HMC’s scorching heat and what it says about Filipinos’ appreciation and the Philippine music industry?

During the height of Maymay Entrata’s hit song, AMAKABOGERA, another women empowerment dance track was released by Sanya Lopez, a female actress turned music artist, under GMA Music. This song, entitled Hot Maria Clara, revolves around the regressive interpretation of being a modern “hot Filipina” in our male-centric society, as well as the iconic archetypal character of Maria Clara, from Dr. Jose P. Rizal’s canonical work, Noli Me Tangere.

With this theme or messaging surrounding the song, particularly  its current performance right now in music industry metrics (a.k.a., Spotify charts), this critique will explore on three different reflections: first, what does Hot Maria Clara’s rise to fame say about our culture of creating and appreciating low-brow quality music; second, our societal consensus on interpreting and evaluating musical messages; and third, the current state of the Philippine Music Industry and its cultural-business operations. 

Because just like Sanya, we critics do not immediately fall over “chic boy routine” of some hit or trending songs, and/or cultural texts. But “if you think we’re being mean… well, think again!” 

Now, let’s awra!

Three years ago, HMC was not as appreciated upon its initial release in 2022 as it is right now. Before it hit the Spotify’s Viral 50 Philippines, it was once sitting on Spotify’s Fresh Finds Philippines playlist and peaked at a fleeting number three spot before it fell from the sky–out of the charts. Its initial underperformance was due to the audience’s critical observation of the song’s cheesy lyrics, which were backed by questionable music production, and topped with skewed ideology behind its overall production (both lyrically and visually). In short, the audience deemed this song as a whole ‘flop.’

@oddeyetriangle why is this actually a cute bop its just the lyrics..! #oddeyetriangle #zhanghaofanskwangya #sanyalopez #floptok #popculture #ph #gma ♬ Hot Maria Clara - Sanya Lopez

Fortunately, being a flop is oftentimes celebrated in selected small sectors of our digital world (i.e., Floptok, ‘brainrot community,’  trolls, etc.) because they reappropriate the older and “once unappreciated” media to poke fun at it once again, but this time, refashioned in Gen Z’s standards of humor. That is why we can say that Sanya Lopez somehow got the Mommy Oni (a.k.a., Toni Fowler) treatment, who was also heavily remixed earlier this year — but it is interesting how they treat or appreciate it on Tiktok, though!

Instead of using Lopez’s vocal chops to replace some parts of the song, they use the whole song and place it under a new instrumentation. Humorously enough, they even alter the videos of some international pop star artists like Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, to make it seem like they love and appreciate Lopez’ song — through various editing applications. 

@wetbaddie01 HELP IDK WHAT TO POST #fyp #taylorswift #sanyalopez #asiasmekaniko #unflopmetiktok #foryoupage #xybca #viral #unflopme #makeitviral #unflopmetiktok ♬ Hot Maria Clara by Sanya Lopez - GMA Music

Under these troll videos of people remixing or putting Hot Maria Clara song in almost every context possible: the comments also support the troll movement by commenting on the video with the few of the following examples:

With this, one might wonder whether or not if they are doing this genuinely or sarcastically, as HMC hitting the #1 has somewhat blurred this notion. Hence, let’s explore more deeply about this song’s place in our society and explain why such critique or readings of sarcasm are made possible by Lopez’s release. 

In TikTok society, especially of Floptok, it has been made clear earlier (and now, again) that the troll posts behind this song stem from all their sarcastic, ironic, and sometimes ambivalent behavior towards it. Most find this song off due to its sound, while some find it somehow ‘tolerable’ now due to its heavy rotation and repetition throughout the TikTok FYP. Despite it all, it is believed that such complex and whimsical behavior behind this record is more than just the judgment of its sound — but it’s also in the song’s messaging and content.  

Based on the song alone, questionable lyrics can already be found in selected parts of the song, especially in verse two and the choruses. This is because there were some lines that asserts Lopez’s concept of being “Hot Maria Clara” as someone who is sexually powerful simply because she does not ‘do one-night stands and and is ‘not like your other cheap girls,’  whence the reason why she is a so-called ‘demure na dalaga,’ therefore, ‘you should know her worth.’

Now, this is problematic because it further tolerates and perpetuates the sexist and purist view that a woman’s ‘virginity’ defines her entire value as a person when, in fact, it does not. This concept is merely just a socially constructed judgment, formed by the patriarchy, to subjectively oppress and repress women of her own personhood and sexual identity, while also pulling her fellow women down. Sadly, in a slightly progressive digital world that we have right now, we are still largely stuck in the horrors of our colonial past, because such broken beliefs and systems are deeply ingrained in us, making it hard to uproot them easily.

However, Hot Maria Clara is not the only song that is sociopolitically problematic in our music scene. Every now and then, in our popular culture texts or hit songs, more and more tracks — especially by cis-heterosexual men who are mostly underground or independent rappers, are being released in massive amounts, with almost no control and reaction from the general Filipino audiences. 

These songs often talk about women in such a distasteful, degrading, and misogynistic manner — even proudly celebrating them more by loudly playing them, whether in the streets or on their  mobile phones. Hot Maria Clara is just the teeny-tiny tip of the iceberg regarding the issues that we need to have to critically look at and address as we continuously fight for women, children, and queer people’s rights, both inside or outside the music industry. 

Furthermore, moving on to the positive side of this release, the music video is visually  decent; it features elements that we have already seen in our popular media. Nothing is groundbreaking; Sanya and the other dancers in the video are beautifully sexy, of course, but other than that it is just a mere spectacle.

This mention of spectacle reflects the current Philippine Music Industry’s business and cultural operations. With this kind of content that our leading broadcast network, GMA (specifically GMA Music), is kind of putting out: it leads us to question “is this needed at all?” 

Despite its infamous virality, its memes, and all that: do we really need songs or music videos like Hot Maria Clara?

Well, the answer to “of course, yes.” The representation of our own color and Filipino beauty is highly important, but that does not mean we should sacrifice the overall substance of art. If a song or video is only made for the mere satisfaction of the male gaze and through laughter, then what is the point? 

If the only thing it does is allow people to make fun of it, rip it apart, and divert it away from its intended purpose (that an artist and their company has imagined for it) then it is a futile effort. The broken status quo for women still remains and will continue the same old system to keep their future regressed, instead of moving forward. 

Thus, this is the ever-challenge for our music industries and its companies to really reflect on what to put out in the public. 

What kind of voices should our current and future generations hear and grow up to? What kind of an image do they want for OPM and P-Pop genres to have? Do we just continue to copy the Western standards, make our own copy of it, throw it at the wall, and see what sticks best? 

Or should we try to be different, mold our own sound, and challenge the status quo to create a unique blend of sound that best represents our experiences, our own national reality?