Mandopop , or Mandapop, is a colloquial abbreviation for "Mandarin popular music." The English term "Mandopop" was coined around 1980 soon after "Cantopop" became a popular term for describing popular songs in Cantonese; "Mandopop" was used to describe Mandarin-language popular songs of that time, some of which were versions of Cantopop songs sung by the same singers with different lyrics to suit the different rhyme and tonal patterns of Mandarin. It is now used as a general term to describe popular songs performed in Mandarin.