WATCH: Korea-trained Pinoy boy band SB19 gives K-pop a Filipino twist

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino K-pop fans have been raving about SB19, a Pinoy boy group introducing a new genre of catchy music called P-pop – K-pop inspired melodies paired with Filipino lyrics.

SB19 is comprised of members Sejun, Stell, Josh, Ken, and Justin, who were trained under the local branch of Korean entertainment agency, ShowBT. The group debuted in 2018 with their first ballad single, “Tilaluha.”

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A post shared by SB19 Official (@officialsb19) on Jul 7, 2019 at 5:04am PDT

The group released the music video of their dance pop single, “Go Up”, in July, and as of now, has over 458,843 views.

SB19 recently stirred buzz online when a Twitter account shared a video of the boys’ dance practice on Monday, September 2, lauding the group’s clean choreography and lyrics, which were written by the boys themselves. 

So there is this Filipino Boy Group called SB19. They are under a Philippine branch of a Korean Company called ShowBT.

The producers are korean but the lyrics are in tagalog (written by the members) but i didn’t feel any cringe at all! Their dance is also great  pic.twitter.com/6bDtGxBnQ3

— LYRA | C I X  (@BAE_Sodu) September 2, 2019

“Ang mga Pilipino sobrang talented po niyan sa lahat ng larangan,” member Sejun shared, according to an ABS-CBN News report. (Filipinos are very talented in all aspects.)

 “Magaling kumanta, magaling sumayaw, umakting. ‘Yun po ‘yung maipapakita namin sa ibang bansa.” (Filipinos are good at singing, dancing, and acting. That’s what we want to show other countries.) 

As for being misconceived as K-pop copycats, SB19 clears the air.

“Hindi po naming ginagaya ang K-pop. Maybe makikita sa pananamit namin o sa itsura namin na medyo may influence ng K-pop,” Sejun said in a GMA iWitness interview. (We’re not copying K-pop. You might see it in our clothes or in our looks that they are influenced by K-pop.)

“Pero yung company namin mismo trinain at inenhance yung skills namin para ma-promote namin yung sarili naming musika, sariling musika ng Pilipino.” (But it was that company that trained us and enhanced our skills so that we could promote our own music – Filipino music.) – Rappler.com