NICOLE ASENSIO RELEASES ‘LOVE ME OR DON’T’
releases 'Love Me or Don't' The track’s strong female voices are from vocal arranger and singer Yosha Honasan, arranger Pauline Lauron, and Iwi Laurel, Nicole’s mom whom the artist considers as her biggest inspiration in life and music
Nicole Laurel Asensio wrote her newest song on relationships and friendships in a span of 15 minutes. After singing the lyrics and melody to guitarist Miru, a classmate from Elements music camp, both artists agreed to set the song in the context of a relationship where the persona had been hurt many times, smiled through it to put up a front and reached her breaking point, where she no longer lives for her lover’s approval, for the first time she’s unafraid to be alone and tells him straight.
Thus came about self-assuring lines like “I don’t need you to feel complete.” Love me or don’t… or kung ayaw mo, edi ‘wag. (“or if you don’t want to, then don’t.”)
The song, “Love Me or Don’t” will be dropped on 29 January via Spotify.
Recorded at Wildgrass Studios, the musicians who completed the team included Michael Alba (drums), Karel Honasan (bass), Ira Cruz (guitar), Nikko Rivera (keys), horn players Lester Sorilla (trumpet), Isla Antinero (trombone) and Michael Guevarra (saxophone) who also wrote out the horn arrangement.
The track’s strong female voices are from vocal arranger and singer Yosha Honasan, arranger Pauline Lauron, and Iwi Laurel, Nicole’s mom whom the artist considers as her biggest inspiration in life and music.
Jess Fermino and Angee Rozul did the song’s mixing and mastering, which was completed in Abbey Road London.
IN her new single ‘Love Me Or Don’t,’ Nicole writes that she doesn’t need a man to feel complete.
The music video directed by Gorio Vicuna is set in a vintage 50s-esque utopia that is both polished and eerie in the same breath. The narrative showcased Nicole’s two friends who are also actors, Max Eigenmann and French actor Guillaume Novert.
The video was shot in the Laurel ancestral home in Laguna. Several costumes were borrowed to match the vintage themes. To achieve the look, Nicole even wore padded garments to add pounds to her body for a heavier look, to suit the vintage beauty aesthetic.