Cheska Jane G. Arriola
Ms. Benetha Huera
English 2
20 February 2013
Korean Pop invasion in the Philippines: a Threat to OPM?
I. Introduction
For the past few years, there has been a distinctive foreign genre that catches the attention of Filipino music lovers. Thousands of Filipinos especially teenagers go crazy over the so what called “K-pop” music. K-pop is an abbreviation for the term Korean pop which is continuously making a buzz not only in the Philippines but also in other parts of the world. Holden defined K-pop as “a musical genre and subculture originating in South Korea which comprises a wide spectrum of musical and visual elements” (144). If Korea has what they call as K-pop, the Philippines has its very own “OPM” or Original Pilipino Music. OPM is referred to as “Philippine pop songs, particularly ballads, such as those popular after the collapse of its predecessor, the Manila Sound, in the late 1970s, up until the present” (Basijan 18). The spread of K-pop music in the country resulted to K-pop invasion or what others refer to as “K-pop fever”. Unknown to some, this phenomenon is giving threats to the OPM industry since it affects many aspects of it. Because of the Korean Pop invasion in the Philippines which influences a lot of Filipino teenagers to patronize K-pop music, it poses threats to the Original Pilipino Music industry in terms of the album sales, organization of local concerts and the worst is, it might be more popular than OPM in the near future.
II. The impacts of Korean pop invasion to Filipino teenagers A. Teenagers’ change of preference from OPM songs to K-pop music “Nobody”, “Fire”, “Sorry Sorry” and “Gangnam Style”, these are just some of the K-pop songs that became a huge hit in the country. K-pop fever is everywhere and it has been a breakthrough throughout the Philippines. So, when and how did K-pop invasion in the country start? According to Lou Kana, popular Korean dramas which were aired in the Philippines like Full House and Endless Love contributed to the birth of K-pop music in the country since the lead stars of those dramas are K-pop artists (12). The beginning of K-pop fever started around 2008 when majority of Korean dramas’ theme songs became popular. Super Junior, Wonder Girls, PSY, Rain, Big Bang, SHINee, Girls’ Generation, 2NE1, 2PM, BEAST, TVXQ, U-Kiss and EXO, these are mainly the popular K-pop groups which are idolized by Filipino K-pop fanatics.
With the tremendous popularity that K-pop groups are gaining, there are some people who wonder why many Filipino teenagers are getting addicted to them. Mac Macapendeg asserted that Filipinos love K-pop artists and the music itself because it sounds unique, it introduces an incomparable level of entertainment, fashion, style and Korean customs and traditions are not that different from the Filipino one.
However, there are groups of people who are questioning the infection that Korean pop invasion has given to the country. They are questioning those K-pop fanatics on being true nationalists, that the fever tends to let the Filipinos forget that they have their own fever to go crazy for, the OPM fever. In connection with this, Ree Ocampo supposed that the competition between K-pop music and OPM pictures a scene of “the fall of OPM and the rise of K-pop music in the Philippines” (5).
This is sad thing especially to those who were involved in the OPM industry. Our country is very open in embracing foreign music but K-pop music seems like a new thing compared to Hollywood or English music. Because of patronizing K-pop, Filipino teenagers nowadays seem not to patronize their country’s music. Instead of buying OPM albums, they tend to buy K-pop albums available in music stores nationwide. This will be discussed further as we analyze the competition between K-pop and OPM.
B. The good and bad things about listening to K-pop music
As the Korean invasion continues, K-pop music brings benefits and bad effects to those teenagers who continuously patronize it. It could affect one’s social life and the way he/she handles things such as money. If a teenager gets totally addicted to that certain kind of genre, his/her social life might change. It is either he/she might lose or gain friends. Another thing, because of one’s eagerness to buy K-pop albums or to attend K-pop concerts, he/she becomes thrifty and saves a lot of money just to feed his/her addiction.
One of the issues about K-pop is the issue about lyrics that picture or refer to sex, social criticism and swearing. Some examples of it are TVXQ’s Mirotic and a few songs by Rain. Karl Enriquez stated in his article that some people say that these inappropriate songs should be banned from the young people because they impart bad impressions to the listeners. But as we all know, other foreign music or even the local one are going through the same issue.
Social interaction is one of the basic needs, and this could be achieved through gaining insights on the situation of fellow fans. According to Jessie Josita, consuming Korean popular music and videos also encouraged the Filipino audiences to seek a sense of belongingness (15). Most of them have joined social groups in order to acquire this sense of belongingness. Attending fan events and conventions is a common link between K-pop fanatics, as evident by the fact that many of them attend K-pop events like K-pop fest and K-pop convention.
K-pop also affected the original way of life of Filipino teenagers. Their daily schedule consisted of listening to Korean music on their way to and from school through their music players and watching Korean videos on their laptops and computers. Fangirling 24/7 has been their lifestyle. I personally think that this is not bad at all since all of us have our own likes or obsessions. This habit will just be disturbing if it becomes so serious and it affects other aspects of one’s life. C. Getting influenced by K-pop in terms of language and fashion style
From the songs, to beautiful boy bands and cute girl groups, Filipinos tend to embrace the K-pop fever by adapting and loving their music out of the context whether they understood the language or not. It seems that everything that has to do with Korea is addictive and most of it linked to the K-pop invasion. From young to not-so-young, a lot of Filipinos become hooked with K-pop’s catchy music, edgy fashion and style and good-looking idols. According to Alex Vergara, K-pop invasion may affect some aspects of a country specifically entertainment, fashion, food, language, culture of that particular country (A20). The phenomenon may also be the bridge that will connect Filipinos and Koreans more since it would be the way to get business opportunities like restaurants, shops and even Korean language learning centers in the country.
The most obvious cultural offering of Korean music and videos is the Korean language or Hangul. As the Korean language was not understood by nearly all the units of analysis, it was assumed to be a barrier to the appreciation of K-pop. However, Kim Herald found out that majority of the K-pop fanatics did not find the language barrier as a hindrance to their liking of Korean music, videos and artists (65). In fact, almost all of them were already learning the said foreign language. Aside from that, teenagers also tend to be inspired by their Korean idols’ fashion styles. They tend to imitate their style by buying colorful outfits and even styling or dying their hair.
III. The current situation of OPM
A. Digital and album sales ranking of Filipino artists
In spite of the rise of popularity of new OPM bands and singers, most of the kings and queens of OPM are still active in the industry. Regine Velasquez, Jaya, Gary Valenciano, Ogie Alcasid, Janno Gibbs, Sharon Cuneta, Martin Nievera, Zsa Zsa Padilla and even Jose Mari Chan are still releasing their albums until this decade. Like before, they are still creating hits that make them to maintain their popularity.
Based on Astroplus album charts, in 2012, Daniel Padilla, Xian Lim, Ogie Alcasid, Piolo Pascual, Nina, Regine Velasquez, Angeline Quinto, Gary Valenciano, Sarah Geronimo are the often top-charters in music and album charts in the Philippines.
In radio music countdowns since 2011, many OPM songs have been remarkable to Filipino listeners. Pangarap lang kita by Parokya ni Edgar ft. Happee Sy, Sulyap by 143, Porque by Maldita, Isang Pangarap by Angeline Quinto, Pusong Bato by Jovit Baldovino and some hits from Sarah Geronimo and Kamikazee are usually on the top list of the countdowns.
Analyzing the album sales records, only 7 out of the Top 20 Biggest-selling albums in the Philippines were produced from 2000-2005. The remaining 13 were albums from 80’s and 90’s. From this, it is quite evident that OPM albums for the past 7 years did not sell tremendously. Jose Mari Chan’s Christmas in our Hearts is hailed the best-selling album In OPM with more than 636,000 album copies sold. Meanwhile, Regine Valesquez is considered as the best-selling Filipino artist having more than 7 million albums sales in total (Yambao). Since 2009, there are only 3 artists namely Nina, Sharon Cuneta and Christian Bautista who received a diamond certificate for their albums.
As of today, OPM album sales are moving like a see-saw. Sometimes it’s on top but it also goes down. So what is the possible cause of this? Should the OPM industry blame foreign music like Western and Korean Pop music? In what aspects do K-pop affects the OPM industry?
B. Piracy and other foreign genres as threats to OPM
Another problem that OPM is currently facing is the issue of piracy. Because of piracy, the OPM industry loses great amount of money or profit. It is considered to be the biggest and oldest threat to OPM since this is an actual result of Filipinos’ actions. Many Filipinos support this kind of piracy over the years. If we would observe, it is very evident in many places where selling pirated CDs or DVDs is unrestrained. K-pop is brought about by a foreign element and can still be controlled. Piracy is something that is difficult to manage even if there are Philippine laws under it. Basijan believed that the Philippine government can help in reviving OPM by implementing laws that will encourage Filipinos to patronize their own music and not to support piracy (18). The Anti-Piracy law should be strengthened by the local government because this is a serious thing. They should resolve this issue because the country’s music industry is greatly affected by piracy.
Since the K-pop invasion started, it has been said to be a threat to OPM. In line with this, some questions the ability of OPM to not be affected by this at all. As what Ree Ocampo claimed, “Western music has been a lot more popular than OPM for a long time, so it can be said that OPM is at threat regardless of K-pop or not.” (5). Foreign genres result in giving impacts to the Filipinos and so to the OPM industry.
C. Producing less hit songs as compared to the past decades
In the 21st century, many people believed that OPM is losing its impact to Filipino listeners. It is not that “big’ as compared to the past decades. This century witnessed the popularity of local bands since a lot of them have made hit songs. Kamikazee, Spongecola, Calla Lily, Hale, Parokya ni Edgar, Urbandub, 6CycleMind, Silent Sanctuary, Itchyworms, Rocksteddy, Rivermaya and Pupil, these are just of the famous bands nowadays. Eraserheads which made original and popular songs.
For the past 10 years, Filipinos also witnessed the rebirth of Pinoy nobelty songs. Who would have forget the songs “Otso-Otso”, “Yeye Bonel”, “Pamela”, “Bulaklak” “Spaghetti” “Boom tarat” and other famous nobelty songs? The rise of popularity of new Filipino solo artists has been evident in this century. The Filipino singers who gained so much success are Sarah Geronimo, Rachel Ann Go, Erik Santos, Christian Bautista, Angeline Quinto, Nina, MYMP, Kyla, Gloc-9, Julie Ann San Jose, Jovit Baldovino, Bugoy, Yeng Constantino, Mark Bautista and many more.
The said artists are continuously creating hit songs that Filipinos often hear on radio stations. But compared to the “classic hits”, today’s hit songs are less popular as compared to the songs from the past decades. Apparently, it is because most of those songs are remake or just revivals. There are only few original songs that become wildfire hits these days.
IV. Effects of K-pop invasion to the OPM industry
A. The birth of “P-pop”
The birth of P-pop groups is one of the effects of K-pop invasion to OPM industry. Pinoy pop exists since 1970s but in 2010, a sub-music genre inspired by the Korean wave was launched making a way for P-pop groups like XLR8, 1:43, Freshmyx, Sakto, Down to Mars, A-FIVE, Pop Girls, Pointen and Eurasia to join the OPM industry. In this way, people can say that K-pop has affected the originality of Filipinos in making new music. In response to this, the boy group Down to Mars defensed P-pop by stating, “As artists, we wanted to recreate that experience not by copying but getting inspirations because in the bottom line, music is still the language of our soul that can cross the boundaries of cultures and places, so to speak.” (Paliza). B. The decrease of OPM album sales
With its consistent sales of K-pop albums and concert tickets, Filipinos are definitely invaded by the Korean culture. Music companies distribute Korean albums in the country, and most of these albums are best sellers in music stores. The beginning of selling K-pop albums in the Philippines may be one of the reasons of the decrease of album sales of OPM artists. In 2009, K-pop male group Super Junior lead the Philippine album chart with their album “Sorry, Sorry” (Hicap). Along with Super Junior, K-pop girl group Girls’ Generation also slayed the chart in the same year. In 2010, Hicap wrote in his online article that four K-pop groups were included in Top 10 album charts and even beating local and other international album sales. At that time, there was a decrease in album sales of OPM artists.
C. More successful K-pop concerts than local ones
For the past 5 years, numerous K-pop groups like SHINee, 4minute, FT Island, Super Junior, U-Kiss, Beast, Big Bang, Kim Hyunjoong and Rain visited the Philippines to perform. Recently, 6 K-pop artists namely Infinite, Girls’ Generation, EXO, Tahiti, Tasty, U-Kiss performed at SM Mall of Asia grounds for the Dream K-pop Fantasy Concert (Valeza). More K-pop concerts are expected to be held this year. The K-pop male group 2PM recently held a concert on Mar. 2 at SM MOA Arena (Hicap D6). Other acts such as CN Blue, Super Junior, and MBLAQ and some rookie groups are also expected to have a concert in the country in the succeeding months. From this, one can say that K-pop concerts are continuously being organized in the Philippines since the first ones had been so successful. In addition to that, tickets even got sold out even those concerts were being held in big venues. Meanwhile, local concerts in big venues do not happen frequently. Usually, local artists and bands go to different places to have concerts. Only those popular local singers get a chance to hold a concert in big venues.
D. Losing the originality of OPM due to the K-pop influence Aside from this, Filipino songs and artists are losing originality in making their music. The distinctive sound of OPM is slowly losing and being influenced by other genres. If people would notice, some of the OPM songs that they hear from radio stations are just remakes or revivals. Another thing is, new Filipino artists are not properly trained unlike those Korean artists who undergo years of training. Filipinos should make OPM “original” again since it is a part of our identity. It is a good thing that we get inspirations or ideas from other foreign music but there comes a time that we need to use our originality to create good music.
V. Analyzing the clash between OPM industry and K-pop invasion in the Philippines
As of today, there is still a K-pop invasion that is conquering the music scene in the Philippines. Filipino radio listeners can still hear K-pop songs in local radio stations and watch K-pop music videos in music channels like MYX and MTV Asia. There is a clear clash between OPM and K-pop in the Philippines.
K-pop will definitely create a huge impact to local music sales in the Philippines but not so soon. OPM is not actually dead but it has just gone stale over the years. Besides, Filipinos’ own actions like buying pirated albums make the status of OPM worse. OPM needs some recreation so that Filipino listeners would pay more attention to it. OPM is a precious music genre and what makes it even more precious is, it is our own music. If Filipinos would not embrace their own music, there is a possibility that foreign genres such as K-pop might be completely more popular than OPM. The worst thing would be, OPM might be extinct and this will surely affect our culture. As what Twinky Lagdameo pointed out in her online article, OPM can be a global success if Filipinos would only support and patronize their own music like what Koreans, Japanese and Chinese are doing.
VI. Conclusion
As a whole, the K-pop invasion in the Philippines really affects the OPM industry in four major aspects: 1) album sales 2) organization of concerts 4) originality of music and lastly, 4) popularity, as proven by the evidences cited earlier. But that does not mean that the K-pop invasion is the biggest threat to OPM today since there are a lot of factors affecting it.