By Areeya Tatjana Ho
The viral track “Tala” by Sarah Geronimo marks its fifth anniversary today, June 11.
Culled from the studio album, “The Great Unknown,” “Tala” was written by Geronimo, Nica del Rosario, and Emmanuel Sambayan.
The pop queen first performed the hit track during the “From The Top” concert on Dec. 4, 2015. Thereafter, the song gained traction and immediately went viral on social media.
In the year of its release, “Tala” received the song of the year award from Parangal Paulinian, and was nominated song of the year three times at the Awit Awards, Lionheart RAWR Awards, and PMPC Star Awards for Music. In 2017, the track won the Favorite Song and Favorite Music Video awards at the MYX Music Awards.
Geronimo originally wanted a slow song, with a Coldplay or Up Dharma Down vibe in mind, del Rosario said in an interview with ABS-CBN.
“Nakita ko si Sarah nung recording tapos kinuwento niya nga sakin na gusto niya parang maging dance craze ‘to. Gagawan daw nila ng choreography sa G-Force. Ang galing nagkatotoo 'yung gusto niyang mangyari,” del Rosario said.
Pinoys could not get enough of “Tala” as it suddenly resurfaced in 2019, with millions of dance covers, turning Geronimo’s vision for the song into reality.
Geronimo credited Georcelle Dapat-Sy, the founder of G-Force, for choreographing the track that made it a viral sensation.
In 2020, the track made its debut in the Billboard World Digital Song Sale chart, ranking twelfth. It was also performed by several artists since its release namely Hipolito, MNL48, Regine Velasquez, and K-POP boy group Winner during their concert in Manila.
As of writing, the music video available on Youtube has amassed more than 176 million views and 890 thousand likes. It’s also considered the most viewed music video for a local artist.