In 2026, a handful of P-Pop acts are trying to revive the “novelty song” label.
Among them are the viral girl group Baby Dolls, who released their first single “Ikembot Mo” (Wiggle It) in March.
With the term “novelty,” you never know what to expect musically. Novelty tracks all contain some element of camp and/or humour. The truth is that the nebulous “novelty” concept can sound like any genre, in terms of production. Songs slapped with this label incorporate wildly different influences, from the earworm Eurodance of “Crazy Frog” by Axel F to MEI MEI, another rookie self-proclaimed novelty P-Pop group, channelling doo-wop-influenced 1960s groups like The Marvelettes in their songs.
Even knowing that novelty can sound like anything, Baby Dolls going full-on surf rock for their debut track was a bit of a shocker. Surf and doo-wop share a lot of history; it would’ve been easy for the group to stick with classic Motown-style melodies, literally the blueprint for the modern girl group.
For whatever reason, “Ikembot Mo” is filled with twangy guitars that would make Dick Dale proud. The silly lyrics and delivery work surprisingly well with the surf rock sound. The Beach Boys walked so Baby Dolls could wiggle it.
KAIA’s “Hulog” (Fall), released a few weeks ago, was a rather unexpected pivot into rock territory as well. Club and R&B flavours, as heard in hits like “Walang Biruan” (No Joke) and “Tanga” (Fool), brought the quintet much-deserved success.
Diverging from that formula was a risk that yielded a marvellous result. “Hulog” is a real beauty and banger. Although the romantic Tagalog lyrics could suit a ballad, the song has vigour: synth-pop-rock filled with strong drums, guitars, and synthesisers, all redolent of 1980s new wave.
However, a ballad can also be a rock song. In the past several years, a Filipino pop act (usually women) releasing a rock ballad out of the blue that’s actually really cool has become something of a tradition.
In 2022, BINI melded REO Speedwagon-esque arena rock with trap-inspired drum loops in their Tagalog ballad “Huwag Muna Tayong Umuwi” (Let’s Not Go Home Yet). Three years later, Rain Celmar’s Cebuano-English single “Pahuway” (Rest) was a worthy successor.
This week, former P-Pop idol Ashtine Olviga continued her solo pop girl rollout with a new single, “Nasaan Ka Na?” (Where Are You?). Her April single, “Love Like U,” was cute but incredibly lightweight. Despite some reports describing “Nasaan” as an acoustic ballad, this is only true for less than half of the song. The rest of it follows in the vein of BINI and Rain’s rock ballads.
“Nasaan” begins with soft, stripped-down piano and singing. However, a minute and a half into the song’s runtime (three minutes and 34 seconds exactly), soft rock instruments kick in as Ashtine’s gorgeous vocals rise with bell-like clarity.
Many awesome rock songs come from pop girls who rarely (if ever) market their releases as such. Outside the Philippines, for example, most people would never associate Taylor Swift with the genre, but she’s dabbled in rock several times, e.g, her pop-punk cuts “Better Than Revenge” and “The Story of Us” from Speak Now (2010).
Circling back to the Filipinas, you’ll find examples like this. For example, “Lagi” (Always) by the aforementioned girl group BINI is confirmed to draw sonic inspiration from punk and pop-rock artists like No Doubt, Avril Lavigne, and Michelle Branch.
These women don’t present themselves in the way traditional rock artists do. You can argue that the pop girls lack the attitude to be “authentically” rock. Even Janine Berdin, a Filipina who’s been in the local rock scene for years, has been called a poser by many when her song “What if I miss you for the rest of my life?” set social media ablaze.
Let’s put the gatekeeping aside and admit that the fusion of these honeyed, feminine pop melodies with rock influences sounds simply beautiful. If we’re lucky, Filipina pop stars will continue to bless us with this kind of music in the years to come.
