KAIA joins the burgeoning P-pop scene

Welcome KAIA into the burgeoning P-pop scene. The name comes from the combination of two Filipino words. These are Kinaiya, which is a description of the inner character, both the good and the bad, and Kaya, which is about strength or capability. Kaya mo ba? Can you do it? The question goes. So, we can now ask KAIA, do you think you can do it? Kaya ba ninyo? The expected reply is Kakayanin or I will do my best.  That is what everybody expects from KAIA.

KAIA is a five-member girl group made up of Sophia, Angela, Charice, Charlotte and Alexa. As is usual with girl bands, they are all young and pretty, can sing and dance, passed difficult auditions and underwent rigorous training. They recently made their entry into the local music scene with the single BLAH BLAH, which was composed by all five of them. It is about the early experiences of most kids with romantic love and KAIA drew inspiration from their own.

The bubble-gum bop goes blah, blah, blah, blah to inanity. But there is nothing inane with the effort. In fact, the single has its eye on the global market and the people behind it spared nothing to give it the best chance possible. The producer is Lee Oh Won who was behind the big hits of Korean acts like the Stray Kids, SHINee’s Taemin, TVXQ and the Pinoy boy group SB19. Accompanied by the video directed by Angelo Bolanon, KAIA is now getting the best push ever as part of the Angat P-Pop campaign from Sony Music.

Although well-equipped, the climb will not be easy. With the release of Blah Blah, KAIA joins the fast-growing list of Pinoy song and dance girl groups. That list is getting longer and longer by the day. No wonder these girl bands are being compared to mushrooms. I like the way they are usually referred to in Pilipino. “Parang kabute.” They do seem like mushrooms sprouting all over the place. Given the size of the local market, there is very little room for all of them to flourish, that is, unless, like what KAIA wants to do, they crash the international market. Now, that would really be something.

As of now, the competition for KAIA includes Litz with songs Natataranta and Kidlat; Rouge, Hanep; BINI with Na Na Na, Kinikilig and Kapit Lang; 4th Impact with Here We Go; MNL48, with No Way Man, River and High Tension; Calista with Race Car; G22 with Bang; Daydream with Falling 4 U and Finding Hope; and Gandaras which sing mostly covers. This is not a complete list, just the groups I recently came across. I am sure that there are many more.

Now if we are to go by the latest Spotify Philippine Trending Songs Playlist, then we can say that the girls have to try harder to make it to the chart. There must indeed be some truth to what was said in the old days and still holds true today. There are more male idols because there are more girl fans. The females prefer the guys and not the girls who they see as “competition”.

As an example, please check out these titles of local big sellers as per Spotify: Pano by Zack Tabudlo; Habang Buhay, also by Tabudlo; As It Was by Harry Styles; Ikaw Lang by Nobita; Pag-samo by Arthur Nery; bbno$ by mathematics; Easy Summertime by NIKI; Anxieties (Out of Time) by The Regrettes; Tahanan by Adie; Ghost by Justin Bieber.

LONDON by BIA; Shiver by Ed Sheeran; Evolver by Anitta; Heat Wave by Glass Animals; Diwata from the Miss Universe Philippines beauty pageant by Sam Concepcion; Higher by Michael Buble; Binibini, again by Tabudlo; Hot Crush Lover by Blu DeTiger; Teenage Mona Lisa by Alfie Castley; and Easy on Me by Adele.

Let us all hope that KAIA makes it to the top. And also all those other girl bands.