2017: The music scene changes for the better
The Philippine music business may not be at its strongest at this time but I really have to say that it deserves a lot of awards for its resilience and adaptability. Admit it, everybody had almost written off the recording industry a year ago. Store space for music sections was getting smaller and smaller and then they just disappeared. Replication facilities, which are where they stamp the audio on CDs were going out of operation. Worst of all, Pinoys were still clueless about downloading and were therefore not buying sounds.
But by December 2017, the local music scene has changed for the better. It is still a long way off from the glorious days of the Manila Sound in the ‘70s but it is now all abuzz with hits, foreign, American, Latino and Korean and, glory of glories, also Filipino. Spotify and
Apple are becoming bywords for music buffs, and the CD, though with sales greatly reduced, has found its dedicated, albeit small clientele. Everybody else is either streaming or downloading. Best of all, there is a new crop of Filipino artists, mostly young and mostly independent and serious about their careers.
I credit the change to the very strong releases by some foreign artists. Ed Sheeran, Shape Of You; Bruno Mars, That’s What I Like; The Chainsmokers and Coldplay,
Something Just Like This and Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber. These singles are plainly irresistible and CD copies are not always available. So fans learned how to stream and to download. By the time Reputation by Taylor Swift came out, Pinoys were among those disappointed that it was not available for streaming.
It was heartening to find Iñigo Pascual transcending his TV brat beginnings to become a big-selling artist with
Dahil Sa ‘yo. And he is also the composer of the song. Then there was Moira de la Torre, whose soft, relaxing style was just what the soundtracks wanted. It was Moira behind Malaya from
Camp Sawi; Sundo from The Good Son; Torete from Love You To The Stars And Back;
and Saglit from The Better
Half. Spotify’s current No. 1 seller, Titibo-tibo is also by Moira. It is not from a movie or TV show but you can bet it will be in some soundtrack soon.
Another one of the year’s
biggest-selling songs is Two Less Lonely People In The
World. I know this is an oldie originally recorded by the Australian duo, Air Supply, which became a hit during the ‘80s. But some clever soul decided it will make a good theme song for the movie
Kita Kita, which starred Alessandra de Rossi and comedian Empoy. The low-budgeted, light romance turned out to be a giant at the box-office. An almost P400M gross at last count. The song went right along with massive sales online and best of all gave a huge boost to the career of KZ Tandingan.
As for the CD buyers, their must-have product of the year was R3.0, the 30th anniversary album by Regine Velasquez. The Songbird packed the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena for a record two nights last October and at the same time she unloaded the three-disc pack
containing new versions of her early hits, I Can, ArawGabi; covers like Up Dharma Down’s Tadhana, Didith Reyes’ Bakit Ako Mahihiya and new songs, Hugot and First Man In My Life.
Justin Bieber cancelled. Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes deferred to later dates in 2018. But Coldplay came to town. So did Britney Spears, The Chainsmokers, Ariana Grande, Liam Gallagher, The Cascades, 5 Seconds of Summer, Engelbert Humperdinck, DNCE and many others from abroad. There were shows by Pilita Corrales, Celeste Legaspi, Basil Valdez, Rico J. Puno, Jose Mari Chan, The CompanY and Ogie Alcasid. And the musicals, either touring or local productions, were also omnipresent. The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Kinky Boots, Matilda, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Hair and A Christmas Carol. I must say that live performances in 2018 were a vibrant, exciting lot.
To close, here are the Top 20 songs of the week just past as tabulated by Billboard Philippines. Titibo-tibo by Moira de la Torre; Havana by Camilla Cabello feat. Young Thug; Perfect by Ed Sheeran; Young, Dumb And Broke by Khalid; Too Good At
Goodbyes by Sam Smith; New Rules by Dua Lipa; Malaya again by Moira; Dive also by Sheeran; Shape Of You, again by Sheeran; ILYSB (Stripped) by LANY.
Dahil Sa Iyo by Iñigo Pascual; Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber; MIC DROP by BTS; What Lovers Do by Maroon 5; Sundo, also by Moira; I’m The One by DJ Khaled, Justin Bieber, Quavo and Chance The Rapper; Something Just Like This by Coldplay and The Chainsmokers; How Long by Charlie Putt; Two Less Lonely People In The World by KZ Tandingan;
and DNA also by the Korean group BTS.