The lineage of R&B practice centered in the Philippines shapes every choice that informs Latch, a sound rooted in the long, evolving exchange of musical traditions that have defined the genre’s regional iteration for decades. Far from a static adaptation of global R&B frameworks, the Filipino R&B ecosystem that nurtured the creation of this work operates as a self-sustaining, dynamic space that draws from generations of local creators who have reworked the genre’s core possibilities to speak to the experiences of audiences across the archipelago and beyond its borders. This ecosystem, which has grown and shifted alongside broader shifts in how R&B is created, shared, and engaged with across the world, has carved out a distinct identity that sets its outputs apart from other regional iterations of the genre, while remaining firmly rooted in the foundational elements that make R&B a globally resonant form of musical expression.