|
|
|
|
|
GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is the U.S. Ready for Asian American Pop Stars?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:57:17 PM)
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
|
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?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
It seems as though almost all of you have gone pretty off subject from the article. The topic at hand is whether or not Asian Americans have a chance in the UNITED STATES, not how well they did in Asia or Europe or wherever, because the pop market overseas are very different (ESPECIALLY Asia). I will bet anyone any amount of money that neither BoA or Ayumi Hamasaki or any other extremely famous Asian artist will ever make it in the US if they were to be marketed the exact same way they are in Asia. Let's face it, the markets are VERY different.
The one surefire way to make it in the US industry, whether you're White, Asian, Hispanic or whatever... is a HIT SONG. I cannot stress enough how important hit songs are.. With a hit song, it won't matter if you are the ugliest or the prettiest looking thing in the world. It doesn't even matter if you're talented, just as long as you have a song that has that appeal (in other words, radio friendly), you will definitely make a big splash in the industry. There's a chance that you might become a one hit wonder, but if you have several hit songs then you'll probably easily go platinum (with the right push from a label of course). So all of these "will Asian Americans make it in the US?" questions being thrown back and forth to eachother is ridiculous... because yes, it's VERY POSSIBLE. But ONLY if they have the right songs will it happen.
...
Monday, March 31, 2003 at 14:48:15 (PST)
[67.83.200.33]
"I think Asian female singers have bigger chances to break into the US or international market" ohpuhlease (please don't spell like that ><) yes of course this is true in the mainstream pop market but aren't we trying to break the stereotype of the anti-asian male media the US seems to have... listener of good music (your not the only one) i agree with u to an extent.. i was once into hip hop and rap and everything (but really its just a mainstream phase.. it goes in cycles don't u ever notice rock, r&b, rap, dance, rock this is what mainstream is)...however clever wordplay rap might have it is still not poetry or music (maybe with the exception of Bone Thugs rhyme rapping techniques) and i find ppl who buy Rap or rap freestyle CDs similar to those who buy comedy/parady CDs and yes the bass and beats are pumping so what? "Technical proficiency dos NOT necessarily equate to artistic creativity " i do agree with this, (im not a guy who listens to Guns and Roses, Steve Vai, Joe satriani and all those other artists u mention all day alright~!), i have the Hybrid Theory (the new song sounds like they havent change) album believe me try some of these songs firsts Luna Sea - Inside you, Kiss (featuring DJ Krush), Sweetest Coma Again (DJ Krush), a Vision.. actually try the poppier ones firsts 4AM, White Out, Tonight, Dir En Grey - Embryo then come back and compare to Linkin Park..these songs dont are not virtuoso (although the guitarists have the skills to be as shown with other songs) all im saying is that the progression of modern rock (imcorporating from other genres) is far better than stuff from the US like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit POD and other nu metal trash.. no hard feelings its just Linkin Park are marketed to be something they are not as u said the so-called "hybrid theory" has been done years before linkin park (and far better to) like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Beatie Boys, Rage Against the Machine etc yet thses bands don't get "dissed" while Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit etc get trashed like hell because they sell out to mainstreamers which is the only reason they are selling millions, yes eminem does seem to have 70's rock riffs incorporated in he's new songs your point? (does that mean he has expended and gain respect to other musicians?)
ASIAN ROCKER
Monday, March 31, 2003 at 04:48:01 (PST)
[144.134.193.47]
For all of those who keep on dictating what defines "good" or "bad" music, a big snore to y'all! May I perhaps suggest enrolling in a class in Art History or Abstract Art? That may help in opening up your very tightly closed minds just a wee bit.
I'm not too big a fan of hip hop either, but from all of the posts I've been reading below, I've got to admit that I must reluctantly side with those hip hop supporters for their even-handed, level-headed rationale, not just in justifying hip hop, but for their acceptance of all music in general. Everyone else just seem to be big "music nazis". The huge irony here, is that I had expected the exact opposite!
It's all GREAT! :)
Monday, March 31, 2003 at 02:45:40 (PST)
[204.210.11.100]
Here's something you might not want to know about Linkin Park: I knew several kids involved in the L.A. underground rock scene, who played shows with them and knew them in passing back in the day, and they all disrespect them now for being total sellouts. Supposedly, as the story goes, Warner Brothers offered them a record deal, on the condition that they dump their lead singer and take on Chester Bennington, who at the time was an aspiring pop singer the label was arranging a separate deal with. Of course this was all hearsay, but then I visited several Linkin Park fansites to read their biography, and they all said the same thing, some of them quoting the same crytic statement word for word from the official band press release: "The final piece of the puzzle was singer Chester Bennington, a transplanted Arizona native who started making records when he was 16." It seems even the diehard fans aren't aware of the full story, whatever it might be. Another clue which seems to help confirm the rumour: Chester's voice is just way, way too good. Listen to that part in In the End, where the music subsides and he sings, "I put my trust in you..." - it sounds like a perfect Backstreet Boys moment. This guy obviously didn't work the rock circuit - he's got the boy band pipes and pedigree all the way (which isn't inherently bad, if they were just upfront and honest about it).
Anyway, I told my sister all this, and she suggested something which hadn't occured to me before: maybe the original singer was ethnic, and the label decided three ethnic guys was too much? If this is true, that would make them even bigger sellouts. Anyway, I agree with Asian Rocker - it's all banal power chords and disposable lyrics. A whole lot of sound and fury ultimately signifying nothing. But come to think of it, they are huge, and they're multi-platinum - which would seem to disprove the subject article's claim that pop music "remains starkly devoid of Asian stars". And we seem to be forgetting about Vanessa Carlton, Michelle Branch, and Norah Jones, all part Asian (I think). So maybe we've already reached that point where Asian musicians can enter the fold and no one will bat an eyelid, both Asian Americans and Americans at large.
Oakland indie kid
Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 19:53:57 (PST)
[24.31.34.68]
I think Asian female singers have bigger chances to break into the US or international market,compared to asian rock groups or asian boy bands or wannabe hiphoppers.
Puhleaze
Friday, March 28, 2003 at 19:33:19 (PST)
[210.187.156.123]
"Those who think J-Pop or K-Pop industry produce the best artistes from Asia, you shouldn't be so ignorant and jump to such a big,stupid conclusion."
Well I'm not saying they're the best artists. I'm saying that they are most known. I've never heard of any of those artists that you mentioned. Where I live, I've even met NON-Asian people who listen to J-Pop, K-Pop, and Cantonese pop. But no one of us has heard of artists from other parts of Asia. The best reason I can give you for lack of attention is that these other Asian countries are much smaller and there are not that many people from there living in the U.S.
Malaysia's population is only 20 million+. Singapore is an even smaller 4 million+.
AA
Friday, March 28, 2003 at 18:36:01 (PST)
[172.175.181.60]
A-rocker, ur critique on Linkin Park seems to be very skewed ... cheap powerchords alone would be bad, but the way Linkin Park seamlessly mixes up with electronica, turntable riffs, creative rap wordplay and Chester's awesome lead vocals in very creative and innovative ways is nothing to be taken too lightly. Guitar virtuosity alone can also be crap ... look at any of those hard rock and metal bands of the early 80s (Motley Crew, Van Halen, Led Zepplin, ZZ-Top, Kiss, etc...) wit some who boasted the fastest virtuoso guitarists to this date ... tho some WERE truly awesome musically, most were simply dismissed as pure "guitar noise". Technical proficiency dos NOT necessarily equate to artistic creativity and innovation, and vice versa (The Beatles are the best example of this). Listen to LP's new album Meteora and youll see their arrangements have even furthr matured and advanced beyond their previous album (Hybrid Theory). You have to look at the BIG PICTURE. All the greatest musicians ever from Beatles, Stones to Beastie Boys, Chili Peppers and everyone in between incorporated many elements from outside their native genre into their own INCLUDING rap. Even the opposite holds true ... see how innovative rappers and hip-hop producers like Dr. Dre incorporate 70's g-funk into their rap tunes, and if you listen to Eminem tunes produced by Dre, U will find theres elements from more genres than you can count with one hand.
Your partialness to rock really shows ...
Listener ofANY good music
Friday, March 28, 2003 at 14:30:25 (PST)
[64.37.155.9]
.many Malaysian chinese have made it successful in the C-pop industry from Malaysia, is the Malay Hip hop group u refer to Poetic Ammo? ive heard of them although i am not rap fan, they are ok, but they are LMF's (HK hip hop/rapcore crew) biggest's fans ...
***Poetic Ammo is NOT a Malay rap group.They are now a duo of one guy of Chinese descent and the other, a malaysian Indian.They are a Malaysian rap duo, but NOT Malay.
they are ok,i'm not a fan of poetic ammo,but they can really rap real fast like the kind of rap by Bone,Thugs & Harmony.They also rap in Cantonese and Indian.very multi lingual.
I'm not boasting abt malaysan music.Don't bombard me like what you have done to malysian sensation.I'm only promotng and sharing what this part of he world offers in terms of music talents.I'm also interested to discover and learn abt other artistes from other parts of Asia, so that I could check them out and listen to their stuff and appreciate undiscovered Asian talents.
Oh Puhleaze!
Friday, March 28, 2003 at 07:13:00 (PST)
[210.187.156.37]
Who?? I have no clue who you're talking about? Were they ever listed on Billboard Top 40? Any wannabe popstar can cut a CD these days
***Excuse me,which J-Pop or K-Pop singer had made it into the Top 40 anyway? Don't tell me Hikaru Utada or Ayumi Hamasaki did,puhleaze....
No doubt,some East Asian artistes are trying hard to break into the US market which ended up in failure.If only they hadn't dyed their hair in funny,funny colors and if only they hadn't turned into insecure copycats (like how everyone knows Coco Lee tries to be Mariah!),maybe the world will be more receptive to Asian artistes from that part of the world.
And excuse me again,mr.or ms know-it-all, fyi,Anggun, a sultry Indonesian diva, had already made it BIG in France and is getting lots of attention n Europe.And what abt Regine Velasquez,that Filipino "THIRD WORLD" singer? she has sung numerous duets with many international artistes and won praises from people like Brian McKnight.(As far as I know, none of the J-Pop or K-Pop divas has such a flexible and extraordinary vocal range like hers).And yes, Malaysian artistes like Ah Niu,Sheila Majid, Poetic Ammo,Anita sarawak, Fish Leong, LO,TooPhat are good too if you throw your pride aside for a few minutes of your precious life to listen to them.And there's also groups/singers from Singapore like urban Exchange, Ferhad,Stephanie Sun,etc whom I think have such great talent but left unnoticed.And everyopne who has heard of CornerShop,the British Indian band who sings 'Brimful Of Asha'would agree that they ARE good.Bristish Indians have already made their presence known in British music scene.They produce chart topper hits in the UK, especially their pop-dance-bhangra flavor.
who says third world artistes would never make it? remember, third world artistes like Diana King or Sean Paul (from third world Jamaica)or Shakira (from third world Colombia)or Sade from Ibadan,Nigeria (before she moved to England)have all made it. Why not 'third world' asians?who knows...
Those who think J-Pop or K-Pop industry produce the best artistes from Asia, you shouldn't be so ignorant and jump to such a big,stupid conclusion.
Oh Puhleaze!
Friday, March 28, 2003 at 07:02:35 (PST)
[210.187.156.150]
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|