Music / BINI

From left to right (upper row): Stacey, Gwen, Jhoanna, Colet; (bottom row) Maloi, Aiah, Mikha, Sheena

BINI is an 8-member P-Pop^note Philippine pop group formed by ABS-CBN. The members were scouted and underwent idol training via ABS-CBN's Star Hunt Academy program back in 2018. Their group name, BINI, is short for the Tagalog word binibini, meaning young lady.

They debuted in June 2021 with the song "Born To Win." In 2024, BINI's domestic success increased expotentially after their song "Pantropiko" went viral, with their Spotify monthly listeners going from 100 thousand (at the beginning of the year) to 1 million (as of March 2024). They are the first P-Pop girl group to achieve this. BINI has been dubbed the "Nation's Girl Group" by the Philippine press. Their emblem is a sampaguita (white jasmine flower) and their fans are called Blooms.

Mikha appeared in the second season of He's Into Her, as the protagonist Max's younger sister Elle. Maloi, one of BINI's two main vocalists (the other being Colet), has also been a part of the judging panel for the kids' version of It's Showtime's famed singing competition Tawag ng Tanghalan since January 2024.

In March 2024, BINI became Billboard Philippines' first-ever recipient of The Rising Star Award at their inaugural Women in Music ceremony.

Members

• Jhoanna (Leader, Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper)
  • Real name: Jhoanna Christine Robles
  • Date of birth: January 26, 2004
  • From: Calamba City, Laguna
• Aiah (Main Rapper, Sub Vocalist, Visual)
  • Real name: Maraiah Queen Arceta
  • Date of birth: January 27, 2001
  • From: Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu
• Colet (Main Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Lead Rapper)
  • Real name: Nicolette Vergara
  • Date of birth: September 14, 2001
  • From: Tagbilaran City, Bohol
• Maloi (Main Vocalist)
  • Real name: Mary Loi Yves Ricalde
  • Date of birth: May 27, 2002
  • From: Lemery, Batangas
• Gwen (Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper)
  • Real name: Gweneth L. Apuli
  • Date of birth: June 19, 2003
  • From: Daraga, Albay
• Stacey (Main Rapper, Lead Dancer, Sub Vocalist)
  • Real name: Stacey Aubrey Sevilleja
  • Date of birth: July 13, 2003
  • From: Nueva Vizcaya
• Mikha (Main Rapper, Lead Dancer, Visual)
  • Real name: Mikhaela Janna Lim
  • Date of birth: November 8, 2003
  • From: San Juan City, Metro Manila
• Sheena (Main Dancer, Sub Vocalist, Bunso/Youngest)
  • Real name: Sheena Mae Catacutan
  • Date of birth: May 9, 2004
  • From: Santiago City, Isabela

Tropes

General

• Celebrity Resemblance: Sheena is noted to look a lot like Sarah Geronimo, and Colet like Nadine Lustre.

Music videos

• Fantasy Sequence: In "Lagi," the girls daydream about their classmate (who is wearing a bear mask) turning out to be a cute guy while they're all bored in a Zoom class.
• Sci-Fi Horror: "Strings" has a futuristic dystopian concept. The girls are shown getting tied up, plummeting from high places, turning monstrous/demonic, stumbling around looking distressed, and being controlled like puppets.
• Sweet Baker: The girls act very cute and lovestruck in "I Feel Good," and they are shown baking sweet treats in a kitchen.
• You Wake Up on a Beach: Exactly What It Says on the Tin for the intro scene of "Karera" before the music starts: all of the girls wake up on a beach, looking around in confusion.

Songs

• Anti-Love Song: Although BINI are best known for releasing love songs, they've released quite a few of these as well. "Pit-a-Pat" is pretty blunt about this:
  I might be young, but I know, I know what I want
  And it's not love, I'm not, I'm not in a rush
  Yeah, I might laugh along, but I'm just being polite
  Don't go thinking I'm yours, you're the last thing on my mind
• Silly Love Songs:
  • They are best known for their love songs, and they release plenty of those.
  • This is even invoked in-universe for "Lagi," where they sing about singing silly love songs in the chorus after falling in love with someone.
• Multilingual Song: They've had a few.
  • The unreleased song "World War C" features self-written raps by Aiah, Mikha, and Stacey in their respective native languages: Cebuano/Bisaya, Tagalog, and Ilocano.
  • "B HU U R" from their debut album "Born to Win" features several rap lines in other Philippine languages, such as Chavacano and Hiligaynon, in addition to Tagalog and English.
  • In 2023, they officially released their own take on the Coke Studio song "Bata Kaya Mo!" (originally by Inigo Pascual and Ron Henley). Their collaborators PLAYERTWO have some rap lines in Bisaya, and so does Colet (who is a native speaker of Bisaya and in fact struggled to speak Tagalog when she first signed on to Star Hunt Academy in 2018). These are, again, paired with the requisite Tagalog and English lines.
• Shout-Out: "Salamin, Salamin" (literally "Mirror, Mirror" in English) features the line "Mirror, mirror on the wall" in Mikha's rap.
• Summer Romance: Invoked in "Pantropiko." The lyrics imply it's not actually summer but it "feels like summer when I'm with you" because the narrator is falling in love with the other person.
• A Wild Rapper Appears!: This is often done by Mikha, Aiah, and Stacey. Despite being official members of the rap line, Colet and Jhoanna are usually too busy belting out high notes to rap in BINI songs.