'Ppop' stands for 'Pathetic Pop'

I've tried to hold this in for long enough for the sake of keeping 'peace', but seriously, things have gone WAY too far.

Philippine music has always been something I DO NOT like and because I don't like it to start with, I don't bother blogging about it on a regular basis. The only problem is one, I'm a music blogger from the Philippines and two, my dad is one of the most influential record producers in the country - I know 70% of the popular band bands and I've seen most of them work in the studio.

Like a lot of other countries, the Philippines has a term for all original compositions and material that's put out - OPM or Original Philippine Music. Original Philippine Music is anything and everything originally written, produced and performed by Filipino acts, in the Philippines.

I personally grew up hearing this all over the place, and I grew up seeing a lot of the acts under this 'genre' record and perform - even if I don't personally like them, I know what kind of work it takes to put out stuff like this.

Over the past few years, OPM has been a lost cause - stupid record company executives tried numerous ways to amuse and entice consumers but record sales dropped, and dropped, and dropped. There are good musicians in OPM, don't get me wrong, but a lot of what's put out right now is trash and/or a direct knock-off of another country's music, which is NOT called OPM.

There were bands who stood their ground and still managed to gain success - Sandwich, Sugarfree, Urbandub, Hale, Calalilly to name a few. Even if there were bands who weren't really that good, they were constantly putting out OPM and they actually had listeners who bought the records and went to the gigs.

In comes this new marketing strategy, 'P-Pop'/'Ppop', directly ripped-off from Kpop and even Jpop. The promotional format is almost identical to that of kpop acts - teaser videos, dance cuts, greeting/ment videos and official debut dates/appearances.

Prime examples:

I appreciate the fact that there's actually Filipino in the songs, and that they're trying to get more people to listen to Philippine music by giving people what they want, but this is just going waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far.

I'm partially angry because these people are ripping off Kpop, but even most Kpop singles are American rip-offs. I hate the fact that these people are openly and shamelessly copying someone else's music and I hate how desperate they are to do so. However, there is a bigger reason why I'm angry, and why I gave a briefing about OPM.

Yes, I like Kpop, and yes, I was a fan long before it even hit here, but you have to realize that I have my reasons for liking it

I'm annoyed, furious and ready to cry right now.

I don't see why the effin' crap these stupid people have to change and attempt to replace a perfectly functional genre with some bad knock-off of someone else's knock-off. If all they do is rip off kpop with the material and the music videos, then I don't give a damn - they can copy every single existing kpop band for all I care. The minute they mess with the categorization and try to CHANGE it though, that's when I have to step in and speak my mind.

OPM has been alive since before I was born, it's given me and generations before and after me influential bands/acts and people who I may not like, but who shaped my country's music. These people were creative, they were ground-breaking and they were outstanding musicians.

AND NOW THEY'RE TRYING TO CHANGE IT WITH TRASH? WHAT THE EFF ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING?!?!

I don't want to see my dad's efforts go to waste, I don't want to see all these acts' creativity and musicality just get overshadowed by some over-processed, over-orchestrated garbage. I'm sorry for the term, but I just can't keep my mouth shut anymore.

If there's one thing about OPM that I can live with, it's that the music is there - it's real, it's original, even if sometimes there are similarities, these songs still came from MUSICIANS, and there is good OPM no matter how hard it is to find. But this 'Ppop' is pitiful.

Before I thought Philippine music was in pretty bad shape already, but now I think it's just pathetic. I swear, if this 'Ppop' crap keeps it up, I'm destroying all my dreams of writing for The Rolling Stone or Billboard or The BBC or a talent company and I'm going to spend my entire life whipping these stupid people and the Philippine music industry into shape. This is my country, my country's MUSIC, and this is what my dad tried to fix - if no one's gonna do it, I am.

Bash me all you want for this article, I frankly don't care anymore. If you agree with me, great, but if you don't nothing's stopping you from speaking your mind. Just remember that I have a right to say what I did.

An introduction to Philippine Pop Music - Sugarfree

By suggestion, I'm gonna start featuring some Filipino artists from time to time.

Music by the Philippine industry is called OPM - these are ORIGINAL songs written by Filipinos for the Filipino market. The genre spans bands and solo artists though I've seen only one vocal group (and they're pretty old - Apo). Songs are written in either Filipino or English but I personally prefer Filipino 'coz I find it strange when I hear English songs.

I honestly don't like about 95% of the stuff that comes out but the other 5% is either good or brilliant. This is one of the near-brilliant.

I first came to know of Sugarfree's existence in 6th grade (2006, I believe) when my dad began working with them as the producer for their third album. I'm not biased in any way but I honestly think that third album had some of the most brilliant songs. See exhibit A, the final single from the album (translated the title is Don't Cry [anymore]):
I saw them live last night for their final major concert in a while. I know it's not like me to say it but I loved every, single song - even the ones I didn't like from the records. Last night gave me some spark of hope that the Philippine industry isn't all going down the drain - for me, at least.

Sugarfree may never achieve the fame and popularity that some really annoying and crappy bands (*AHEM* Hale *AHEM) have but I'm absolutely sure that they've carved their own niche in the industry. Singing silly love songs for ten years isn't an easy task, mind you.