I encourage Julia to write about Filipino culture.
It’s interesting to see a culture that is so influenced by Western culture, yet still deeply rooted in Asian traditions.
However, lately, Julia has been having a hard time with this because Filipino culture isn’t a monolith. There are differences influenced by geography, socioeconomic status, education, age, etc. (Julia is getting older too…she’s been working for me for 15 years)
But finally, she found something worth writing about. An aspect of Filipino culture that millions of people worldwide are already familiar with. Yet, it’s also so niche that you’ve probably never even heard of it.
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I have a teenager at home. That’s why I know about P-pop (Pinoy pop). However, I didn’t pay attention until I discovered that my sister-in-law is a big fan of P-pop, specifically the band SB19.
She’s not alone. P-pop has millions of fans worldwide. They’re on the Billboard charts. They’ve been nominated for MTV awards and the Grammys. They’ve sold out concerts and been written about in Forbes and Billboard. I’ve seen videos of people who don’t know a single word of Filipino singing along and dancing on TikTok to songs from Bini, Alamat, and Hori7on.
To the casual listener, it sounds like K-pop, but in Filipino. In many ways, it is.
P-pop has borrowed heavily from K-pop groups in terms of production, marketing, visuals, and songwriting. The fact that it sounds so similar to K-pop and that many of their songs are in English are reasons why it was able to break into the mainstream global music scene.
https://www.gridmagazine.ph/story/filipino-pop-music-deep-dive-opm-ppop
But what makes P-pop a great introduction to Filipino youth and local culture is how P-pop artists intentionally incorporate many indigenous, regional, and pre-colonial elements of Philippine culture in their lyrics and videos.
They don’t just sing and rap in Filipino; they also do it in other Filipino languages, such as Cebuano (Bisaya), Kapampangan, Ilocano, and even Pinoy slang that you won’t hear anywhere else in the world.
Their videos feature indigenous clothes and dances, regional landmarks and myths, tribal tattoos and jewelry. Some even use Filipino history as storylines for their videos.
Speaking of music videos, watching them can be a confusing mix of cultures and timelines.
One SB19 video I saw appears to be set in an odd-looking American diner. But it’s also a Filipino reference as the design is inspired by the diners constructed for GIs back when America still had military bases in the Philippines (from 1947 to 1992). It has an uncanny mix of 1950s nostalgia and 1970s disco colors, the walls adorned with posters of American and Filipino artists, where they served Filipino food alongside traditional American fare.
https://youtu.be/aIT2X9HWJLE?si=UTrOAFLKDsR9TUnD
It’s a deep cut, and for an overthinker like me, I could easily go down a rabbit hole listing down and categorizing all the cultural references.
If you want an introduction to Filipino culture that’s entertaining and would make a great TikTok dance video, try P-pop.
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I hadn’t heard of P-pop…but I don’t hear of most cultural things. My teenagers are always like “oh my gosh! Dad! Seriously!…”
John