POP NEWS DIGITAL

  The Aurora Music Festival 2026 is all set to celebrate its milestone 5th anniversary at Clark Global City on May 2-3. Launched as a bold vision to spotlight Filipino music, Aurora has grown into one of the country’s most anticipated annual music festivals. Now in its fifth year, Aurora continues to unite the biggest names in OPM, delivering a unique live experience where generations of Filipino artists share one massive stage. To mark this milestone edition, the festival is pulling out all the stops. Headlining the two-day celebration are SB19 and IV OF SPADES, two of the most influential acts defining today’s Filipino music scene. Their performances are poised to be among the weekend’s biggest highlights, attracting fans from across the country. Yet Aurora is more than just its headliners. The festival has become known for assembling powerhouse lineups of Filipino artists rarely seen together, transforming each edition into a celebration of OPM’s richness and diversity. Over the...

  BINI Jhoanna Puregold drops the curtain on its Sari-Sari Stories series with its most emotional episode yet — “Pangalan,” a short film that doubles as a love letter to the sari-sari stores woven into the fabric of Filipino life. The fourth and final chapter in the series, “Pangalan,” follows “Ways,” “The Sign,” and “The Witness,” and like any great finale, it goes deeper. Where earlier films leaned into nostalgia, this one widens the lens, telling a richer story about identity, community, and the quiet economic power of the neighborhood store. The sari-sari store, it turns out, makes for compelling cinema. Familiar yet full of story, it’s the kind of setting that needs no introduction — a place every Filipino has a memory tied to. “Pangalan” leans into that intimacy, using the corner store as a window into something far more universal: the search for belonging and the ties that hold a community together. SB19 Stell At its core, the film explores what a name really means — and why...

SB19   Global P-Pop powerhouse SB19 continues its global ascent with “TOYFRIEND,” a cross-border collaboration with top-selling Japanese group, BE: FIRST. The clubby R&B track serves as the latest single from their sophomore studio album, Wakas At Simula, released under Sony Music Entertainment. Prior to the promotional push, “TOYFRIEND” has already made a significant dent across Japan’s leading digital platforms, debuting at No. 1 on MORA’s All Genre, International, and Hi-Res International charts, while peaking at No. 2 on the iTunes All Genre chart and No. 1 on its Pop chart, and No. 2 on Line Music Japan’s World Music Top 100 chart.  The upbeat bop has reached the summit of the RecoChoku’s Hi-Res Single and Single charts, and reached No. 2 on the Oricon Digital Chart—proof of the Filipino boy group’s strong surge of support from Japanese fans. Other chart placements in Japan include a No. 3 peak on the Spotify Daily Viral chart, a No. 6 debut on the Billboard Japan Top...