Not only does BTS release great music, but they also listen to great music such as certain members’ love for OPM tracks.
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If K-pop’s continued success around the world has proven anything, it’s that language isn’t a barrier to enjoy music. Even if a good chunk of K-pop fans can’t understand Korean, that hasn’t stopped them from consuming the music and everything related to it. So what if you can’t speak or understand a certain language? That shouldn’t be a deterrent from enjoying the music from that culture. And that also applies for OPM as people can still enjoy it even if they don’t speak Tagalog or understand the local culture. And one such group who actually listens to the genre is BTS.
The members are known to have a wide taste in music and that includes OPM as over the years, a few of them have shared tracks from Pinoy artists, most of whom are people you wouldn’t consider A-list. If anything, this proves that even global superstars like listening to OPM and is a genre that is always worth listening to. Here are just some moments when BTS showed love to Filipino musicians.
V HAS PAOLO SANDEJAS ON HIS DRIVING PLAYLIST
The most recent entry on this list, V got Filipino ARMY Twitter talking when he had a Pinoy artist on his driving playlist. On July 9, which so happened to be ARMY Day, V uploaded his vlog, which saw him drive around the city doing mundane tasks and taking the sights. In the nearly hour on vlog, he shared his favorite songs of the moment (which you can listen to here) and he sang and jammed along to bops from artists like Lizzo, Willow Smith, Adele, Troye Sivan, The Weekend, and Ariana Grande. But the moment that caught people’s attention was when he started playing Sorry from OPM artist Paolo Sandejas at the 23-minute mark. The fact that V sang some of the lyrics to the 2020 jam about what ifs, regret, and finding closer means that he’s heard it enough times to be familiar with the song.
The moment became a trending topic on Twitter and even Lea Salonga had to share the moment. Paolo, understandably, was over the moon over the inclusion and dropped a cover of V’s Christmas Tree as a thank you. More importantly, the moment gave him and the song much deserved attention. We’re honestly curious as to how V managed to find the track as it just goes to show how varied V’s taste in music is.
RM GIVES NINA A SHOUTOUT
추억의 노래.. 이거랑 what if랑 엄청 들으면서 슬퍼했었는데. pic.twitter.com/keGKA4nwkB
— 방탄소년단 (@BTS_twt) December 11, 2014
It’s no secret that Pinoys love listening to OPM and BTS in particular. After all, the country is the second biggest market for BTS on Spotify, ahead of countries like Indonesia and Japan. And BTS has shown love back to the country, even when they weren’t considered superstars yet. All the way back in 2014, RM tweeted a screenshot of him listening to Someday by Nina. His caption for the post mentions how he describes the song as one about memories and got sad while listening to it. (Same RM, same.) In case you didn’t know, acts like Nina and MYMP are pretty popular in South Korea, so it’s not that hard to imagine RM coming across this Nina classic.
RM INCLUDES YOUNG COCOA IN HIS PLAYLIST
Most K-pop stans may remember Young Cocoa as the Pinoy artist who got a shout out from ENHYPEN’s Jay after he included his song Manila in the group’s Spotify playlist. But Cocoa’s song has actually been given praise by quite a few K-pop idols in the past, and that includes RM. At one point, BTS’ leader included his song, which has a cult following in Korea, in his Spotify playlist. While the track has since left RM’s playlist, we love how he gave a spotlight to a young and upcoming Filipino musician.
JUNGKOOK SHOWS SOME LOVE TO MELISSA POLINAR AND ZACK TABUDLO
So my twitter and Instagram blew up overnight. ?
— Melissa Polinar (@mpolinar) February 8, 2022
Thank you #JUNGKOOK and #BTSARMY for the love. ?@BTS_twt @bts_bighit pic.twitter.com/Ev9yHGl102
jungkook listening to “give me your forever” by zack tabudlo FILIPINO ARMYS STAND UP pic.twitter.com/6hE2ngVqx8
— sen⁷🪞 (@sugatradamus) March 14, 2023
One thing, among the many things, we appreciate about Jungkook is that he uses his Instagram to spotlight artists and their songs from around the world. And that also includes Filipino artists. A few months ago, Jungkook shared on his IG stories Filipino-American musician Melissa Polinar’s song Never Change. The track, which was originally released in 2010, was the 2020 rework with fellow Filipino-American musician Jeremy Passion.
Even though both artists have been in the industry for more than a decade, they remain underrated, so Jungkook’s shoutout gave them much needed exposure. Melissa, of course, was more than willing to return to the love to BTS’ maknae. Jungkook also has an appreciation for modern OPM hits after he listened to Give Me Your Forever during one of his livestreams on a recommendation by a fan. He liked it so much, he said he was going to include it in his playlist.
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