MANILA — TJ Monterde’s ‘Palagi’ has now more than 145 million streams on Spotify. 

Not to be undermined, the version with KZ Tandingan is catching up fast with 24 million streams, after a month from its date of release.

Speaking to ABS-CBN News, TJ and KZ talked about how the duet came about. He said that KZ was reluctant to re-record the song and make it a duet.

TJ said, “Natatakot siya nung una. Feeling niya yung ‘Palagi’ na original, love na siya ng mga tao. There was pressure on her, na baka hindi magustuhan ng iba. But it turned out na nagustuhan naman siya ang now it’s an OST of ‘Hello Love Again’.”

KZ explained her side why she was scared.

“Yung ‘Palagi’ kasi well-loved na siya. Meron siyang fans na sobrang purist na gustong gusto nila yung original lang. I was hesitant kasi I was scared na baka it might turn out to be a version na sabihin nilang ‘we didn’t need this version’.”

But what calmed her nerves was how TJ affirmed that it should be KZ and no one else.  

“TJ was very reassuring and told me na, the only reason why walang pwedeng ibang makipag duet sa akin sa ‘Palagi’, kasi ikaw si ‘Palagi’.” says KZ.  

When they released the duet version, they immediately went live on a social media platform and hoped that it would get at least 100 thousand streams. But lo and behold, “Pag gising namin, 1 million streams. Sobrang grateful kami na they loved the version.”