When did I stop listening to OPM?
In school, I sang Ben&Ben for class presentations. “Kathang Isip” was one of the songs. My classmates loved OPM—it played on the radio, and we heard it in our classrooms, so I learned the words without ever trying to. And yes, I still listen to music every day. I play it when I am sad, when I am happy, and when I am just starting my day, and my playlists have something for almost every mood.
OPM rarely made the cut, and until recently, I had not stopped to wonder why.
After college, I moved to Canada. My playlists became mostly Western pop, partly because it was what people around me were listening to, and partly because I wanted to fit into the culture I was living in. I was happy with it.
But I never decided to stop listening to OPM. The way I found music simply changed. Every Filipino song I knew had come to me through someone else, and in Canada, no one was sharing them. When I moved back to Manila in 2025, OPM did not return to my playlists on its own.
Meeting them
On Sept. 19, I sat down with SB19, Maki, Kaia, and Jeremy G at Beyond the Beat, Sony Philippines’ launch of its new Ult Power Sound speakers at Cove Manila in Okada Manila. The people I told beforehand were so excited for me, but it had the unfortunate effect of making me more nervous.
Once I got there, I felt a little embarrassed. Everyone around me seemed to know the songs better than I did, and I did not feel like I was connecting the way I wanted to.
Hearing it
Sony introduced three speakers that night: the Ult Tower Max, Ult Tower 7, and Ult Tower 5. The Max is the biggest of the three. And built around heavy bass, the Tower 7 brings that sound in a more portable form. Meanwhile, the compact Tower 5 adds karaoke and DJ functions.
The venue also had karaoke lounges where guests could pick up a microphone. I listened in on one of them.
The sound was crisp without feeling blown up. It sounded less like a speaker and more like the song was being performed a few feet away. In a karaoke lounge, that cuts both ways. The people around me made it better. They passed through, stopped to photograph the speakers, cheered, danced, and sang along, and I liked sharing the music with people who were that excited about it.
Ten minutes before
SB19 made history on July 30 as the first homegrown Filipino act to perform at Lollapalooza in Chicago, with an hour-long set on the Allianz Stage.
I asked what happens in the 10 minutes before a set like that, and Josh answered for the group. “What we usually do is we pray, then we warm up. And of course, we check on each other, and we say stupid things,” he says. “Just to lighten up and loosen up. So it was positive energy towards one another.”
For a group about to walk onto one of the biggest stages of its career, the answer was reassuringly normal.
Two things at once
In August, Maki was at Summer Sonic in Osaka, but he was there as a fan. “I’m a big fan of Filipino music,” he tells me. He had promised himself he would support Filipino artists once they reached international stages, “and I stayed true to my words,” he says proudly.
He went to watch Bini and SB19, and he says the crowd started all Filipino before Japanese concertgoers began to gather. “It was a mind-blowing experience, and I can’t wait for me to have my moment there,” he says. “But that day, it was a moment for my friends, and I’m really, really proud.”
His song “Habangbuhay Pansamantala” puts a lifetime beside something temporary, so I asked him about holding two seemingly opposite things at once. “I grew up in a very black and white environment,” he says. “I’ve known that I need to make a bridge between the two things I love. And I think there’s nothing wrong [with that] because the world is not black and white. It was a journey of me realizing that I can be two things in one.”
Singing in our own language
I asked Kaia how P-pop compares with K-pop. The group admires K-pop’s commitment and training system, but it focuses on keeping its own identity. “As much as possible, we try to use our own language,” one member says. “I think it’s very beautiful and connects a lot of our audience.”
The goal, she says, is “exploring different sounds, but still keeping our Filipino roots.”
Who the song is for
Jeremy G, meanwhile, reveals which Filipino R&B singer the country has forgotten. “I wouldn’t say forgotten,” he says. He gave two names to go back to instead. The first was Kyla, “the queen of R&B,” whose runs he called “so clean.” The second was Jaya, whose voice he placed at the other end of R&B.
His song “Why Me?” began with doubt. “It was about me questioning what my purpose is,” he says. “Do I deserve the opportunities?” Performing it changed that. “When I see the smiles on their faces, and I see how they enjoy the song, that shows me why I’m given so many blessings.”
What I noticed
By then, I had heard four different ways of talking about Filipino music. Kaia spoke about language. Maki spoke about showing up for Filipino artists. Jeremy G pointed me back to the singers who came before him. And SB19 talked about praying and checking on one another before walking onto an international stage.
All four kept demanding schedules, and all four sat down with me and answered with enthusiasm. They were kind and generous with their time. That night, I also heard all four perform live. It was my reintroduction to OPM, and by the end of the night, I wanted to know what else I had missed.
When I got home, I did my follow-up in the least difficult way possible: I opened YouTube and Spotify. I have new favorites now. When I want energy, I play SB19’s “Gento” and Kaia’s “You Did It.” When I want something easy, I play Maki’s “Dilaw” and Jeremy G’s “Addicted 2 U.” Hearing where Filipino music is now makes me proud.
