Carlyn Ocampo’s Z-Pop Dream
One of the singers who became a Z-Girl is Carlyn Cabel Ocampo, the 24-year-old lead singer hailing from the Philippines. Carlyn was previously a member of the Pop Girls, a Filipino girl group by Viva Records back in 2014
To some of us, fulfilling our K-Pop dreams includes dressing up like BTS, EXO or BLACKPINK artists. However, when you mix up different Asian artists and make them into a K-Pop-like group, you get the best of all that the phenomenon has to offer.
One of those groups is the Z-Girls, a K-Pop inspired girl group with members from different Asian regions, such as Taiwan, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan and, of course, the Philippines. The group was formed by the Z-Pop Dream project under Divtone Entertainment, formerly based in Seoul (under the Zenith Media Group), but transferred to Singapore in 2020.
One of the singers who became a Z-Girl is Carlyn Cabel Ocampo, the 24-year-old lead singer from the Philippines. Carlyn was previously a member of the Pop Girls, a Filipino girl group by Viva Records back in 2014.
Fun fact: the Pop Girls girl group was started in 2009 with a 15-year-old Nadine Lustre and was part of her starting career as a singer and artist. Carlyn continued on with Pop Girls until 2017 before she became a Z-Girl.
The Z-Girls have gained Internet popularity with their hit song “What You Waiting For” with over seven million views on YouTube. They made their debut last February 2019 with the song becoming a success in their Z-Pop Dream. Their videos have a striking similarity to the K-Pop songs we are familiar with, with cinema levels of videography and editing. The biggest difference? They are all singing in English.
One commenter in their “What You Waiting For” video said, “This is not kpop. This is Asian Pop.” Another remarked that “this group is soooo underrated and the only group who don’t claim (themselves) as a korean group.”
Carlyn recognizes herself as the Z-Girls’ leader and is the main vocalist and dancer as seen in the music videos.
For those interested in how to be part of this group, the Z-Pop Dream is the answer as the project that is now looking for “Z-Stars” every season through the GLITZY (stylized as glitzy) app for music and dance lovers. It also provides an “opportunity to interact with Z-Stars” as well.
Currently, the Z-Pop Dream is on its second season with new Z-Stars coming in to follow their dreams in becoming a star worldwide. According to the Z-Ppop Dream website, the Z-Stars “go through professional training in South Korea, under the proven Star Making program — a specialist academy designed by K-Pop starts and industry leaders.”
The origins of the Z-Pop moniker appear to have come from the Generation Z that is a demographic of birth years from the late 1990s to the early 2010s, which fit in the category of being a Z-Star.
Although it may seem artificial from an artistic point of view, each member of the Z-Girls have a professional talent of singing and dancing. Carlyn Ocampo, with her prior experience being with the Pop Girls, makes her more than eligible to be part of a group that creates opportunities for people in Asia.
So if you want to be like your K-Pop fantasy, the Z-Pop Dream could just be your ticket.