Yesterday, March 17, 2021, famed musician Rico Blanco celebrated his 48th birthday, and one of the celebs who greeted him was ABS-CBN actress-singer Maris Racal. On Instagram, the 23-year-old star posted a black-and-white photo of Rico taken from behind and a video of them jamming to Aqualung's "Brighter Than Sunshine," while sitting on a couch and exchanging sweet smiles to each other. "hi rico. happy birthday," Maris simply wrote in the caption. Rico then replied with, "hahaha love youu!!! [flamingo emojis]"—which made netizens speculate if there was anything going on with them.
Even Maris' celeb followers also commented on the post. Referring to the video, Direk Tonet Jadaone said she expected a "kiss sa dulo," while Bianca Gonzalez shared that they were "cute" together! Jane Oineza, Awra Briguela, Chie Filomeno, and more stars replied with heart emojis, as well.
If this ~pairing~ seems to come out of nowhere, well, the two actually have been collaborators for a few years now. Maris first posted about Rico in December 2018 when she called him her "idol."
They also had a songwriting session in February 2019:
In April 2019, Maris released the song "Abot Langit" with its music and lyrics written both by Maris and Rico. Check out the official music video (which Rico made a cameo in) and a "Ricovered" version below:
And in September 2020, they released their most recent collab "Not For Me":
Both stars have been linked to a few celebs through the years: Rico with KC Concepcion in the mid-2000s, and Maris with Inigo Pascual in 2017.