Are We Ready for Olivia Dean, BINI, UDD, Lola Amour, and Sunkissed Lola at the Biggest LaLaLa Fest Yet?
Olivia Dean, neo-soul's breakout superstar, headlines the second-ever LaLaLa Fest Manila leg at the Philippine Arena in January 2027.
by JV Ordoñez
Published on Oct 8, 2026
It feels like it was yesterday that we were chomping at the bit to see Fil-Am R&B musician Steve Lacy at his homecoming show in Manila for the recently concluded and inaugural LaLaLa Fest in August.
Local showrunner Wilbros Live dropped a bombshell on a Tuesday evening (October 7, 2026): the breakthrough neo-soul singer Olivia Dean is finally making her Manila debut to kick off 2027.
We were proud early adopters of Olivia Dean's easy-listening, soul-stylings back in August last year right when she dropped her now smash hit "Man I Need."
Even back then, the inescapable track and her eventual album, The Art of Loving, are lightning bolts of smooth and groovy melodic balladry that nearly everyone can enjoy and bump their heads to.
The Indonesian-based music festival's second Manila leg will be on January 14 at the massive Philippine Arena in Bulacan, as tickets, starting with the artist presale, start on October 14, a GoTyme Bank presale on October 15 and 16, and the general sale starts on October 17.
Wilbros Live made sure that the forthcoming festival would be their most massive one yet with the P-Pop phenoms or the nation's girl group BINI, OPM stalwarts UDD (formerly Up Dharma Down), Lola Amour, and Sunkissed Lola as initial banger lineup additions to round out a stacked card.
The first Manila leg was held at the World Trade Center in Pasay City as the explosive set from Lacy came at an opportune time for him as he came off his acclaimed and highly anticipated record, Oh Yeah, which hosts hit after hit from "the feeling," "is it cool? (feat. SZA)," "doom," and the album's euphoric title track that also closes out Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Dean is one heck of a follow-up headliner for the festival, which seems to be a new regular event to look forward to, as previous festivals such as Wanderland by Karpos Live have been on indefinite hiatus for a year now. Manila is definitely the scene that desperately needs yearly festivals for avid live concert enthusiasts to ensure this medium of music consumption is available for generations to come.
It is always a different and much more personal experience seeing an artist you adore live in concert since there will always be an intangible sense of connection and presence when you breath the same air as a performer.
The Art of Loving and her much more underrated debut studio record, Messy, are composed of tracks that reinvigorate the universal experience of Roman Candle romance packaged in an easy-listening and groovy sonic presentation that demands to be heard live.
We're sure you have seen clips of the British singer performing in her signature retro-glam dress and her 70s-inspired band on social media and get a sense of how proud she is of her music and how every performance is executed with the same level of enthusiasm and pure passion.
You can't really speak about her without her buttery-smooth and velvety vocal style that is a musical cocktail of stylings from Solange Knowles, Jorja Smith, Lauryn Hill, and even a bit of the late great Amy Winehouse.
Her mega-successful sophomore LP spawned tracks such as "A Couple Minutes," "So Easy to Fall In Love," and "Lady Lady," which are tracks that have this unique quality of fitting into any social function or gathering you play these at.
Again, what won us over initially was her knack for earnest songwriting choices and her distinct velvety vocals that serve as a medium for her remarkable expressiveness.
Being massive fans of Dijon, we sincerely hope she performs her massively underrated cover of "The Dress," which was an indicator that Ms. Dean knew ball when it came to R&B changemakers in today's landscape.
Dijon's "The Dress" covered by Olivia Dean on Spotify Live Room via YouTube
BINI, UDD, Lola Amour, Sunkissed Lola Make the Case for a Must See Show
Since LaLaLa Fest Manila 2027 is really taking place at the massive Philippine Arena, which can accommodate nearly 60,000 people, it is very reasonable to expect a packed and sold-out festival with the scheduled appearance of the globally recognized and Forbes 30 under 30 alumnae BINI preceding Dean.
In case you've been living under a rock, the nation's girl group composed of Aiah, Colet, Maloi, Gwen, Stacey, Mikha, Jhoanna, and Sheena have two world tours, a Coachella set, and a song for DreamWorks' latest blockbuster Forgotten Islands under their belt as burgeoning global powerhouses.
The P-Pop juggernauts skyrocketed to stardom after the release of their summer smash-hits “Salamin, Salamin,” “Pantropiko,” “Karera,” and the accompanying viral TikTok dances.
This also isn't their first rodeo at the Philippine Arena, as they already sold the venue out last year as a clear testament to their star power.
Up next in the lineup is the Armi Millare-led UDD (which used to be called Up Dharma Down), which is a group that doesn't really need an introduction to those who actually grew up with a radio in the early 2000s.
Most of us grew up with songs like "Tadhana," "Oo," and "Indak," that were spawned from groundbreaking records like Fragmented (2006) and Capacities (2012).
Millare's songwriting is among the most emotional and poignant in local music, with songs like "Crying Season" showing an evolution in musicality with a leaning toward jazz-inflections and electronic rock to diversify their soundscapes.
The band's staying power is legitimately mind-boggling, as "Tadhanda," which is widely seen as the ultimate anthem for fate and love, became the first OPM track to surpass 500 million streams on Spotify.
Her rich, jazzy, and soul-infused vocals set her apart from the prototypical "biriteras," or female vocalists at the time, who favored belting over restraint and melancholy.
On the new school side of things, Lola Amour has been tearing it up with vibrant and commercially successful tracks like the cultural phenomenon that was "Raining in Manila," their earlier stuff like "Pwede Ba," and their latest brass horn-infused and critically acclaimed and awarded record Love on Loop.
They are the premier seven-piece powerhouse that could effortlessly command massive festival crowds with their genre-bending habits that range from funk-rock, math rock, and even Japanese city pop.
The Zambales-formed SunKissed Lola aren't strangers to international exposure with songs they put out. "Pasilyo" became a massive viral hit, with it being commonly used for weddings due to how much it resonates with that unrestrained need to express your relief seeing the love of your life approach you down the aisle.
The group leans more on the traditional "kundiman," or Filipino romantic serenade, as a defining part of their musical identity to evoke that elusive warmth people seek when they listen to music.
With even more killer acts set to be announced in the lead-up to the gig, LaLaLa Fest 2027 is a massive concert that can't come any sooner.
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Esquire PH's resident music scribe, wristwatch disciple, and essayist fluent in niche internet subcultures and Philippine politics.