CinemaBravo

As social and political tensions continue to shape conversations today, many artists and personalities in the entertainment industry are using their platforms to express anger, frustration, and deeply held emotions through creative work.

Pop-rock singer-songwriter Miguel Escueta joins that growing movement with his newest album, Stand In The Fire, a record that serves as both a statement and a rallying cry for collective action and socially aware activism. He is managed by ALV Talent Circuit.

The album’s carrier single, also titled “Stand In The Fire,” delivers a message centered on solidarity and fighting for a shared cause. According to Escueta, the track reflects the importance of unity whether in sports, work, business, relationships, or any group striving toward a common goal.

“Stand In The Fire, the carrier single, is an anthem about standing together for something a group collectively believes in, a ‘call to arms’ that can be applied to sports, teams at work, relationships, business, etc. Fighting for something together, trying to achieve something together while leaning on each other.”

Elaborating further on the song’s origin, he adds, “The lyrics were actually written a while back by me and my friend (Nicolo Villonco). We thought it would be a good time to finally bring it to life when I started working on the album.”

Miguel also expounds on how the current wave of uncertainty shaped the song’s narrative.

He says, “The song really started moving in that direction when we began discussions for the music video. At the time, things were starting to get messy – the oil crisis and the government’s response (or lack thereof), which somehow led our minds back to the unresolved flood control scandal – all of that combined with the circus happening in the Senate, pushed us toward making the song about standing together against corruption and holding people accountable.”

“That’s what ‘standing in the fire’ means in this context – choosing to stand together through frustration, anger, and uncertainty, while continuing to fight for change and for what’s right.”

The album features three previously released tracks over the past several months (‘Summer Dream,’ ‘Pangako ng Bukas’ and ‘Bakit Ba Ganyan?’) and four new tunes (‘Stand In The Fire,’ ‘Handa,’ ‘Honey My Love,’ and an unplugged version of ‘Summer Dream’).

Miguel gives a brief rundown of the seven tracks:

‘Summer Dream’ was the first song I released in 7 years. This is the song that brought me back to music. My “comeback” single.

‘Pangako Ng Bukas’ was the follow up. It features my friend Champ Lui Pio (of HALE) and it’s a mental health wellness advocacy track that we tied up with Mental Health Philippines in time for Mental Health Awareness month last year. It came with a music video directed by Gab Gucci with Patrick Rodil as DOP.

‘Bakit Ba Ganyan?’ is one of the two revivals on this album that ALV (manager Arnold Vegafria) recommended we do. We got to launch this song at the MOA Arena last Feb for the coronation night of Miss World Philippines. The official performance video can be viewed on YouTube and Facebook.

‘Stand In The Fire’ is the carrier track of this album. It’s the heart of this release. The music video is coming out a few days after the album drops.

‘Handa’ is actually a single of mine from 2008 that never made it to streaming. It was always a crowd fave, so we decided to re-record it and come up with a re-imagined version.

‘Honey My Love’ is the other revival on this album. I truly had my doubts initially when ALV suggested it. I didn’t think we could do justice to such a big hit from the ‘90s because it was so far from our style. But we did a demo, which sounded promising, so we recorded it in the studio and are pretty happy and proud with how it came out.

‘Summer Dream’ is the song that brought me back, so we wanted to round out the album with an unplugged version of it.

Aside from producers David Lina and Juni Devecais, the album also highlights the talents of Miguel’s brother Mateo (guitar), cousin Paula Castillo (bass on ‘Summer Dream’), and Champ Lui-Pio (vocals on ‘Pangako ng Bukas’).

Majority of the album was recorded at Big House Studios and Sunny Side Sound, with minimal additional vocal and guitar work done at Sound Weavers and Banana Rising Studios.

Miguel takes his hat off to his producers (and bandmates), David and Juni.

He exclaims, “David produced ‘Stand In The Fire,’ ‘Bakit Ba Ganyan’ and ‘Honey My Love.’ He also played drums on most of the tracks. He’s pretty much a musical genius, so he actually did a lot of the bass and guitar work as well. He’s also musical director for our live performances. It’s just amazing to have him on the team.”

“For his part, Juni produced the other four tracks. He also mixed and mastered the whole album. He’s been my partner in crime in this whole music thing since day one. I don’t think I’d be able to do all this without him.”

For the album’s artwork, Miguel collaborated with key members of his design team, Gabie Lema and Isabel Drilon, while the music video for the carrier single highlights the creative visions of Larry Ang and Pao Moreto.

Amid all his latest musical endeavors, Miguel (who also owns Frank & Dean Coffee) remains thankful for being able to juggle both entrepreneurial and creative responsibilities.

He says, “The past six months have been a blur, to be honest. I’m so thankful for our team at FDC for allowing me to take a small step back from day-to-day operations so I could focus on finishing the album. Thankfully, we just opened a new corporate location this past month, with another one coming up in a couple of weeks.”

‘Stand In The Fire’ is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and all other major streaming platforms.