A brief history of P-pop, from anti-Marcos messages to the mainstream and back

The past decade has been a golden era for Filipino pop music, aka Pinoy-pop or P-pop. The past couple of years alone have marked some landmark moments for the genre, which is rapidly gaining an international presence to rival that of its J-pop and K-pop forebears that have so heavily influenced the music in its current form.

Last year, boy band SB19 picked up a nomination for an MTV Europe Music Award and became the first South-East Asian act to be nominated for a Billboard Top Social Artist Award. They kept this success going into 2022 by spending seven weeks at the top of Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, breaking K-pop superstars BTS’s record for Butter in the process.

On Spotify’s annual streaming charts last year, Zack Tabudlo topped the Philippines’ most-streamed-song list with Binibini. It’s not entirely unusual for Filipino artists to make the list, but it’s more commonly dominated by international names such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. With Olivia Rodrigues and Bruno Mars — both artists of Filipino descent — joining him in the top 5, and 84 million streams in a single year for Binibini, it was a particularly strong performance.

Meanwhile, girl band MNL48 are part of a pan-Asian pop franchise success story, originating in Japan, that is taking the continent, and world, by storm. The Filipina branch of the ‘reality pop’ 48 phenomenon have picked up awards at the MYX Awards, P-Pop Awards and TikTok Awards, and even have their very own theatre to hold performances at Manila’s Eton Centris Mall.

A recurring theme in these success stories has been the heavy influence of K-pop and J-pop, but it wasn’t always thus. While modern P-pop is marked by meticulous dance routines, polished production and squeaky-clean teen pin-ups, the early history of the genre is one of subversion.

The term “Pinoy” began to be widely used as a prefix to domestic pop music in the late 1970s and applied initially to a largely folk rock-inspired movement, sung not in English as had been the norm in the former US colony, but in Tagalog or “Taglish”, and with a frequent undercurrent of opposition to the authoritarian regime of then president Ferdinand Marcos. Heber Bartolome’s 1977 song Nena, for example, told the story of a young girl forced into prostitution owing to an uncaring government, while Florante De Leon’s Digoman (War) flatly states: “I am ready to do battle for the cause of our freedom.”

Craig Lockard’s Dance of Life, a 1998 study of South-East Asian pop music, explained: “The rise of politicised pop music is linked to the development in the early ‘70s of the musical style known as ‘Pinoy’. Sung not in English but in Tagalog [or] slang-filled Tagalog that appealed to urban youth, Pinoy music was a conscious attempt to create a Filipino national and popular culture.”

The term Pinoy-pop really hit the mainstream in 1978 when Freddie Aguilar’s single Anak (Child) sold 100,000 copies in the Philippines in its first two weeks of release — something that was unheard of at the time. The song was released in more than 50 countries and translated into nearly 30 languages, according to local media.

Anak wasn’t an overtly political song. It was a touching tale of a father-son relationship. Aguilar’s 1979 follow-up, Bayan Ko (My Country), pulled no such punches, with lyrics that translate as, “The Philippines, Nest of tears and poverty, My aspiration, See you perfectly free.” This song would go on to become the anthem of the 1986 uprising against Marcos, with Aguilar himself leading the crowds in singing on occasions.

As the 1970s became the 1980s, the growing influence of US hip-hop began to show. Musically, P-pop retained a strong folk influence, in part owing to the lack of easy access to hip-hop standards such as cheap samplers and record decks in the contemporary Philippines. The lyrical poetry of the genre began to emerge in P-pop, however. A trend even emerged among street theatre/musical collectives for adapting the poems of Amado Hernadez — a Marxist Filipino poet who died in 1970 — to music.

It was also around this time that Marcos became interested in the burgeoning Pinoy-pop scene. One might have expected him to want to shut down the growing subculture, but it seems he wasn’t paying too much attention to the lyrics. Instead, impressed by proudly nationalistic song titles such as My Country and I Am Filipino, performed in the native language, Marcos decided this was exactly the sort of movement he should co-opt for political purposes, mandating under a 1978 update to Order 75-31 of the Broadcast Media Council that all Filipino radio stations should play at least three Pinoy songs an hour as part of his campaign to boost the profile of Filipino culture and reduce outside influences.

It wasn’t the first, or last, time a populist leader had misappropriated pop music for their own ends. Earlier this month, British pop group M-People were furious when Liz Truss used their hit Movin’ on Up while she walked on stage for her Conservative Party Conference speech as UK Prime Minister, though they were also happy to note the irony of Truss using a song about breaking up with a deadbeat partner, including the line “pack your bags and get out” to highlight the bright future ahead under her leadership.

It’s a world away from the shiny P-pop product of 2022, but pop music and politics alike tend to move in circles. Filipino politics has already done so this year, with the Marcos family back in power following the election of Marcos’s son Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as BongBong, as president in July.

Last week, meanwhile, Filipino Senator Jinggoy Estrada suggested banning K-drama and other foreign-made content from Filipino screens in a familiar-sounding call for the advancement of domestic culture.

In March, during the election campaign, Filipina songstress Nica Del Rosario, who has previously written songs for the likes of Sarah Geronimo and Barbie Almalbis, hit the No 1 and 2 spots on the Filipino iTunes download charts simultaneously, with Rosas and Kay Leni Tayo. Both were protest songs urging listeners to reject a return for the Marcos clan and vote for rival Leni Robredo.

Could P-pop be going full circle, too?

Scroll through the gallery below to see SB19 performing at Expo 2020 Dubai

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Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

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This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

Greatest Royal Rumble results

John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match

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AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out

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Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last

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Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”

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E-cigarettes report

Tobacco giants, under attack from governments and forced to print gruesome warnings on their products, pour millions into 'healthier' e-cigarette products

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

How to register as a donor

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3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.

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While you're here

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Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.

“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says.

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Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier.

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The story of Edge

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, established Edge in 2019.

It brought together 25 state-owned and independent companies specialising in weapons systems, cyber protection and electronic warfare.

Edge has an annual revenue of $5 billion and employs more than 12,000 people.

Some of the companies include Nimr, a maker of armoured vehicles, Caracal, which manufactures guns and ammunitions company, Lahab

Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026

1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years

If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.

2. E-invoicing in the UAE

Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.

3. More tax audits

Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.

4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime

Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.

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There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.

6. Further transfer pricing enforcement

Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.

7. Limited time periods for audits

Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.

8. Pillar 2 implementation

Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.

9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services

Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.

10. Substance and CbC reporting focus

Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.

Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer

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