P-pop pioneers X8 releases new single ‘Can You Hear It’ on Spotify

Formerly XLR8, Caleb Santos, Kiko Ramos and Carlo Lazerna return with a more mature, self-produced sound.

Before today’s P-pop boom turned Filipino idol groups into global acts, there was XLR8.

Now known as X8, the pioneering first-generation P-pop boy group is opening another chapter with the release of its new single “Can You Hear It,” now streaming on Spotify.

The dreamy pop track trades the high-energy sound associated with XLR8’s early years for something warmer and more intimate. Built around lush synths and heartfelt melodies, “Can You Hear It” is essentially a late-night promise to someone whose restless mind refuses to switch off.

At its heart is the idea of becoming another person’s safe space—the voice that cuts through the noise when everything else feels overwhelming.

It is also a fitting sound for a group that has grown considerably since Filipinos first met them more than a decade ago.

XLR8 debuted as an eight-member group under Viva Records in 2010, years before P-pop would explode into the mainstream phenomenon it is today. Influenced by the training and performance systems of Korean and Japanese idol groups, XLR8 became one of the early acts to introduce Filipino audiences to the modern boy-group format.

Today, X8 is composed of three active members: Caleb Santos, Kiko Ramos and Carlo Lazerna.

Santos serves as the group’s leader, main producer, mixing and mastering engineer, and vocalist, giving him a central role in shaping X8’s current sound. Ramos, a lifelong dancer and singer, handles vocals while bringing his performance experience to the group’s live presence. Lazerna, meanwhile, serves as sub-vocalist and rapper, carrying some of XLR8’s familiar charm into the group’s more mature era.

Their return is not about simply recreating their younger selves.

As X8, the group has embraced a more grown-up, self-produced direction, moving away from the high-octane choreography and heavily processed pop of its early years toward a vocal-forward blend of synth-pop and retro influences.

Now signed with Sony Music Philippines, X8 finds itself making music in a vastly different P-pop landscape from the one XLR8 entered in 2010.

“Can You Hear It” makes the case that the veterans are not here merely for nostalgia. They are exploring what a first-generation P-pop group can sound like after growing up alongside the genre it helped pioneer.

Sixteen years after XLR8 first arrived, Caleb, Kiko and Carlo are making sure a new generation can still hear them.

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