How seeing one girl in the rain inspired this musician’s romantic album

MANILA, Philippines – “Journeys end in lovers’ meeting,” said Shakespeare in Twelfth Night, but for Brad Go, meeting a girl on a rainy September night was just the beginning of his journey to new album The Hush Project.  

“Walking home, I met a girl in the rain – she was super beautiful. She didn’t have an umbrella so I offered to share mine. We met in the most movie script way possible,” he told reporters at a press conference for his project. 

The two continued their walk to the “6” train in Midtown Manhattan, and after a conversation and an exchange of phone numbers, Brad asked her if she would join him for a drink.

 

It’s a poignant memory for the Filipino-American singer based in New York, whose self-penned album The HUSH (Have U Seen Her?) Project was released here in the Philippines under MCA Music earlier this February. 

Brad then documented their relationship – their meeting, their joy, their fights – through a series of posts he named the HUSH Project.

Each blog entry told a short story from their relationship, followed by a song at the end.

Three weeks after, they found themselves at a wine bar, and she said they should write about how they met.

“She [the girl in the rain] said ‘we should make something about how we met,’ and that’s when it really started.”

Although the two dated for some time, they didn’t work out in the end, but that was what drove Brad to fly to 8 different countries (including the Philippines) and collect more love stories to serve as inspiration. 

“A story like this – even though it didn’t end in the best way – it’s still cool to me. Just because this happened to me in New York – there must be stories out there in the world that no one’s hearing about. So I took it upon myself – since I’m passionate about passion – and I wanted to collect stories from around the world and put it into one album.” 

He started a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $10,000, which funded his trip to the cities of Barcelona, Tokyo, Melbourne, Palermo, Singapore, Berlin, Paris, and Manila.

He interviewed different couples whose stories about love are worked into songs in the album. His songs are labeled according to where the love story was told. 

Love stories around the world

“I try to pick one nugget of knowledge of information from the story, or something that resonates with me and then expand that into a song,” he said, when asked about his creative process.

This is one of his favorite stories, set in Paris, one of the world’s most romantic cities:

“Thirty years ago, this man and this woman were traveling on a bus through Europe. They didn’t know each other and they were asked to switch seats. They were both asked to move and they ended up sitting next to each other on this really long bus ride. So they’re talking and they kept in touch afterwards and they eventually got married and have kids now. They’ve been married for years.”

This story later on inspired the song “Time Machine,” one of the tracks from the album. 

“You can find inspiration everywhere. And you know, I think when you feel strongly about someone, that moves you so much.” 

Check out Brad’s music video for “All Along,” inspired by the love story of a couple from Barcelona, David and girlfriend Francesca, whom David met through his own brother, who previously dated her.

This also showcased Brad’s visit to Barcelona, a destinaton he loves: 

 

Here’s Brad performing his new song “Carry You Home:”

 

 

While the singer has been playing some gigs in New York, his presence in the Philippines is slowly growing.

“The reception here in Manila has always been positive, even when I play shows. So coming back is always super fun. Now this – I would never have pictured this, like with all you guys [the media] here. It’s – I can’t believe it,” he said. 

Here’s Brad singing Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”:

 

 

Brad was also commissioned to write a song for The Voice Kids finalist Darren Espanto called “Makin’ Moves,” off Darren’s new album Darren.(READ: Darren Espanto on the honor of singing for Pope Francis)

The similarity to How I Met Your Mother lead Ted Mosby, who’s notorious for his grand ideas about love, aren’t lost on him. He also said it’s not the first time he’s been compared to Ted.

“In terms of Ted Mosby, yeah, I do have that sense of romantic sensibility but it’s very easy to get caught up just spewing platitudes about love which is nice but at the end of the day doesn’t do anything for anyone. So until Ted Mosby got real with his relationship, then I feel like I’m Ted in a way.”

After all this success inspired from that one moment, whatever happened to the girl in the rain?

Brad said: “Well, I think she still lives about 10 blocks from my place.”

For more updates on Brad, follow him on Instagram and Twitter, and like his Facebook page – or visit his website and YouTube account. – Rappler.com