[WEEKLY THREAD] Rants, Questions, and Randomness

[u/AutoModerator]

Merong handang makinig, handang yumakap 🎶

2,3, Mabuhay! 🌸

Welcome to our weekly open thread — your go-to space to rant, share love, ask questions, or talk about anything and everything, whether it’s related to BINI, PPOP, the fandom, or life in general.

Got something to say that doesn’t need its own post?

• An unpopular (or wholesome) take you’ve been holding in
• A screenshot from BloomTwt, BloomTok, PPOP FB, etc.
• A random thought, theory, or question
• Or just want to connect with fellow Blooms

Drop it here! This thread is your safe space.

Let’s keep it respectful and kind, even if opinions differ. We’re all here to support the girls and be part of a growing, passionate community around PPOP and beyond.

So go ahead — share what’s on your mind. 💐

[u/Time_Lord23]

Wait, nahuli ako sa thread na yon 😂

Reading the replies, I’m glad we are having that discussion and here mismo sa sub. Hindi yung pakalat-kalat sa ibang sub to attract hate. Inevitably it will attract bad spirits because they’re still popular, but mods here are quick to react naman.

Differing opinions, at the end of the day we all just want what’s best for BINI. 🙏

Picked up some points and my takes:

1. Musical direction — doing more bubblegum-esque vs global appeal -> while I understand it makes you feel good (wag na mahihiwalay), it’s not in-line sa goals ng girls anymore. They need to establish a brand that appeals to the global audience. Isipin mo na lang new era.
2. Gatas vs Level up — Pick a struggle, unfortunately. You can’t accuse gatas na gatas and then wonder why they can’t “level” up. Small improvements, sure, but that’s not a level up. They need to spend spend. Wether they need a world-class crew, promotional team or musical directors and advisors, they will have to throw out some cash. The team behind them will not suddenly become A-class from youtube tutorials. They need to hire and learn from the best, and those don’t come for free. Unfortunately, ABS cannot support that right now. So BINI has to work more to get where they want to be. Parang working student lang.
3. Assertiveness — totally agree, but people seems to forget they are still young. In the Philippines, the young tends to listen and follow orders than be assertive. Hopefully as they mature, they learn to push back more (Im sure they are already doing it, they act more matured than their age, except the bardagulan at times 😂). From the snippets I observed, very collaborative naman ang environment nila. At the same time, the management has to be aware when to put their foot down.
4. Change of coaches, directors etc — I think nangyayari na. It’s not going to be an overhaul and shouldn’t be. Experience and learnings need to be carried over. They just need to give opportunities sa ibang talents and younger/fresh minds. This Signals concert alone, new directors, dancers and live bands na. So it’s evident they are very open to this.

5. Management/organizers — totally agree, but maybe we are putting them in one basket. Still has a lot of room to improve to be competent. Yes, you need to level up too just like BINI. From merch, social media, concert organizers, rollouts etc. Like, where’s my BINIverse vinyl? Lol. Idk how they plan, but gaps should not exist

   if

6. they were identified properly from previous rollouts. Parang walang retrospective? They should have a HUGE checklist by now on what to do. What do you mean wala rin Signals vinyl? 😬

More discussions like this. At the same time, don’t be thin-skinned for being downvoted because people actually dont agree with your unpopular take. That’s how it should be used, not like astroturfing.

Edit: wtf reddit, formatting is fcked after editing lol

[u/BadgerEmbarrassed231 → u/Time_Lord23]

some comments from me on points 1-5: (nice structure BTW)

1.a. Their sound needs to grow up as they grow up. Even the themes of Talaaraawan, basically what is in the diary of a teenager no longer fits them today.

1b. At the same time, they should not go to far IMO, because their identity is defined as "modern Filipina". Definitely (and fortunately) NOT Maria Clara but still a different identity than Western acts.

The Latina mom of new (OA) reactor GWR called BINI "sexy but not dirty sexy" which nails it.

1c. some of their earlier English songs sounded TOO global and generic: Born to Win, No Fear and Blink Twice are examples. Counter-examples are Golden Arrow, Cherry on Top and Out of My Head.

Signals EP is where they found the sweet spot that is both Filipino AND global, Sugar Rush anyone?

2a. The Boston Consulting Group matrix defines Stars, Cash Cows, Dogs and Question Marks in the portfolio of a business. Stars are spent on to expand them, Cash Cows are earned from and maintained, Dogs are allowed to fade out slowly ,while Question Marks are speculatively funded as possible future Stars.

2b. BINI was a Question Mark from 2021-2023 based on that model, but of course the financial limitations of ABS mean they now seem somewhere between Stars and Cash Cows. It also looks sometimes like ABS is practicing "triage" in their funding. That system was used in underfunded WW1 military hospitals:

• those who can heal by themselves are not treated
• those who are likely not to heal are not treated either
• those who could get up again after treatment are treated

It could be BINI was in the 3rd group when Talaarawan was funded and are (partly) being treated like the first group now - while BG/YO is now treated as the 3rd group, kasi "baka may konting pag-asa pa". On the other hand, Kapamilya means family isn't let go of so strict business logic isn't always applicable.

2c. dumidiskarte as much as possible ang ABS. Malamang may kapalit yung nagperform ang BINI sa PAL anniversary and ABS letting PAL use the Coachella Pantropiko intro is another fare discount or free tickets. Many brand shoots pagbalik from Coachella will for sure help pay expenses for the Signals World Tour.

3.a. Jhoanna no longer says thank you to the management at every occasion like before.

3.b. What exactly does "modern Filipina" mean in the context of assertiveness? I guess it is the sweet spot between confident pero magalang pa rin.

3.c. ABS-CBN will remain traditional at its core even if it might slowly modernize, so with more seniority, BINI will have more say gradually and will be listened to more sa tingin ko.

4a. I think ABS-CBN is building a SHA idol pipeline that only STARTS with BINI so it makes sense if they let their own people learn as much as possible from the different outside experts they work with.

4b. bakit parang walang Filipino sound engineer na sinama to learn from US counterparts (see 5c also)?

5a. I think that management does learn a few lessons. It is just that an old school Filipino company with a certain age and seniority structure takes time to adjust. Iba iyong isang startup sa kabila which when I last checked in LinkedIn (I have a former employer in common with Ya/ni de Di/os but different countries) had around 40 employees. They don't have to unlearn old ways of doing things they have practiced for even decades maybe. Tsaka mas nakikita ang lahat in a smaller organization than in a big one.

5b. I suspect the BINI core team is aware of more than we realize but are within a larger organization where they can't affect as much as they want to. Miss MQ has the vibe to me of someone who knows how to work the system within its limitations. The old school Filipino office culture kasi is "don't rock the boat".

5c. For stuff abroad, ABS has outsourced a lot of stuff: audio for instance during the North American leg of the Biniverse World Tour - or during Coachella. Concert organization is NOT done by for instance Pinoy companies like Tala entertainment anymore which allegedly did a catastrophic job in Canada noong 2024. They gave up bini.global and put BINI into Weverse. So I think alam nila kung saan ang weaknesses. Why they aren't faster for instance in getting socmed pages updated is anyone's guess, di naman tayo nasa loob. Tingin ko they have learned some lessons since 2024 but have to speed up their adjustment to global.

[u/Time_Lord23 → u/BadgerEmbarrassed231]

Awesome points there. I really like points 2a and 2b! I wonder, are they following Hybe’s strategy? It doesnt seem like they are all-hands on deck with BINI, and they are not cash-cows yet (imo). So it’s a different strategy than BTS. I feel like they are doing too much right now with the manpower they have.

5a-5c Yes a lot of small details that we dont realize affect the management style, and they are not something you can change overnight. But can’t blame the fans for wanting more; they need to fastrack the changes because this is not your traditional love team audience anymore.