Ben&Ben has been part of almost everyone’s rotation since their first singles since they launched in 2017. From the reassurance of healing through “Leaves,” the warmth of “Maybe the Night,” and the gloomy “Kathang Isip,” the nine-piece indie-folk band soundtracked the growth, reveries, setbacks, principles, and romance of their then Nuggets that later evolved to Liwanags. 

Beyond their influence beyond the local sonical palate, band members Miguel, Paolo, Agnes, Pat, Poch, Andrew, Keifer, Toni, and Jam have evolved alongside their music. And their newest nine-track anthology, Nine, sits right in that history.

The project marks the band’s ninth year by revisiting songs from different points in their career alongside “Harinawa,” a new track completed in 2026. But its significance goes beyond putting old songs in a new package. It captures how much can happen between the person who first wrote a song and the person who eventually has to sing it again.

As Paolo Benjamin puts it, “Reimagined, for us, is letting the songs grow up with us.” And Ben&Ben has had plenty of growing up to do.

Many of the listeners who once knew the band as “nine-piece chicken nuggets,” have carried the songs into entirely different stages of their lives. The band’s discography has accumulated alongside them, picking up associations and memories that Ben&Ben could never have planned for.

The band has been a comfort for their listeners with emotional range that leaves room for the messier parts of being human: wanting someone, losing someone, missing home, choosing to stay, choosing to leave, and trying to understand who you are somewhere in between.

“Maybe the Night (Reimagined)” is a particularly fitting example. Originally arranged in Jam Villanueva’s attic in 2017, the song eventually became part of several early milestones for the band, including their first Paskuhan performance, first official movie soundtrack, and first trip abroad.

So does “Maybe the Night” sound different because the arrangement changed? Of course. But it also sounds different because the people hearing it have changed.

Then comes “Harinawa,” placing something entirely new at the end of the anthology. As the band’s vocalist Miguel Benjamin shared, they wanted the last track to be rebelliously optimistic for what’s going to be next for the band.

For a group whose songs have become markers for so many personal phases, perhaps that is the most fitting way to celebrate nine years. The nuggets, BBs, and Liwanag grew up. And so did Ben&Ben. And somewhere along the way, their songs grew with all of us.