Ramelyn Francisco’s second album turns relationship stories into upbeat music
TAGAYTAY CITY — Everyone has a friend who tells the story. The one about the person who looked perfect and turned out to be anything but. The relationship that asked for a little more compromise every year. The partner who finally stayed and made the effort.
Songwriter Ramelyn Francisco is the friend people tell. Her second album, Love Stories Retold, is built from those conversations. “These are not my love stories,” she says. “They are stories of some people recounted to me in conversations, and this is my point of view.”
The five original tracks put those confidences to a dance beat. “Red Flag in a Suit” is about a woman who craves a spicy romance with entirely the wrong person, who happens to arrive in a designer suit. “Love for Two – For Now” follows someone who compromised on so much for love that it left her sad, and Ramelyn dedicated it “to all the things we compromised for love.”
“Loving an Alpha” is the album’s most direct piece of advice. It is addressed to strong, independent women, with a reminder never to make themselves “small, or less, or manageable” in order to be loved. Her line is simple: the right person “will always try harder.”
A change of mood
Love Stories Retold is a deliberate shift in tone. Ramelyn’s first album, RAMdom Thoughts, came out in 2025 and began with a promise. When she was young, a family member teased her about a joke she made years earlier, claiming she had written “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” The joke followed her, and after a personal loss she sat down to write a real song of her own. That first record carried the weight of that moment.
Friends took it to heart, she says, and some sent her photos of her songs sitting in their car playlists, adding that hearing them made them sad. “I hope one day we’ll get to happy songs,” she says.
This album is that wish made real. It is electronic dance music, a genre Ramelyn calls “really out of my genre,” written for people who want the same honesty with more movement. “I will give you some happy music,” she says.
Two songs closer to home
Two tracks step away from other people’s stories. “My One” is the album’s most personal song, a vow to her husband PJ after 24 years together, written about growing, recommitting, and trying to be the best version of herself every year.
“My Goodbye Song” closes the record. It is about a melody that will not stop looping, tied to the memories of someone who was once her song and her beat. The beat builds and then turns on a decision to stop, break free, and let go. It ends with a thank-you, not a lament.
Why people connect
Ramelyn’s songs work because they sit where most people already live: in the small decisions about who to love and how much of yourself to give. Her answers are not rules. They are stories told with enough honesty that listeners can compare their own.
The album had its launch at a dinner with Chef Ben Cruzate at Sol Victoria’s Tagaytay on October 2, where each song was introduced with its story. But the songs do not need a dinner. They fit just as easily on a commute, a run, or a late night with friends, wherever people tend to replay old stories and decide what they want next.
Ramelyn Francisco is a songwriter based in Manila. Her first album, RAMdom Thoughts, was released in 2025, and her second, Love Stories Retold, a five-song set of original electronic dance music, followed in 2026. Both albums were produced with Noteline Productions and are available on Spotify. She is also the founder of Thoughts & Notions, an events and stage-design company. Love Stories Retold is streaming on major platforms: https://album.link/LoveStoriesUntold
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