About This Album
Homegrown pop from the Philippines carries a distinct lineage of centering artist pairings that resonate deeply with local audiences, a tradition that shapes the core of OPM Side By Side Hits of Sarah Geronimo & Mark Bautista. The story of this album begins long before its curation, rooted in the decades-old framework of OPM, or Original Pilipino Music, the formal movement that emerged to codify and elevate homegrown Filipino creative work as a distinct, cherished category separate from international pop imports that circulated widely across the country’s cultural landscape for much of the 20th century. As OPM grew from a niche collective effort to a dominant cultural force, pop emerged as one of its most accessible and widely embraced genres, drawing on global pop’s broad cross-demographic appeal while remaining firmly rooted in the cultural specificities that make Filipino creative work unique.
