Here’s the story behind the ‘Sa Susunod na Habang Buhay’ music video

A series of “serendipitous events” led to the collaboration behind the music video for Ben&Ben’s “Sa Susunod na Habang Buhay.”

The music video, which stars Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, is a collaboration between the band, its “resident director” Jorel Lising, and spoken word poet and screenwriter Juan Miguel Severo. 

In it, the real-life couple are two lovers who are caught in a time loop which resets after one of them dies. One of them, however, retains all the memories of their past relationship – including the painful ones.

It started when Severo and Ben&Ben’s Pat Lasaten were working together for Gaya Sa Pelikula, the hit web series that Severo created. 

For a key episode in the show, Severo wanted to use Ben&Ben’s “Ride Home,” a feel-good song about finding one’s metaphorical home base. Ben&Ben waived any fees for the song, which framed a pivotal scene in the series.

Severo, in turn, offered to write a script for the music video and pitch it to Kathryn and Daniel, who happen to be his friends. 

“We pushed through, and to our surprise, they loved both the idea of working with all of us and the script. This was a big thing for us because we never expected that these great artists would be open to doing a music video with us, given their stature and busy schedules,” said Miguel Benjamin, one of the band’s vocalists, in a release to media.

The idea of a love that goes beyond a single lifetime isn’t new to Severo. He has, of course, written the play Hintayan ng Langit, which is about ex-lovers who cross paths in purgatory. The play was later adapted into a movie. 

Instead of the afterlife, Severo thought of a couple stuck in a time loop. “What if every time one dies, they go back to their first date with one of them carrying memories from their previous run?” he said. 

Severo, Lising, and the band held online meetings before finally pitching the idea to Kathryn and Daniel. 

Lising opted for “non-linear, fragmented storytelling” for the video. The shoot itself didn’t take long, he said, partly because Kathryn and Daniel were on a tight schedule and mostly because adjustments were few and far between. “Every frame we took of them has a strong presence that comes with lots of experience, especially since they’ve been acting for so long now,” he said. 

“Sa Susunod na Habang Buhay” came out in February 2020 and was the first single released after the album Limasawa Street in 2019.  – Rappler.com