KZ Tandingan on husband: What did I do to deserve this kind of love?

KZ Tandingan’s newly-dropped single Dito Ka Lang is an ode to her husband, singer TJ Monterde.

The earnest love song Dito Ka Lang was released under Star Music and will be part of KZ’s upcoming album Soul Supremacy II.  The tune, which combines soul, R&B and rap, is special to KZ because it tells her own personal love story.

“For the past 10 years, whenever I would be asked to interpret a song, I’d always ask the songwriter the story behind it because I always try to put myself in the shoes of kung sino man yung dumadaan in that (certain) situation,” she said in a press conference.

“For this particular song, this is really my story. I’m telling my story but may tono lang siya. I didn’t have to talk to anybody to tell me what’s the concept behind it (or) what’s the message (or) what’s happening in the song,” she added.

The X Factor Philippines Season 1 grand winner maintained that Dito Ka Lang is “really just me and my way of showing who I am and what I’m feeling for my husband through a song, which is a language I think best shows who I am.”

KZ came up with the chorus while in the bathroom. She recalled, “It was just a chorus. As in. I sang it while I was in the… All the best songs are written in the bathroom. I was in the bathroom and then I chanted the chorus over and over again.

“I shared it with TJ. I told him, ‘Feeling ko bagay ‘to kay ganito, ganyan ganyan.’ I didn’t see the song for myself but for other artists,” she said.

It was her husband who encouraged her to record it herself. However, she said it ended up being shelved as “I didn’t finish it.”

Shortly after, TJ went to Canada for a music tour and stayed there for more than two weeks. It was the first time that the couple were apart for weeks since they started dating nine years ago. During that period when TJ was away, KZ realized how much she missed her partner, saying, “I felt that my life has lost direction.”

So she revisited the track. “And every time we post something or a photo together or videos especially on TikTok, people would always comment, ‘KZ is very lucky. What did she do to deserve TJ?’ Others would also say, ‘Prayer reveal naman diyan.’

“So binalikan ko yung kanta and I wrote what I felt about those questions. Dun sa side verse na parang people always say na you were out of my league and I actually agree. Sometimes, I felt like, what did I do to deserve this kind of love?”

Whatever the reason is, “only God knows kung tsamba lang niya na nabigay sa akin. Wala na pong bawian. And I won’t take this love for granted,” The Voice Kids Philippines coach mused.

The song was sent to the United States and was mixed by Grammy winner Jackie Boom and mastered by another Grammy winner Jett Galindo of The Bakery LA. Theo Martel handled the arrangement of the song that was produced by ABS-CBN Music creative director Jonathan Manalo.

Kapamilya loveteam Kobie Brown and Andi Abaya were featured in the music video uploaded on ABS-CBN Star Music YouTube channel. Dito Ka Lang is now available on digital streaming platforms.