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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
IS THE U.S. READY FOR ASIAN AMERICAN POP STARS?
ime was when we saw literary fame or Hollywood stardom as the final frontier for Asian acceptance in the U.S. More recently the frontier shifted to pro sports and national politics.
A year into the 21st Century we see Asian lights going on in the literary world, Hollywood and pro sports. We even see Asian Americans in two cabinet posts. But one arena remains starkly devoid of Asian stars -- the pop music scene.
James Iha, Smashing Pumpkins guitarist/backup vocals & solo recording artist
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Classical stars like Yo-Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa and Vanessa Mae are old news. We've noted Japanese imports like Shonen Knife, Keiko Matsui and Pizzicato Five. We've marveled at the unlikely hit "Sukiyaki". Many of us have spotted James Iha in Smashing Pumpkins and Jeff Lin in Harvey Danger, or maybe even heard of Asian American bands like Seam and Versus.
But where is pop music's Chow Yun-Fat, Ichiro, Chang-rae Lee, Norman Mineta?
One indication of our lack of presence in pop music is the fact that Ming-Na and husband Eric Zee have even financed a record label (Innovazian) in hopes of promoting an Asian American pop/R&B boy group -- a sort of private Head Start program for pop music. Few of us even know its name (At Last). Its first CD sold all of 3,000 copies.
Those of a paranoid or cynical bent will postulate conspiracies among racist, short-sighted heads of major record labels. The sociologically inclined will see pop music as the inner sanctum of American culture and Asians as the perpetual outsiders.
But for purposes of this page, put on your music critic/historian hat and prognosticate the most likely path by which an Asian star will ascend to the American pop firmament. Will it be a Canto-Pop, J-Pop or K-Pop star storming the U.S. via the import route? Will it be a surprise chart-topper by an AA artist (say James Iha with another, more successful solo album)? Or will there be a frontal assault by a wave of AA groups/artists currently playing the club and auditorium circuits?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:34 PM)
Chinese21. How is Taiwan and Korean music any more diverse than HK? The only Korean music that is popular is the dance music, which is based on European and American house and trance. Their hip hop is okay at best. Drunken Tiger and Dusty are decent. The bands like HOT, Shinhwa, and all them are just Korean versions of Backstreet Boys. SES and FinKL are just sexpot groups made to sell records. The Korean slow jams aren't good at all, and they sample a lot of Japanese songs. I do like Jinusean though. They have some creativity. I loved Sechskies also. Too bad they broke up.
I just went to the A-Mei concert in Las Vegas, and she sampled tons of HK and American songs. Her guitar riffs are sick, but sound like old early 90's American rock songs.
HK may not have all that pseudo hip hop and dance music like Taiwan and Korea, but their ballads and slow jams are better. Cantonese doesn't translate well for hip hop and dance, so that's why they tend to avoid it.
Toi San Jai
Eric@KristinKreuk.net
Sunday, December 30, 2001 at 13:25:20 (PST)
i don't think asians would have much success in the u.s. taking the r&b route. why not try alternative or rock? coco lee, however, is one of the few asians that i have heard that can pull off r&b...
the spoken word thing that many asians are getting into can be useful for political purposes--i wouldn't classify it as music, though.
penelope
Friday, December 28, 2001 at 12:43:46 (PST)
To Japanese in Phillipines:
HAHAHA..I couldn't agree more on Utada Hikaru, she really sounds like she has breathing problems. Just hear her Live Version of First Love, actually you don't even need the live version, the CD version already shows she has breathing problems. Although I haven't really listened to other singers from other parts of Asia, I do know that Phillipines do have a lot of talent in music, since a lot of people want to be in the entertainment business like Korea. The singer Regine, in my opinion has one of the most powerful voices in all of Asia, way better than Coco Lee in my opinion who is sort of over-rated. She had a very successful duet with Jacky Cheung. And some artists like Jocelyn Enriquez has already released albums and had some club hits, unfortunately it wasn't mainstream enough. HOpefully, someone with a unique style and voice will come and take the U.S by storm.
Chinese21
Friday, December 28, 2001 at 00:35:50 (PST)
chinese21,
quite true.Many asian singers can't sing soulful music or dont have the voice to.Imagine putting Utada Hikaru or Coco Lee or Sandy Lam together with r&b female singers like Whitney or Blu Cantrell or Christina Agueilera in a "live" duet in front of thousands of music fans and telecasted "live" all over the world. i bet these asian singers will have a very tough time,their voices would probably be terribly drowned and they'll be struggling like hell to be heard.
many asian ssinger just dont have that strong powerful voice which is needed to sing soulful songs.anyway,i do think and agree that many hk and taiwanee female singer sound rather quiet the same and seem to be singing in the same genre.example: you can listen to a new song ur not familiar with from the radio and immediately knows it's a new single by whitney houston or mariah or janet.but not so with these many,many taiwanese female acts who seem to be very hard to be diferentiated.
i think the artiste who can make it big in the US musst
1)first be good at speaking english
2)must have her own image and not a copycat and not a white/black/latina wannabe or self hater!
3)an r&b /pop/soul singer coz theyre the most listened- to music genre by many people around the world and the most creative
4)have a distinct voice of her own
5)a great "live" performer
6) and of course,other factors which could help them stand out among the rest like good promo,management,good record company.
i dont know if you people are familiar with singers from other parts of asia,i do listen to several artistes from the philipines like Regine,and a few Indonesian R&b singers.they sound great,strong vocals,nice looks,can sing well in english.im not too sure,but probabaly these singers are the ones who can make a big difference by bringing asian music into the US music industry besides the usual japanese,hk,taiwanese,east asian artistes that we always thought were the best.
and i do think anything is possible.there might be emerging music talents from mainland china in the future who might be as big as janet or britney.who knows.we can;t really say which country/s has the best talents,which country has the best singers,and yet,we fail to see singers from these countries making waves in the west.and besides,utada hikaru doesnt sound nice.she sounds like she's struggling with her breathing or something.
japanese-in-philippines
Tuesday, December 25, 2001 at 05:41:54 (PST)
What's wrong with Edison Chen?
asdf
Monday, December 24, 2001 at 15:13:07 (PST)
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