What a Shame...

There's a recent controversy about Freddie Aguilar labeling the likes of Arnel Pineda and Charice Pempengco as monkeys for not singing originals and singing only covers of foreign artists' songs, although the former claimed that he did not label the two as such and was merely citing Mariah Carey calling Regine Velasquez a monkey (bad Mariah!) some years back.

Whether Freddie Aquilar did call Arnel and Charice monkeys or not, I think that it was a good criticism that could have been stated in a better or more positive way. Besides, Arnel Pineda is the lead singer for Journey. Of course, he's expected to sing Journey songs. As for Charice's never-ending rendition of Run To You, well, it was the song she sang at the local competition she joined, which first got the attention of the people who helped propel her to the fame and stardom she now enjoys. Although she could at least be singing covers of different songs in her numerous TV guesting, I still think it's quite forgivable because that song does showcase her vocal prowess, and it was after all from a singing competition. Even American Idol contestants sing covers during the competition to get the viewers' attention. I don't think singing contestants can make much of an impact if they sing their own songs.

Anyway, what I do agree with regarding Freddie Aguilar's comments is the lack of Filipino singers' originality when it comes to their music. I'm not a fan of Filipino music because of this. So many Filipino singers just sing covers of popular foreign songs and sing them very much like the original. I mean, if they're gonna sing covers, they should at least change the arrangement, or cover unpopular songs. If they can make unpopular or unknown songs popular then I think that would at least come close to originality.

It's such a shame that we have so many talented singers who can't make their own music. I think that covering popular songs is just an easy and fast way to cash in. It baffles me how many young artists in the US make it with their own music, yet our "veteran" singers still get by on covers and even recycled covers at that.

Nina and MYMP, for example, are music acts that I was very impressed with in the beginning. I was about to buy their albums but changed my mind upon seeing that their albums consist mostly of covers. Why would I want to listen to something I've already heard hundreds of times? They do have great originals, but it seems that for every original song, they come out with 5 or more covers. Ugh! Don't they have confidence in their own talents and just stick to their own stuff, or are they just too lazy to sit down and take their time in coming up with their own music?

I've never been to a Filipino artist's concert, maybe because of the same reason. Even when the artist has his or her own material, he/she still ends up singing a lot of covers in the concert. What for? And then there are those who would use original lyrics but to the tune of something popular.. ugh! Lazy, lazy, lazy!

It's not like I'm against the lack of originality only in the Filipino music scene. Westlife, a band I love, has two albums of covers -- one of Frank Sinatra's (I didn't even bother to listen to this one) and one of love songs (a good listen, but not something I can listen to repeatedly) -- which aren't anywhere on my list of favorites, and New Found Glory has an album that has nothing but covers of popular songs, too, which I think is also lame. I don't know about New Found Glory, but Westlife at least comes up and has come up with a lot of original hits, unlike some Filipino artists who come up with album after album of covers. I guess I just don't like copycats...period -- regardless of who's doing the copying.

I don't think I'll ever be a fan of Filipino music, but when I do listen to some, it would be those of the local rock bands. Although only a few would conform (for lack of a better term?) to my taste in music, I applaud these bands because majority -- if not all -- of them would have enough originality and creativity to create their own material.

P.S.
I know a lot of local rap/hip hop artists also come up with their own stuff, but since I don't really listen to that kind of music then I'd rather not comment :P