MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Kean Cipriano, the frontman of the band Callalily for 17 years, has called it quits.
“Callalily is done. I’ve moved on, moving forward, and I wish them all the best,” Cipriano said in an interview on Push TV.
Watch his full interview below:
The band has also been renamed from Callalily to Lily Music on their social media pages with the caption “Magsimula nalang ulit sa simula dahil naagaw ka niya.”
When asked if there would be a band reunion in the future, Cipriano said that the old Callalily would not be back.
He also said that he is currently not on good terms with his bandmates but wishes them the best nonetheless.
Lily Music has no official statement yet regarding the issue and said they would consult first with their lawyers.
Chynna Ortaleza, Kean’s wife and O/C Records Vice President, clarified during an exclusive interview with GMA News Online that her husband did not leave the band but “disengaged” from them.
“He did decide to leave the set-up of being in a band. However, Callalily kasi was always under his intellectual property. The brand stays with him,” the Kapuso actress said.
“If I look kasi into how it’s being phrased at the moment, syempre it’s easy to say na, ‘oh, he left Callalily.’ But he just left the format of the band. He did disengage with his former bandmates, but the name Callalily stays with Kean Cipriano,” she added.
Additionally, she said that Kean wanted to license the name to his former bandmates, but they have remained elusive. She also expressed her concern how Cipriano is “loosely” being branded that he stole the name.
“And it’s being loosely thrown in social media na he stole [the name],” Ortaleza said.
“We really wanted to fix things legally with them, like a proper label release was something that I was thinking of doing with them,” she added.
However, Cipriano’s bandmates “didn’t want to talk to them anymore despite the continued efforts of trying to get in touch with them.”
The couple admit that the former frontman is not on good terms with his bandmates.
According to Ortaleza, her husband has been thinking of going solo for years but wanted to do it at the right time. The singer has also worked on his record label O/C records in 2018 and released his debut solo album “childlike” in May 2021.
Callalily has been one of the top OPM bands in the country since its debut in 2005. Some of their hit songs are Stars,” “Magbalik,” and “Pansamantala.”
The remaining Lily members Nathan Reyes, Lem Belaro, Aaron Ricafrente, and Alden Acosta also hosted a search for their new vocalist last June 7. – WhatALife!
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