Now in the limelight, Over October never wants this moment to end

How do you make a moment last forever?

For OPM band Over October, their moment is now nearly 12 years in the making. Though they’d long had a loyal following, it was the 2024 hit “Ikot” that catapulted the band’s place in the local music scene and grew their adoring fanbase. Since then, they’ve worked hard to ensure the success of “Ikot” was more than fleeting — continuing to release music and maintaining a relentless performance schedule since their first major solo concert in 2024. 

But in the blur of late-night studio/songwriting sessions and long days spent traveling between back-to-back gigs, the hustle to market and manage a fully independent band funnels the passage of time toward what lies ahead, rather than the things that matter now. 

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It was only in the past two years that each member — with the exception of guitarist and lawyer Anton Rodriquez, who still commits to his climate practice, albeit more scaled down — has made the decision to pursue music full-time.  

“It’s not a comfortable shift,” vocalist Josh Buizon explained. “You go from doing it as a hobby, as something that is fun, to now. It’s a reality check: ‘Okay, we’re all in now. I have no backup plan.’ You finally made it and then you realize that now that I’m here, it’s just so much harder now from here onwards.”

With the band having quit or slowed down on their day jobs, they’ve each had to adjust to music as a profession rather than just an avenue for creative expression. “It can get really tiring physically, mentally, emotionally,” lead guitarist Joshua Lua said. “It demands more than eight hours a day, it’s not just whenever we’re on tour. It’s like a business or startup; our job security relies on the amount of work that we put in as opposed to a 9-to-5.”

More than stability, “we want to be able to continue the momentum,” drummer Janessa Geronimo asserted. “We’ve had viral hits and all that. But of course, we want to aim for more.”

It’s only an upward slope from here on out. With the challenges come growth, something that the band wholeheartedly embraces. Bassist Joric Canlas shared, “[When] you’re starting out as a band, you just want to be heard. Now that we’re being heard, we’re at the point where we want to make our sound better.”

Over October at their Manatili press launch held last April 11 at 12 Monkeys Music Hall, Pasig. Raine Romero/Rappler

Pre-‘Manatili,’ and all that is and has been

Enter “Manatili,” Over October’s first single of 2026. A tender ballad, “Manatili” is a reminder to slow down and savor life and love’s most precious moments, even — especially when — they’re not meant to last forever. 

Compared to previous tracks penned primarily by Buizon and Lua, the songwriting for Manatili involved the entire group. “Manatili” was a demo they’d brought to a two-week trip to Baguio during which they hung out and recorded songs together. 

At the rented house in Baguio, they’d shared Anton’s homecooked bulalo and gathered to finish the song. “Nagkukuwentuhan lang kami (We just shared stories),” Lua said, explaining their creative process. 

Riffing off one another, the concept for the song was born from a specific scenario: two lovers on a couch at the end of a date, not wanting it to end and wishing for time to slow down.

While “Ikot” revolved around the uncertainty of possible unrequited love, Over October notes the more optimistic yet still bittersweet mood of “Manatili,” pieced together by both individual and shared memories. 

“It’s not really just about one person’s situation or experience. It’s a collective experience for all of us,” Buizon pointed out. 

More than romance, the pre-emptive nostalgia Manatili describes is woven throughout the entirety of life, defined by impermanence and the inevitability of all endings. For Over October, Manatili honors all the phases they’ve gone through together in their journey of over a decade long — from their university days to gigs paid in food to their “gatekept” status to their lives now as an OPM standout. 

Even now, fame doesn’t stop them from already missing what is happening. 

“We’re anticipating that this is something we’re going to look back at fondly,” Geronimo shared. “After a viral hit, your life changes. Everything changes about the band. It’s easy to get caught up in that. So you have to remind yourself to just enjoy it, especially when you’re performing. We’re building up towards moments that we really cherish.”

The urge to stop time is, ultimately, impossible. All one can do to stay in a moment is to stay, in the figurative sense — by savoring and taking it all in. While it may not be forever, it’s worth remembering that it is the things we reminisce about, now and in the future, that make life beautiful. – Rappler.com

Raine Romero is a Rappler intern studying AB Political Science with a Minor in Creative Writing at De La Salle University.