For Ben&Ben, the real treasure truly was the friends they made along the way

Like Ride Home na marunong nang magskincare," was how Ben&Ben described their latest single Saranggola. If Ride Home kicked off their longstanding journey in OPM, this new track marks how much they've grown in the last eight years, as people but primarily as friends.

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It initially reads as friends going their separate ways: "Saranggola'y lilipad sa kahel na kalangitan, paalam na nga ba sa ating nakaraan?" goes the opening verse. But as the folk-pop band makes clear in our conversation, as much as the song grieves the march of time, it's also a love letter to the people who choose to remain.

Saranggola, after all, is the first Filipino song that the nine-piece has written for each other, almost a decade since their formation. Ahead of their The Traveller Across Dimensions World Tour, I chat with the members of Ben&Ben: Paolo and Miguel Guico (vocals, guitar); Poch Barretto (guitar); Jam Villanueva (drums); Agnes Reoma (bass guitar); Andrew De Pano (percussion); Toni Muñoz (percussion, vocals); Keifer Cabugao (violin); and Pat Lasaten (keys).

YOUNG STAR: Saranggola is a very joyful song, but it's also bittersweet. What drew you to write and produce a song about saying goodbye?

ANDREW: We reflected that we rarely get the opportunity to savor something before it ends, so it's about not waiting for things to end before being thankful. If you lost someone, what would you do if you knew two years earlier? What would you have done differently?

Did producing and performing Saranggola feel different, since it's so laden with your shared history?

AGNES: Nakaka-senti siya. Nung unang pinarinig sa'min ni Pao ('yung kanta), legit, it dawned on me na, shocks, sobrang tagal na nating magkasama. Sobrang dami na nating pinagdaanan. Para akong nabuhusan ng malamig na tubig na this is for life. When we were recording it, medyo gano'n din 'yung feeling. Sa season na 'to, ang dami naming nostalgic conversations, parang, "Uy, naalala niyo noong last time natin dito, ganyan," and even performing it live, I get this sudden rush of nostalgia and melancholy. Melancholy?!

The song is very anthemic, but also nostalgic. What inspired this sound?