Kerbs Balagtas is the Man Behind Your Favorite P-Pop Music Videos

Along the Pasig side of Marcos Highway is music video director Kerbs Balagtas’ studio under YouMeUs MNL. Employees haul in camera equipment in every interval. For someone who directs artists in front of the camera, Balagtas isn’t entirely comfortable being on the other side of it. Balagtas would sometimes go into different tangents, needing his team to help him remember all their projects throughout the years. Here’s a short timeline: One of Balagtas’ earlier projects was solo artist Niko Viktor’s “Stranded” music video back in September 2019, a year before YouMeUs was born. Their operations continued during the pandemic year. The following year, Balagtas worked with Maymay Entrata on “AMAKABOGERA,” the actress’ breakout single that combined phoenix-like flames and an explosive chorus.

That project put YouMeUs on the map a year after creating the studio. If there’s one thing Balagtas knows best, it’s how to make a P-pop music video come to life. He’s worked on some of the most visually arresting music videos of late, such as SB19’s “GENTO” and “Dungka” and BINI’s “Born to Win,” “Pantropiko,” “Salamin, Salamin,” and “Unang Kilig.” 

Body of Work

All of these present a polished image of P-pop as sold to fans by the group’s flawless choreography and undeniable charm. But without staging, camera work, creative direction, framing, and post-editing, even those could only go so far. This is where Balagtas’ work comes in. “Ang lagi nilang sinasabi is [parang may] malaking budget, parang ‘pang-international,’” he says of the usual feedback he gets from his music videos. “Pero behind that wala talaga.” He is not downplaying his, his teams’ and the artists’ efforts here. By “wala talaga,” he means the government funding to back up such productions that have long been seen by trailblazers like South Korea as potent boosters of culture and tourism promotion is next to nothing. “‘Yung quality ng [P-pop kumpara sa K-pop] hindi magkalayo,” Balagtas confidently says. “Siguro ‘yung pinagkaiba is ‘yung support ng government ng South Korea,” he says. “Mas maraming tao na tumutulong sa kanila compared sa industry natin. Sobrang challenging kase ito lang ‘yung binibigay satin.”

But YouMeUs makes do. Sets are improvised, locations are negotiated, favors are called in. The music video director recalls location scouting for BINI’s “Lagi” production. Because there aren’t a lot of public spaces that could accommodate this kind of production, it was held at the Dessert Museum in Pasay, where they had to negotiate egress with museum officials, who insist on shooting within their operating hours. Despite this limitation and four hours to shoot the entire thing, the YouMeUs team and the crew managed to finish the over four-minute-long music video, which, as of writing, has 30 million views on YouTube. “Hindi naman kami para sa pera,” Balagtas says. “More on ‘yung creativity ang gusto naming [ipakita] sa output.” Watching K-pop productions made him realize that Filipino talent is on par with its neighbors. “Kaya naman siya. Hindi mo naman kelangan ng malaking budget, basta creative ka at saka [nandoon] ‘yung help ng tao sa paligid mo.”

Just as any hardworking creative  powering the burgeoning industry of P-pop, Balagtas is hopeful that, given a few years and a constant stream of government support, Filipino pop music can flourish. If anything, P-pop already has a culture of make-do. YouMeUs is but one of the many resourceful players in the field who are making ideas a reality anyway they can.

This story is from the Rolling Stone Philippines Special P-pop Issue with SB19. Pre-order a copy from sarisari.shopping, or read the e-magazine now here.