“Always Been Just You” is a song about second chances and love that transcends time and distance. The singer-songwriter, voice and guitar coach Marty Linan sings the modern-day ballad with an epic, cinematic feel that takes listeners on an emotional sonic experience. Linan became viral via his Air Supply cover of Someone Who Believes in You, which had about 3.7M views in 2022.

According to Belamide, singer and songwriter (“Tell the World of His Love”), her path and Linan’s have crossed back in the ’90s. “Sumasali na siya (Linan) ng mga contests noon and I remember being a judge in one of them,” she recalled. “I don’t think he won, but I was already so impressed. Sabi ko, para siyang si K.D. Lang! I approached him, got his contact info, and asked him to submit a demo cassette, I tried to look for a manager for him, but nothing happened.

“More than a decade later, we became Facebook friends,” she added, “and about a year ago he asked if we could work together.” Linan recorded a cover version of “Fast” (2022), which Belamide wrote for Regine Velasquez.    

Linan takes pride in his string of achievements. He was a 12-week Singgaling champion on TV5 (2001), a three-day champ in Singing Bee on ABS-CBN (2008), a first runner-up for Stars on 45 (Volume 2) on ABS-CBN’s It’s Showtime (2014), and a three-day defending champion and RESBAKER on ABS-CBN’s It’s Showtime’s Tawag Ng Tanghalan (2016).           

“Always Been Just You” was released on May 5, this year is written and produced by multi-awarded songwriter Trina Belamide whose hits include “Now that I Have You,” “Shine,” “You’ve Made Me Stronger,” and World Youth Day 1995 theme song “Tell the World of His Love.”