Rico Blanco teases 'Kisapmata' day before Maris Racal confirmed split
MANILA, Philippines — Singer Rico Blanco has been a hot topic of late following confirmation by actress-singer Maris Racal that she and the former Rivermaya frontman have broken up.
Maris confirmed she and Rico broke up some time ago during a Star Magic Spotlight press conference last July 12.
"Rico and I are over," a tearful Maris said. "It's fresh, it's been [a] few weeks... loneliest, emptiest weeks I've ever experienced in my life."
A day before the press conference, Rico uploaded on Instagram a video teasing a new version of Rivermaya's 1996 hit song "Kisapmata."
The artist only played the opening melody of the song — which Rico wrote and composed but was sung by Bamboo Mañalac — on his computer, featuring more defined guitar strings and likely will have Rico's vocals instead.
Text in the video said Rico's been working on the track for the past five months, and in the caption teased it would come out on July 19.
"Kisapmata," "wink" in English, is about an individual remarking how their supposed significant other quickly changed their mind about their feelings.
"Kani-kanina lang, pagkasaya-saya ng buhay kong bigla na lamang nag-iba," goes part of the song. "O kay bilis namang maglaho ng pag-ibig mo, sinta, daig mo pa ang isang kisapmata. Kanina'y nariyan lang, oh, ba't bigla namang nawala? Daig mo pa ang isang kisapmata."
The comments section of the video, as well as other posts on Rico's account, are limited but some fans have pointed out similarities in the song to what Maris said about the reasons behind the split.
"The truth is I'm going through changes and alam naman [natin] change is either good or bad, but what I hate about change is it's inevitable, 'di mo siya matatakasan and wala ka nang ibang magawa but face and confront it," Maris said at the press conference.
As of writing Rico's most recent post with Maris on his Instagram feed was a date last February and a Valentine's gift, prior to that was a late video how they celebrated New Year's and a birthday greeting for Maris last September.
On Maris' Instagram feed her last post with Rico was for his birthday March and before that was their attendance to the 2023 Star Magical Ball.
Maris and Rico confirmed their relationship in May 2021, two years after collaborating together and some subsequent projects since.
Their relationship became a talking point given their 25-year age difference, but the public softened on the issue after seing the artists treat each other well.
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