Filipinos love to sing. A lot of Filipinos can sing. And of those who can, most of those people can sing very well. You can ask any artist who has ever had a concert in the Philippines about this. Most if not all will tell you that the crowds sing along to their songs while they perform every single time. So many Filipino singers have shown their talent overseas. This further proves that singing is natural to many of us. There are even memes and viral videos about how difficult it is to sing after a Filipino at karaoke. These memes usually follow with videos of how amazing many can be even at karaoke. In this post, I share my thoughts on this culture as well as some of my favorite songs to sing when I do karaoke!
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| Photo by Suvan Chowdhury |
Pinoy Karaoke Culture
The love for singing is so big that karaoke is a popular thing that Filipinos do to entertain themselves. Sometimes it can be a simple sing-along over some alcohol and food. More often than not it can be like a mini-concert in itself. Every person sings like they are performing for their life. Then there are, of course, those who sing for the sake of singing, it doesn’t matter if they can carry a tune or not.
Songs often heard in Filipino karaoke can range from current hits to old classics. It can be the cheesiest novelty tunes or the most breathtaking high-belter songs. No matter how many Filipinos love to sing, there seems to be a common set of songs that are always played. You can view a discussion of some of these iconic tunes in an episode of the Fandesals Podcast. If you're interested, the episode is at the end of this post!
Karaoke has evolved so much through the years. There were karaoke machines back in the 80s that used cassette tapes where you could shift the audio. It went from instrumental to one with a backing vocal to help the singer with the tune. If I remember right they called this the minus-one/multiplex. Then years later it exploded to CDs then karaoke mics that had SD(?) cards with songs in them that you could update when you buy new songs from the manufacturer. Then, of course, there is the karaoke machine that we see a lot in provinces. These are the ones with the huge TV on top of a machine with large speakers. You had to pick your song from a list or songbook. At the end of your song the machine, as with other karaoke devices, gives you a score based on your “performance.” I never cared for the score so much though – it always seems to give a high score if your voice is loud enough. It doesn’t matter if you are out of tune.
I’ve had my share of karaoke experiences through the years. That meant going to places like the Korean norebang. I remember these places were popular before portable devices came out. These are rooms that you rent to sing karaoke in. I haven’t been to one in a while, I'm not even sure if they are still as popular as they used to be.
These days, most of my singing is at home. It's me armed with a Bluetooth mic that I connect to either my Spotify or YouTube account. I stay in my room, let the songs play then I sing along to any song I want.
What songs do I love to sing? Here are some of my karaoke favorites!
Karaoke Tunes I Love To Sing
Love on The Brain (Rihanna)
Oh my goodness, I love singing this song whenever I'm stressed. It feels good to get the emotions of this song out when I have a lot on my mind. It's so cathartic for me!
Bad (James Bay)
There's something about this song that makes me feel heartbroken when I hear it. But there's something about how soft and vulnerable it sounds that I love singing along to. It's also cathartic in the sense that it makes me feel like I want to softly cry my feelings away.
Pill For This (Sam De Rosa)
I fell in love with this song when I first heard it on a reality show. It has become one of my favorite songs to sing since then. I like the story of the song but I also love that it is the right pitch for my voice too.
Chandelier (Kianna Granis version)
The original version of this song is so hard to sing, but this version makes it a little bit easier. It sounds softer than the original and I love wallowing in the emotions of this when I'm not feeling my best.
Araw Gabi (Troy Laureta & Loren Allred version)
I've loved the Regine Velasquez version of this song for so long. I never thought that there'd be a better version but here we are. This song makes me want to fall in love so bad! Whenever I sing this, I get those feelings of being in love and the highs of having that feeling. It's so positive and uplifting for me.
Secret Love Song (Little Mix)
This song is so sad and heartbreaking that it becomes fun to sing this out loud when you feel like letting it all out. There are two versions of this one. There's a version with only Little Mix and another that features Jason Derulo. It's a beautiful song, no matter what version.
Babe (Taylor's Version)
Taylor Swift wrote this song for the band Sugarland. She performed backing vocals for this and she even performed the track live with them in one of her shows. She then released her version of the song and I have been singing along to this since!
A Love That Will Last (Renee Olstead)
This was in the soundtrack for Princess Diaries 2. I loved the jazzy sound of this song and I have loved singing along to this one since.
Kids (Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue)
This is a favorite when I want to sing to have fun. It may sound silly but I love singing to this pretending I'm performing with Robbie Williams. It's a song I loved way back when and I still love listening and singing along to it today.
Leave Your Lover (Sam Smith)
I love how soft this song is. Like the song Bad, I love the vulnerability in this song. It's something that I love to sing along to because of how gentle it all sounds even if the song's message is a bit sad.
Song Request (Lee So Ra featuring SUGA of BTS)
I may not understand Korean but I find myself singing this song a lot these days. I enjoy the melody of the song and of course, I love that my SUGA is a part of this song. I would love to get my hands on an instrumental track of this one so that I can do a proper cover version.
Christmas Tree (V of BTS)
Fell in love with this song when I heard it in the K-drama Our Beloved Summer. I love how soothing this song sounds. It's another favorite even if I did not understand the lyrics at first. It's such a sweet song that became a bit of an earworm for me because I find myself humming to this one at random moments.
Love the Way You Lie (Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 - Eminem & Rihanna)
These songs are intense but I love the storytelling element of it. It makes singing along to Rihanna's parts feel intense and I love doing it! Side note, I also love singing Beyonce's part on Eminem's song Walk on Water!
When I'm singing with family, there is also a tendency for me to be performing rap songs. For some reason, one of my sisters noticed that it was something I could do and has been making me sing rap tracks since. Whenever she chooses the tracks she adds songs like Superbass, Starships, and Bang Bang for me. I have enjoyed rap for years but it's something I never thought I could do until my sister pointed it out to me. I can do it for fun, but I would never volunteer to do it!
I find that for me, singing can be a form of stress relief. Having a round of singing can help to clear my head sometimes. I guess letting all your emotions out when you sing can help do that. Could this love for singing be why Filipinos are happy people in general? Because they often de-stress with their love for singing?
The way I see it, the karaoke culture is something that will always be a part of Filipino life. The way we go about it may change with time, but singing will always be a part of it.
If you're looking for popular songs in Filipino karaoke, try this episode of the Fandesals! You'll find some surprises with some of the songs discussed in it! If you can understand Tagalog, this is a video for you! Let me know what you think of this post and the Fandesals video in the comments section!
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