We never thought we’d write “gentrified budots” in a sentence, but here we are. FYI, it’s more than “just” a viral TikTok trend.
Related: 10 Pop Culture Moments That Defined The First Half Of 2024
It’s always interesting, to say the least, to see trends explicitly tied to a subculture all of a sudden go viral to a wide audience—case in point: Budots. Before there was Gangnam Style, there was budots, which is slang for “slacker” in Bisaya. Since the late 2000s, budots has been ingrained in Philippine street culture. But as of late, the genre has found a new audience around the world with its latest social media virality. Is that a bad thing? No. But as we see, when people hop on a trend for the trend’s sake, it washes out what makes it special in the first place.
BUT FIRST, WHAT IS BUDOTS
In case you need a refresher, budots is a type of Filipino electronic dance music that traces its origins to the streets of Davao in the late 2000s. Internet cafe manager Sherwin Tuna, commonly known as D.J. Love or Lablab, is credited as its creator, who envisioned the genre as a way to keep street kids away from partaking in vices.
From 2000s era graphics, freestyle dances that take inspiration from native dances and often boil down to getting as low as you can on the ground, and catchy af electronic beats and mixes that sound like the essence of a jeepney in music form, budots quickly took hold of Pinoy pop culture to become something that is quintessential Filipino.
@kielzfics #filipino #budots ♬ original sound – kasane teto
It’s so attached in the Pinoy zeitgeist that it’s seen as a dance almost everyone knows, like the Otso-Otso. But from the streets of Davao, budots has now found itself in the company of being a global viral trend as people co-opt it for something that is distinctly not budots.
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY
Budots is no stranger to going viral or being embraced in mainstream pop culture. In 2008, Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 grand winner Ruben Gonzaga brought the dance and genre to a national audience when he did the dance steps on the show. It was the subject of a segment in Kapuso Mo Jessica Soho in 2012 and a documentary in 2019 called Budots: The Craze. In February 2023, Manila Community Radio won Boiler Room’s sixth Broadcast Lab grant and used the funds to hold a budots-themed event.
But if you’ve been on TikTok recently, then you’d see that budots has found a new audience outside the Philippines. In particular, the track Emergency by DJ Johnrey, which samples Gloria Estefan’s Dr. Beat, has been going viral on the app for the past months with K-pop idols, content creators, and regular social media users attempting to do the dance. Even US Presidential candidates have hopped on the trend. But budots has also been co-opted by the West for a trend about *check’s notes* changing outfits while skipping in place, basically transition music. In other words, it’s a very Caucasian-coded downgrade, bland, and lacking in seasoning.
@_alexandra.louise_ Barbie version👀 #disney #barbie #disneyprincess #barbiecosplay #princessandthepauper #12dancingprincesses ♬ original sound – kasane teto
It goes without saying that this gentrified version of budots is just not the vibe. Budots is so uniquely Filipino with its own style and energy, so to water it down to a basic trend leaves budots, and especially the dance, as something that is far removed from what it is supposed to be. When you think of budots, you think of street culture. The trend budots is currently associated with on TikTok, at least on the other side of the world, is giving whitewashed budots. You would think that the West colonized enough of Asia already, but here they are. All the nuance and context of the popular street dance go away, and it’s just not fun.
Baby you’re filipino this is not how you dance to budots https://t.co/hauVMojguQ
— iya ★ (@hotmessjunk) July 29, 2024
Seeing budots go viral isn’t inherently a bad thing. The genre’s creator himself has said that it should be free and for the people, so we shouldn’t gatekeep this from others. But at the same time, let’s also not reduce or repackage budots as something that it is not. There’s a rich culture and history behind the genre. So, before you see budots as “just” a viral sound or trend on TikTok, remember that it’s Filipino cultural expression that makes Pinoy pop culture as special as it is.
Continue Reading: Esnyr’s New YouTube Skit Is Basically The Avengers: Endgame of Pinoy Pop Culture
