KZ TJ wed jason youtube — KZ Tandingan and TJ Monterde. Image: YouTube/Jason Magbanua Weddings

When Asia’s Soul Supreme KZ Tandingan wrote “Dodong” in 2019, she planned to just keep it for her partner and never thought of releasing it to the public.

“That was in 2019 after we proposed to each other. First time kong magsulat ng (It was my first time writing a) Bisaya lullabye,” she said in an online conference yesterday, Aug. 3.

“It’s very personal for me,” she noted. “I never meant it to be released a single kasi parang sinulat ko lang talaga ‘yun for TJ [Monterde] para kapag hindi siya makatulog ay may pakikingggan siya.”

(I never meant it to be released as a single because I just really wrote it for TJ, so that he will have something to listen to when he cannot sleep.)

She recalled that Monterde suggested back then that they should have a Visayan language song in their new “Simula” playlist, as they already have an English track (“Can’t Wait To Say I Do”) and a Tagalog one (“Simula”).

As they were exchanging ideas, she recalled having written “Dodong.”

“Hindi ko in-expect na mangyayari ‘yun kasi nga (I did not expect that to happen because) [I] wrote it for him, just for his ears,” Tandingan shared.

Monterde was insistent, however, and told her “hindi, i-release natin ‘yun (No, let us release it).”

“I was hesitant kasi I think ‘yung song na ‘yun ang pinaka-raw sa lahat na nasulat ko. Kapag pinakinggan mo siya walang palamuti, walang rap,” Tandingan stressed.

(I was hesitant because I think that’s the rawest song I ever wrote. When you hear it, there’s no embellishment and rap).

To go along with “Dodong,” which is a Visayan term of endearment for a young man, Monterde wrote for his part the song “Inday,” which is meanwhile a Visayan term for a young woman.