This All-Girl Band From the Philippines Is Already on the World’s Radar
If the Philippines has been waiting for its next true international breakout, NEW LORE may have just sounded the opening note.
The all-girl band from the Philippines made waves with the release of their latest single, “substack girl,” which dropped last Friday, February 6—and the response was swift, global, and undeniable. Within its first 24 hours, the track racked up 24,000 Spotify streams, instantly positioning NEW LORE as one of the most outward-facing and globally resonant acts to emerge from the local scene in recent years.
Just days after release, “substack girl” has already landed on 34 Spotify playlists worldwide, cutting across continents, cultures, and listening communities. The song has been featured on New Music Friday playlists in an impressive list of territories, including the Philippines, India, the UK, Japan, Indonesia, Denmark, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, South Africa, Malaysia, Kenya, Singapore, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iceland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Beyond New Music Friday, the track has earned placements on major international editorial playlists such as Spotify.ORG (Cover), Oyster, Indie Brandneu, Indie Pop & Chill, Indie Arrivals, Indie Highlights, Our Generation, Jasmine, we SEA you, Travailler en musique, poses (for Grief Cake), and tapioca. Closer to home, NEW LORE continues to receive strong local editorial support with placements on OPM Rising, .ph (Cover) for both substack girl and Grief Cake, EQUAL Philippines for nariyan and paumanhin, and Relax Tayo for OH MATURITY. The band also currently holds cover placements on Spotify.ORG and Philippine playlists—a rare and telling achievement for an act still in its early chapters.
NEW LORE creates music you feel before you fully understand it. The kind that slips under your skin, lingers quietly, and refuses to let go.
Fashion-forward and emotionally precise, the band exists somewhere between gallery walls and dance floors, between confession and chaos. Glitchy synths pulse beneath aching basslines. Lyrics arrive like thoughts you weren’t ready to voice—but instantly recognize once you hear them. This is pop that doesn’t beg for approval. It sits with the feeling until it sharpens.
Their songs speak to romantics with rage, loners with carefully curated playlists, and kids who cry in the club then go home and sketch what it felt like. Emotional, but intentional. Vulnerable, but never careless. Poetry disguised as pop.
Just a year into their journey, NEW LORE released their debut album Grief Cake, a cinematic body of work that quietly crossed borders, landing on major Spotify editorial playlists across Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Since then, the band has been building something slower—and more potent—than hype: a global audience that seems to understand them instinctively.
The Philippines may still be catching up.
The rest of the world already is.
Their latest single, “substack girl,” distills everything NEW LORE does best. It’s a tender, self-aware love song about missing someone through the smallest details of who they are—not grand gestures or dramatic endings, but the quiet wondering. The habits. The identities we attach to love, and the hope that they’re still intact somewhere out there.
Built on hypnotic production and list-like lyrics, the song circles questions of growth, distance, and whether love survives in routine long after people drift apart. It feels like scrolling through someone else’s life from afar, quietly hoping they’re still choosing joy in the ways you remember them.
Lines that listeners can’t stop replaying feel almost too specific to share—yet impossible not to claim as your own:
And are you still
A gig goer?
Art fair lover?
Film enjoyer?
Thrift store lover?
Vinyl seeker?
Poetry reader?
Soul admirer?
Joybaiter?
Intimate without being insular. Personal without being precious. Somehow universal.
Visually, NEW LORE continues to move with intention, leaning into their now-signature blue-and-green palette and pairing fashion-forward imagery with emotional storytelling. These girls in blue aren’t just promoting a song—they’re exporting a feeling, a culture, a point of view that travels well because it’s honest.
And if this trajectory holds, NEW LORE isn’t simply another promising act from the Philippines.
They may be one of its strongest chances yet at a true global crossover.
LIVE SHOW:
NEW LORE is holding a FREE SHOW on February 15, 2026, at Felmans Place, Mandaluyong, with front acts Tuesday Trinkets and Starri & The Moonchild.
🎟 Register now to secure your spot: bit.ly/substackgirlparty
