MANILA -- Three-time Grammy winner a cappella ensemble Pentatonix collaborated with Tony Award-winning actress-singer Lea Salonga for a new take on Jose Mari Chan’s yuletide classic “Christmas in our Hearts.”

This track is part of Pentatonix’s sixth album “Holidays Around The World.”

ABS-CBN News caught up with two of the group’s members, Kevin Olusola and Scott Hoying, together with Salonga and the original singer, Chan.

Chan revealed that it was Salonga who told him about the remake.

“She messaged me and said, 'Guess what I’m singing your song with the Pentatonix, the three-time Grammy awardee group.' So I said, ‘What?’ She even messaged me that the first time she heard the arrangement, she was floored,” Chan recalled.

When Chan wrote the Christmas classic 32 years back, he had Salonga in mind to sing the female parts.

“Lea was my first choice to do that recording with me. Unfortunately her recording company that time didn’t want her to cross label,” he said.

He ended up recording the track with her daughter and has treasured it as some sort of “father-daughter” legacy.

Fast forward to 2022, the OPM legend couldn’t be happier to find out that the Broadway diva will finally put her vocals on it.

“It was pre-destined. I guess I was always meant to record it somehow so when the ‘ask’ came in, I said yes. It was not a difficult yes to say,” Salonga said.

The recording was done separately. But Olusola and Hoying shared how “technically” exciting it was for the group to do “a cappella beats and ooh’s and aah’s” to the song.

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“The first time I heard that melody, it felt so iconic to me and also just lyrically to what it’s saying. This song is purely about love and where it came from and we have to keep that love in our hearts constantly,” said Olusola.

“It felt like a song that didn’t matter where you put it in time, it still always would resonate so it felt like the right song for the global Christmas song,” he added.

Hoying, who’s fiance is a Filipino, also shared that “Christmas in Our Hearts” was the first track to be included in their album.

“The verse has a magical almost spooky (singing in tune) like I can see the lanterns when I hear it, it’s so anthemic and huge and epic and beautiful and and dream type of song for us to arrange,” he said.

After hearing the finished product, Chan’s verdict: “To me it was magical, because it’s like a different take of my song. I really hope long after I’m gone, that version will continue to touch people’s lives.”

Salonga and the Pentatonix also shot a music video for the track and will be released soon.

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