Ely Buendia’s newest single “Bulaklak Sa Buwan,” the first off his upcoming November album, Method Adaptor , tackles misinformation, propaganda, and in his own words, how we “tend to take everything seriously, without first seeing the evidence.” The context shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone: disinformation is a hallmark of the times. Bulaklak is one artist’s reaction to that.
“ Mayro’ng naglalako ng pantasya, ‘yan ay delihensiya, makakadena sa pusod ng makinarya,” the song goes. (They peddle fantasy, an extortion scheme, chained to the navel of the machine.) To deliver his message, Buendia latches on to the central image of a flower on the moon.
It forms an alluring image in the mind. Imagine a flower in striking color growing out of an absolutely barren gray landscape. And just for its beauty, you’d almost want to believe that such a thing might exist, despite a mountain’s worth of science saying why it shouldn’t — you know, things like the atmosphere and all the other nilly-willy requirements of life.
But with the way people can be made to believe that the earth is flat nowadays, it’s probably not impossible to make someone eventually believe that yes, indeed, there is a bulaklak sa buwan . That’s at least one way of interpreting the song. But while interpretation can take on many shapes and forms, here are some square and solid facts on the song, straight from the artist: The title comes from a book on misinformation, which contained a pass.