Pinoy pop group SB 19 capped an incredible run to the top with their latest nomination as Top Social Artist at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs). They will vie for the honor pit against four other finalists namely Ariana Grande, BTS, Blackpink, and Seventeen.
The Billboard Music Awards for Top Social Artist is one of three categories based on fan votes. According to Billboard, among the criteria for nomination are key fan interactions with music to include social media engagement, online streaming, radio play and results of voting by fans around the world.
Previous winners of the BMMAs’ Top Social Artist honors are Justin Bieber who ruled the award from 2011 to 2016 and K-pop global phenomenon BTS who had their own winning streak from 2017 to 2020.
‘Sound Break’ 19
SB19 consists of Pablo, Josh, Justin, Stell, and Ken. The all-Filipino group debuted in 2018 under SnowBTPhilippines and have since made a sensational presence in the music scene here and abroad. Pioneering their own genre they and now fans refer to as “P-Pop,” these lads have lived up to the meaning behind their name SB19 to signify their mission to break into the local music industry and the vision to set a higher bar for the next generation of OPM artists.
Over the past two years, they slowly made their mark on the charts with hits like “Alab,” “Hanggang sa Huli,” “‘Wag Mong Ikunot ang Iyong Noo,” “Love Goes,” and “Ikako” which topped Billboard’s LyricFind Global chart.
Their debut album Get In the Zone dropped in mid-2020 and entered the US @iTunes Top Albums chart hours after release. It immediately dominated online music platforms.
In a press statement, Sony Music, SB 19’s record label, said the highly anticipated debut album “pushes the envelope of pop music. Mashing together various music influences with top-tier production and global appeal, the nine-track release features six original compositions, along with the EDM version of “Love Goes” and two instrumental songs.
Sony Music pointed out that thematically speaking, Get in the Zone maps their creative and personal journey.
The band added, “We wanted to incorporate all the things that we have experienced during trainee days into this album by putting all the emotions that we went through into our music. It was an emotional rollercoaster, but we pulled through and we hope that we get to inspire people with our story.”
In March this year, SB 19 released their comeback single titled “What?” which is likely the first new music from the band for their upcoming sophomore album. It trended in social media as expected but more than that, the song itself suggests a mature, more agile five piece rewiring their K-Pop roots to the contemporary issues that foreground Original Pilipino Music today.
The lyrics goes:
‘Di na bala para iangat ang bandera
Bara na sa puso niyo na ang tatama (bang)
Ama, salamat at Ikaw ang agimat
Bawat banat, iwagayway mo’ng watawat
The accompanying martial music by way of EDM implies a louder, bolder, bigger sounding SB 19 is rising. The future looks massive.
The 2021 Billboard Music Awards will air live on NBC on May 23 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
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