The sounds of Pinoy Pop in 2013

Television has taken over the local music industry. Just think, it was able to make a big music star out of the cute but, as of now, vocally challenged Daniel Padilla. But don’t count on him staying that way for long, if he values his success. He should take his cue from Anne Curtis. The lovely Anne, who pulls in millions as the country’s top product endorser and also a big TV star, has emerged as a major concert draw because her serious efforts at becoming a good singer have endeared her to lots of fans.

Really though, TV now dictates what music people should listen to. Take a look at some of the biggest selling titles of the year just passed. Please Be Careful With My Heart, two volumes; the singing duo Tomden made up of Tom Rodriguez and Dennis Trillo of the series My Husband’s Lover; Juan de La Cruz, also two volumes; Kahit Konting Pagtingin and Walang Hanggan. These are soundtrack albums to popular soap series that are closely followed by viewers here and wherever there are Filipinos abroad. Take note that all of these come packaged with concerts and touring shows where the members of the cast are joined by the artists who perform in the albums. 

Now, I am glad that these releases are keeping the gasping industry afloat and have also revived interest in the music of legends like Jose Mari Chan (Please Be Careful With My Heart) and Kuh Ledesma, (One More Try from My Husband’s Lover).  At the same time though I am also disheartened by the fact that these albums predominantly use old songs from 20 or more years ago.  Having discovered that these classics help sell the shows in a big way and aware of the fact that new songs require a longer and thereby costly promo period, the producers are taking the easy street and are now just picking out titles from old hit charts.

There is no question that the oldies like Rey Valera’s Maging Sino Ka Man or Martin Nievera’s Forever or Jose Mari Chan’s Please Be Careful With My Heart are beautiful songs.  That is the reason why people still enjoy listening to them.  But still one cannot help but ask, “Wala na bang bago?” Are today’s songwriters not capable of coming up with classics like Gaano Kadalas Ang Minsan or Ikaw Lang Ang Mamahalin? If this situation continues, then the melodramas of 20 years later will still be using the songs from the great Manila Sound era. If not, then the TV producers of the future would have to content themselves with showing stories based on today’s hit songs like Chinito by Yeng Constantino or Sirena by Gloc 9.

Speaking of Gloc-9, the nurse-turned-rapper is surely one of the few bright music spots of today  He has stories to tell and the rhymes to tell them with. Released two years ago, his Sirena featuring Ebe Dancel from the album Makata kept up its hit momentum throughout 2013. He has released a new album, Liham At Lihim, which is expected to yield another hit single or two.  Best of all, his popularity has revived Filipino hip-hop. This genre has remained underground since the demise of Francis M and the plunge into semi-retirement of rapper and movie star Andrew E.  Because of Gloc-9, we now have Pio, Abra, Shehyee and other new names in the rap scene.

Take note though that what I am talking about only refers to recording.  This is the process wherein you take a song, have somebody sing it, save it on a disc and then sell it to the public.  There was a time when people hear a song and if they like it, they go out to buy a copy. This does not hold true anymore. You need television to sell a song. Most of the time, the artist has to go out and sell directly to the people. They may not be interested in buying the CD but they will change their minds if they will get an autograph and a selfie they can put on Facebook with the artist. It is now a difficult sell but it is, in fact what drives concerts revenues.

Hit songs are what bring people to watch concerts and 2013 was one of our best years ever. Locally, almost everybody from Martin Nievera to Gary Valenciano, Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo, Vice Ganda down to Tomden, Mark Bautista, Bamboo, etc. performed in concerts. We also had a great harvest from the foreigners with a line-up that ranged from Rihanna to the Lettermen to Alicia Keys, Fall Out Boy and others. Why even members of the New Minstrels and the Circus Band reunited and did very good concert business. 

 For some strange reason, people have become averse to paying 200 or 300 bucks for an album but would gladly shell out P500 or more to watch a show.