Pinoy pride in today’s multilingual Pinoy Pop music

Published online for a course requirement: https://www.facebook.com/hourkive/photos/a.110286311612006/114397721200865/

Board by Angeline Tanqueco

You know how intriguing it gets when you see a post in English but ends with another language 𝘬𝘢𝘴𝘪 𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘪 𝘯𝘪𝘭𝘢?

Well, P-Pop has something in store for all you language-fascinated minds.

While the progress and success of Pinoy pop are not new, both have taken a noticeable turn with the rise of P-Pop groups and their ventures in turning this into a multilingual genre.

From SB19’s Billboard chart-topping hit “Bazinga,” to KAIA’s debut song “Kaya,” the contemporary generation of Philippine popular music is on their way to continue and upgrade the English-Filipino fusion in melody.

The standard mix of English and Tagalog has made a home in the local music scene for quite some time now. From iconic bops like Sexbomb Girls’ “Pretty Little Baby” and Salbakuta’s 2002 hit song “Stupid Love,” and in more recent years, then 2014 boyband Gimme 5 has continued the blend with their song “Growing Up.”

Now, rising P-Pop stars are ready to take it to the next level.

ALAMAT, a boy group under VIVA Entertainment, debuts with “kbye” featuring lyrics written and sung in the members’ native languages. Emerging from Kalinga, Zambales, Pampanga, Eastern Samar, Negros Occidental, Bohol, Albay, and Davao City, the group was set to bring their regional languages in mainstream music.

With the promise to “offer audiences a proudly and uniquely Filipino experience that both entertains and boosts national pride,” ALAMAT continues their patriotic journey with their latest song “ABKD.”

Meanwhile, Pinoy pop soloists have long been serenading the public with their vernacular love songs like Ara Muna’s Kapampangan hit track, “O Jo’ Kaluguran Da Ka,” to VisPop or Visayan Pop’s highly streamed song on Spotify, “Hahahahasula” performed by Kurt Fick and Paola San Diego.

Today’s P-pop artists are also ready to keep the vernacular solos coming as SB19’s Ken Suson has also set foot in bringing local languages in popular music with his pure Visayan track and debut solo song, “Palayo,” under the name Felip.

Women of Pinoy Pop have also unleashed their 21st century Filipina vibe with Donnalyn Bartolome’s “Omo,” a track with a mix of English and Tagalog and the collaboration between English and Bisaya in Karencitta’s “Cebuana.”

With the giant Korean wave (more popularly known as Hallyu) settling in and inspiring the shores of Filipino culture with a notable mark in the music industry, Pinoy Pop is taking bolder steps into the scene of music, marching with Filipino pride as these young artists and many more, release remarkable collaborations of languages one track at a time.