Rise of P-Pop: The BINI Craze!

It was in the 70s when the term Original Pilipino Music (OPM) was coined by the well-known singer and composer, Danny Javier, of APO Hiking Society. He described it as music or songs performed by Filipinos, which at that time, were mostly ballads. 

But now that we’re in the 2020s, we’re in another music genre league of its own — P-Pop. It all started during the pandemic with a certain boy group called SB19. They became idol trainees in Korea from 2016 to 2018. When they were rookies, they received little attention from the public until late 2019 when their dance practice for “Go Up” went viral because of a single Twitter user who posted their dance video and praised their moves & voices. So you see, like any other legend, their rise to fame wasn’t easy — especially in this era full of clout chasers (sadt). But generally, it was possible. In fact, they were even the reason why we now have a new star in the making — BINI. 

Just like SB19, BINI also auditioned in a talent search. They trained for years. They worked hard. They faced difficulties, but now they’re getting THE gold. To get to know them and their experiences even better, this article will walk you through their journey and how they made (and are still making) footprints in our music scene.

Salamin, Salamin, How Did BINI Grow This BIG?

Direk Laurenti Dyogi (yes, the PBB master), was the one who spearheaded BINI’s formation. As someone with an eye for talent, he envisioned having the same Pinoy girl or boy group calibre just like in South Korea. Hence, the Star Hunt Academy was born — and millions of people joined… but in the end, only 8 were chosen – Maloi, Aiah, Stacey, Mikha, Jhoanna, Gwen, Colet, and Sheena. 

BINI trained from 2019 to 2021 under the same idol-training system as South Koreans. And though it might sound glamorous, their rise to the top was challenging. In fact, they started during the pandemic where no one can watch them live and see them up close. They weren’t able to do promotions like mall shows, fansign events, and parades. All they did was showcase who they were on various digital platforms. Sounds easy? Yes. But was it REALLY easy? Definitely not. 

To be honest, most of their success was due to TikTok. It was in December 2022 when Maloi went viral due to her Paligoy-ligoy x Hype Boy dance. And quickly after, Sheena also took over people’s FYPs with her take on the Zoom dance challenge. After trending, people eventually searched their videos. And through this, they were able to finally get an audience who could watch (and appreciate!) their flawless voices, smooth dance moves, and on point synchronization.

From Islang Pantropiko to the Whole World!

After several years, BINI started getting recognition. Their songs became a HIT! and they were everywhere all at once. In fact, they even achieved what K-Pop fans call a Perfect All Kill (PAK) for their single, Pantropiko, which helped them top various charts including Spotify PH, Apple Music PH, YouTube PH, and Billboard PH. And now, they are called the Nation’s Girl Group.

Truly, BINI’s catchy music and subtle moves gained the public’s hearts — even going to the lengths of garnering their own fandom called Bloom (which as of date has 240,300 members on FB!). And if you closely observe, their fans are insanely loyal to them. This is possibly because aside from their amazing talents, the concept of “BINI CORE” is widely popular online. 

BINI Core is basically each members’ unique personality that people find endearing. From Stacey doing a sponty spoken poetry during an interview, Colet being the epitome of Angry from Inside Out, Maloi giving PHP 1000 to a fan who asked for a pamasahe, their endless teasing of their leader Jhoanna, and many more.

So you see, BINI is a whole package with overflowing talents, visuals, and fun personalities that many enjoy. Also, their songs are refreshing to the ears after years of sad love songs that bands/singers usually release. This has made them even reach more than the three islands of the Philippines. They were invited to be guests in China where they performed in a reality program called, ‘Show It All.’ They also made it to one of the famous websites that share news about South Korean celebrities, Koreaboo. Other than those, they are having a 3-day sold out concert this week (June 28-30, 2024) at New Frontier Theater in Quezon City. And mind you, tickets were all sold in less than 2 hours!

All in all, it’s safe to say that OPM is slowly awakening from its deep sleep. Seeing BINI’s success, we can confidently say that introducing the Philippines to the world through our culture and music is working. Here, we can observe a similar trend in K-Pop. However, we must always remember to infuse our strategy with Pinoy flavor to help P-Pop grow. Maybe we can incorporate our songs with our colorful culture. May it be about games we play as kids, high school experiences, friendship, love & ligawan, or even home birthday parties we attend & how we belt the high notes in karaoke. We’ll just show how unique we are — that’s ‘cos people appreciate uniqueness, and one way to achieve this is by showcasing Filipino identity and what we can offer. After all, it’s high time that we show the whole world that we, Filipinos, are Born To Win.