Visayan pop

Visayan pop, better known as Vispop (not to be confused with the Scandinavian musical genre), is short for Visayan popular music. Despite its name, it usually refers to popular music in the Cebuano language; pop music sung in other Visayan languages is known by other terms. For instance, a separate pop music movement for Hiligaynon emerged in the late 2010s, called Ilonggo Pop. The genre is popular in the Visayas and parts of Mindanao in which Cebuano is spoken. Bisrock, an abbreviated form of Bisaya rock music, may sometimes overlap with Vispop, as with the band Oh! Caraga. Although many Cebuano-speaking artists from Mindanao consider themselves to be Vispop artists, others prefer to align themselves with the nascent Mindanao Pop or Minpop music movement.

In the early 20th century, the popularity of zarzuelas in Cebu led to a boom in original Cebuano music. Modern Cebuano music flourished until the 1970s to 1980s. From the 1980s to 1990s, Cebuano interest in local music waned. Bisrock bands briefly revived Cebuano-language music in the 2000s. In the 2010s, with the launch of the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign, a new crop of Vispop talents renewed the industry's hope in the genre. The genre established a fresh pop sound for modern Cebuano music. Various Vispop songs written partially in Cebuano and partially in other languages, primarily English and Tagalog, achieved mainstream success in the 2020s. In January 2023, Careless Music's Wavy Baby Festival in Cebu sparked backlash when they removed most of the Cebuano musical acts from their lineup. In light of the controversy, some individuals, such as Vincent Eco from the Vispop band The Sundown, decried the mainstream culture's perceived lack of respect towards Vispop artists.

Vispop is characterized by simple melodies and emotional, poetic lyricism. A November 2022 study by Mesiona et al. credits the balak, a traditional Cebuano art form, for the poetic qualities of the genre. Balak refers to spoken poetry, often used in courtship. Although it has largely fallen out of use among younger generations of Cebuanos, who deem the art form "cheesy", its legacy can be felt in the eloquence and sweetness of Vispop.