OPM Music: Hope of Heart and Art

By: Genevive Anne Solano

Nowadays, we tend to pour our soul and heart into music. Music was our way of expressing what we want to tell, what we feel, and what we want to express that lips can’t say.

Do you know E-Heads or Eraser Heads? Rivermaya? Parokya ni Edgar? Apo Hiking Society? MYMP? Side A? or Yeng Constantino? Juris? Bamboo? Regine Velasquez? These OPM artists were and are still in their prime; that their songs were once on our mothers, Aunties, and sisters' cassette tapes, compact discs, mp3, and many more. However, in today's generation, they still live upon our playlist on our Spotify. This means that their music, their art made a significant message that still embroiders on our hearts.

Without the intention of comparing the 90’s OPM and Today’s Artists. Today's era of music is much more made of raw emotion; expressive in a way that the young generation tends to easily understand. Once I heard a psychologist talk in a seminar where she stated that this generation is prone and exposed to stress, anxiety, and on many factors, that they became less expressive on what they want to say, or what they feel so they will express it in various ways.

That makes the music of OPM today, more expressive with raw and unfiltered words. They may be cryptic at times, but the listener's perspective and interpretation reflect the feelings that help them to acknowledge their true feelings. At least that is how the music of today affects me as part of this generation.

Do you know Ben&Ben? December Avenue? Silent Sanctuary? Or artists like Adie? Arthur Nery? Moira? and there is a ton of bands and artists that raise and aflame the flag of OPM today. That they keep on keeping the heart of OPM constantly beating as it is also the art and culture of ours that reflect who we are.

As the OPM Music helps us to patronize our very own art and culture, keeping it alight and surviving in this generation where modern colonization of culture was a trend, at the same time, it helps us breathe out and valiantly express our unspoken feelings.

In this world where everyone is scared to speak up, scared of judgment, scared of the trauma, stress, and anxiety that this era, this pandemic has lavishly served us. We people tend to seek comfort and freedom to express what we feel and how we display it. The Music of today helps us not just to escape, but to be free from cages of unspoken thoughts and feelings; also free the heart or from the restraints with “flying and splattering” colors in the air as we let our inner soul soar with the hope of getting better, and breathe better through the music we listen. Music that makes art and murals from the hidden pain, joy, and what emotions might we feel inside. That is how OPM music has artistically brought us another block of hope and be another blank canvas to interpret its art.