opm – Jolenismo

24 Songs

January 4, 2020January 5, 2020 Jolens25 Comments

Some nights I wish I lived right at the heart of a warm city with a 24/7 coffee shop in which I could easily meet someone who’d be willing to keep me company at 3 in the morning while both of us struggle to sleep — too bad my life isn’t a mumblecore movie, ‘no?

I’ve tried melatonin pills, chamomile tea, mindful meditation — wala talaga e. I just can’t sleep, or at least not during the normal hours when most people go to sleep. Nakakabaliw!

Anyway, it’s currently past 3 in the morning and I don’t think I will be sleeping anytime soon so I might as well do this tag that I found on tumblr. Not as exciting as meeting the love of my life and walking along the streets of a city in slumber but, yeah, this will do.

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Searching 3.0: OPM and Figures of Speech

July 1, 2019December 7, 2019 Jolens15 Comments

I found an interesting query under last week’s Search Terms:

My OPM favorites post has a few examples but it doesn’t explicitly state which lines count as personification. Hopefully the kids who were searching still found it helpful — I bet you they were actual kids cramming for an assignment. 🙂

Anyhow, I decided to do some further digging and write about the different ways figurative language has featured in OPM lyrics. I initially wanted to explore at least 10 figures of speech but because I tend to get way too chatty about these things, I eventually narrowed them down to three: simile, metaphor, and personification.

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10 of my favorite OPM lyrics

June 26, 2016February 5, 2019 Jolens27 Comments

First, a disclaimer: these lyrics are by no means the best of the best of the best. And, more importantly, I am in no way an expert on OPM.

In fact, as I was writing this list, I realized that I barely listen to OPM anymore. The only new releases I’m aware of are those from Viva Records and Star Music. But beyond those tried-and-tested pop hits, my playlist holds no recently released music in Filipino or — for those who aren’t as pedantic about the language vs. dialect distinction — Tagalog.

So the following lyrics are from old OPM favorites. I considered including songs written in English but eventually decided against it. (Let’s save those for another list, maybe?) And if you have any OPM recommendations, you’re more than welcome to enlighten my ignorant, overseas ass.

Palayain ang isa’t isa / kung tayo, tayo talaga

Session Road’s “Cool Off” deserves a spot in one of each of those #hugot playlists that proliferate pop websites these days. I noticed those lists are mostly laden with ballads or pogi rock sludge but — since when did it become cool to openly admit liking Cueshe anyway? Hm.

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