New P-pop group wants to make it big

MANILA, Philippines — A year ago, when seven talented boys gathered together to form a singing group under AQ Prime, they christened themselves Bilib (Believe).

The group was mentored by entrepreneur, producer and actor RS Francisco, with lawyers Honey Quiño and Aldwin Alegre.

“AQ Prime has been supporting us for a year now,” said Carlo. “They guide us constantly and we are learning a lot the longer we stay in this business. We are so thankful for the three of them.”

“When Bilib had our first interview before our launch last year, RS taught us how to face the public, the audience and especially our fans,” RC said.

Members of Bilib are Rafael (main vocals), Zio (rapper), Yukito (leader), Jmac (lead dancer), Carlo (vocals), RC (visual) and Clyde (main dancer).

The boys aim to do their best to achieve the success of the leading all-male P-pop group SB19.

“One of the things that we thought about is what we can contribute to the local music industry, instead of thinking about the competition,” Yukito explained. “We are aware that P-pop idol group here in the Philippines is still in its infancy stage.”

“We don’t really see any competition,” maintained Carlo. “We don’t think about it. In the P-pop community, our biggest competitor is ourselves. As a group, Bilib wants to inspire P-pop fans.

“Not just P-pop fans, but all the people who want to support us and listen to our music. We want to show them that we put so much effort into our group. We want to inspire and motivate through our music,” he added.

Rafael would also rather not think about the competition as long as they do what’s best for Bilib. “We have our goal to go outside the Philippines,” he said. “So we can promote what’s proudly Filipino.”

Yukito is particularly proud of Bilib’s “support system,” who are their bosses at AQ Prime and their partners. “They’re the reason we’re here today,” Carlo beamed.

Before they came together as a group, the guys of Bilib already knew each other. “Our bond as a group became stronger and more solid,” said Rafael. “We work better as a group.”

Carlo, on the other hand, described Bilib’s growth as a group as really huge. “For me, our first year in the music industry gave us a lot of growth and learnings. I thought I already knew a lot of things, but I was wrong,” he said.

“There was still so much to learn. We are very grateful to our mentors because they really hone our personalities. We learned a lot and we really grew after only one year.”

Clyde added, “As a group, we learned a lot from each other… We’ve been through a lot. We went through so many things.”

For the past year, the challenge for Bilib is the different personalities of the members. Yukito said, “Our bond strengthened and we became more open with each other.

“We communicate in order for us to get to know each other more. We overcame our problems and became more solid as a group.”

The Bilib guys underwent a tough and rigid training process before they were presented last year.

“The training that we did was something that was out of our comfort zone,” said Yukito. “From our auditions and our background, we could really sing and dance. We were engaged into performing and we were honed into a cohesive group.

“Unfortunately, we had different levels as a performer and (in terms of) experiences, training. The hardest was how we could manage to become one as a group. We had our music coaches who taught us the basics in performing to remind us that everything is important.

“From there, we displayed our (styles) in performing and dancing. So everyone went back to zero. We started working on a blank canvass. We managed to perform together as a group.”

The members of Bilib are aware that they will eventually go their separate ways and pursue individual careers, although not everyone will be given a chance to go solo. But they agreed that they will concentrate on the group now.

After coming out with singles last year, Bilib recently released an English track, Say What You Want To Say, that the group is now promoting. It’s now available in all streaming platforms.

“The song was a collaborative work between the members, composers, producers and the management,” said rapper Zio. “When Say What You Want To Say was deliberated with us as part of the line-up songs for Bilib, we thought the song was ideal as comeback for the group.

“We put our own (taste) in singing the song. It was very different from (our previous single) Kabanata. In the end, the story of Say What You Want To Say developed on its own.”

Say What You Want To Say is an “art pop” song, as described by Carlo. “The structure of our song was the definition of it. We will surely deliver something different in our next release. We are open to explore another genre.”

RS disclosed Bilib is slated to come out with three more original songs before the year is over.