Hong Kong!

Another song that’s been popping up and seemingly following me lately, no matter what (foreign) station I listen to, is Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control”. It’s a few months old at this point, as is his album I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1), but I missed it in the lead up for some reason. But then, I always have space for an aggressively chunky soul track. On the other end of the spectrum, Daneshevskaya’s “Challenger Deep” didn’t follow me around—only heard it on one radio station—but it did stay with me. (Look, I was able to spell Anna Beckerman’s project name from memory!) Must be my mindset when I heard the languid beginnings and somewhat spike endings of the song.

And yet, in the end, you go back to the familiar. I mentioned GFriend’s “Crossroads” in last month’s playlist. I’ve been playing it on loop since I published it, so it ends this whole thing. I suppose change is constant, but staying still in some aspects is an option we can take… if only it wasn’t so frowned upon.

I think this playlist is good for walking your own 50,000 steps, too. However, I did test this out while lying in bed, so I’m afraid I can’t back that up.

Before I end, an announcement: I am moving the drop dates for my new playlists to the second Friday of the month, so the next one should go live (and in your inboxes) on 12 January. I’ll explain a bit more in a post I’ll be sending out in a couple of weeks. As always, you can keep up through the Once Monthly’s socials, or you can email me with song recommendations at nicksyoncemonthly@gmail.com.

And with that, all that’s left to me is to greet you a happy whatever-end-of-the-year-thing-you-celebrate. In my case, it’s Christmas, so may you have a happy Christmas, and thank you for being part of the Once Monthly’s first year! Let’s do it all over again… as if we haven’t.

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On the playlist

• Darwin Deez—“Up In The Clouds”
  Darwin Deez (2010)

• Benny Sings— “The World”
  Young Hearts (2023)

• Mix Fenix—“Two Feet In”
  single release (2023)

• The Ting Tings—“We Walk”
  We Started Nothing (2008)

• Haim—“The Steps”
  Women in Music Pt. III (2020)

• Fleetwood Mac—“Everywhere”
  Tango in the Night (1987)

• Yard Act—“Dream Job”
  Where’s My Utopia? (2024)

• Surfaces—“Cloud”
  single release (2023)

• The Go-Betweens—“Streets of Your Town”
  16 Lovers Lane (1988)

• The Staves—“All Now”
  All Now (2024)

• Phoenix—“If I Ever Feel Better”
  United (2000)

• Daneshevskaya—“Challenger Deep”
  Long Is The Tunnel (2023)

• Teddy Swims—“Lose Control”
  I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1) (2023)

• Maki—“Saan?”
  Tanong (2023)

• John Mayer—“Perfectly Lonely”
  Battle Studies (2009)

• GFriend—“교차로” (Crossroads)
  Labyrinth (2020)