I listen to a lot of K-pop and C-pop, but I’ve never really ventured further into the world of Asian media. So, for my final post, I thought I would try something new and listen to some Thai pop. Out of all of the Thai pop songs that I heard, I found Color in White by the band 25 Hours to be the most interesting. I clicked on the music video for this song because I was curious about the name “25 Hours.” I have always wished that there were more hours in a day, and 25 seemed like a satisfying number. The song itself came off as a typical acoustic pop song at first, but after listening to it a few times, it became really catchy. I wanted to sing along, if only I knew the lyrics. Color in White is a very soothing song.
I also enjoyed that I could make out the plot of the music video even though I couldn’t understand a word of Thai. The girl and the guy in the jacket seem to be rekindling a past relationship, or maybe the guy used to like her, but when he shows up at her doorstep he sees that she already has a boyfriend. So I get why the guy is excited and running to her house. I just don’t understand why the other guy, in the plaid shirt, is running as well. Maybe if I re-watch it a few times I’ll figure it out.
Color in White:
(Thanks to everyone who has been reading our blog! This was a pleasant experience.)
Manga and anime are arguably the most consumed Asian media in the West. Many people in America, especially under the age of 30 or so, keep up with their favorite manga or anime series. I am certainly no exception, taking part in fandoms galore.
Japanese manga and anime are probably the most popular (compared to Chinese manhua or Korean manhwa), with many legendary series like Hana Kimi, Fruits Basket, Naruto, One Piece, and the list goes on. The great thing about this media is that it ranges far beyond book and movie format. A look at the home page of an online art community like Deviantart, and manga drawings or manga-inspired drawings will quickly pop up. It also has its claws in my notebook, which is filled with manga doodles.
Because the Japanese anime style is so prominent, it has spawned Western TV shows like it as well. My childhood was filled with such TV shows, especially Teen Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender. In fact, I admit I am still a bit obsessed with Avatar, just because of the depth of the plot and characters and the rich animation... And need I mention that Prince Zuko is incredibly attractive? Don't get me started on his voice.
Prince Zuko
I admit you might not agree with me, seeing as he is a cartoon character. Such is the life of a manga geek. While manga and anime can be awesome, I have to admit, it can be a bit weird. Take, for example, the anime Dai Mahou Touge, the source of this viral clip:
Kind of disturbing, right? But admittedly amusing. Did anybody else notice at the end the onion on the left peeled itself and jumped into the pot?
With
all of the flashy outfits and complicated choreography of boy and girl bands in the Asian pop industry surrounding us, we forget about the Asian rap artists. I'm most familiar with two Asian
rappers: Dumbfoundead and MC Jin. I discovered Dumbfoundead, a Korean
American rapper, when I was watching a Jay Park (K-pop artist) video. I
saw “Clouds - Dumbfoundead ft. Jay Park & Clara” in the “Related
videos” section and was curious about the clever, but rather morbid name
“Dumbfoundead.” I watched a few videos on his channel and saw that his
rap style was just as clever as his stage name, especially the song Dumb
Raps. The lyrics were “Don’t need them / we want them / but we can’t
afford them / we watch it / we listen / then move on from boredom.”
However, each “them” could also be heard as “dumb” (or “boredumb”
instead of “boredom”). It feels different to listen to a song for its
word play rather than the melody, harmony, rhythm, or some other musical
aspect. Check out Dumb Raps below:
I
discovered Jin when I was obsessed with Wang Leehom, a popular C-pop
artist. Jin is a Chinese American rapper who sometimes collaborates with
C-pop artists. He was both the first East Asian and Chinese solo rapper
to be signed to a major record label. He also won all seven rap battles
in a row on BET’s Freestyle Friday, which enabled him to be inducted in
the Freestyle Friday Hall of Fame. His style is a bit more serious than
Dumbfoundead’s, but entertaining nevertheless. Check out Shoot for the
Moon below:
To get updates from a few of my favorite Kpop bands like Miss A and Block B, I have to rely on Youtube. Especially since I live here in Cornrow C, also known as Illinois (See what I did there?). Understandably, these updates come slowly, and therefore, I don't check my subscriptions all too often.
So imagine my surprise when I discovered new songs by Miss A and was referred to new songs by Block B by Sherry. After jumping around my room to the rhythm of the music for at least 10 minutes (which is a great way exercise for the average Asian pop fan), I went back and listened to all of their other songs as well.
Miss A is a girl band, like more than half of the other bands in the Kpop industry. However, their image is much less cute and more independent than others in the industry, such as SNSD, Orange Caramel, T-ARA, and the list goes on. Before they debuted, they caused a stir with teasers that advertised very strong dancing, but didn't offer much information about the band itself. My favorite song of theirs is "Breathe," a really peppy and catchy song with a great rap section. The music video (below) illustrates their ability to create unique songs that still appeal to their Korean audience, who tend to like cute songs.
Block B didn't have the same success as Miss A. However, I believe their songs deserve the same credit for being unique. Most Kpop boy bands stick to the "Hallyu" style made popular by SM Entertainment -- slick dance moves, smooth singing, and lots of smart suit jackets with skinny jeans. However, Block B breaks away from that style completely to offer music strongly influenced by rap and hip hop. If the music video for "Nillili Mambo" below doesn't seem different, I don't know what does.
I think this music video needs to be extended into a Kpop movie version of Pirates of the Caribbean, and Zico (Mr. Pink Dreadlocks) needs to be Jack Sparrow. Anybody with me? --Julia
When I checked out my comprehensive
Eastern-Western-pop-music-update website yinyuetai.com, I was psyched to
see that one of my favorite C-pop groups had come out with a new song.
Top Combine went MIA after debuting in 2009 with their song "Cotton
Candy," and now they're back with "At Least I Still Have You." When I
saw their new music video, I noticed that a lot had changed since their
debut. First of all, their original five-person boyband had become a
four-person group. The five members, Li Mao, Zhang Yuan, Ma Xueyang, Lin Zhoucheng, and Korean member Kim Eunsung were chosen back in 2009 from a
singing competition, with the exception of Kim Eunsung. Earlier this year, Li
Mao, whose initial career choice was acting, left the group to pursue
his acting dream. Li Mao was the rapper of the group, so with him gone,
the new song lacked a rap section. I was used to the Korean pop song
format (which Top Combine's new song seemed to follow) of a long melody
leading up to a breakout of rap and kept expecting to hear the rap part
in their new song. Naturally, I never heard it, but I didn't feel that
this took away from the song at all. In fact, I thought that it made it
stronger. Since the song was supposed to be very sorrowful and melodic, a
random, energetic rap in the middle of the song would have seemed out
of place.
Another change I noticed in the
group was that of its musical style. "Cotton Candy" was literally a very
sweet song that gave off a calm and happy vibe. However, "At Least I Still Have You"
is darker and more depressing, contrasting dramatically with Top
Combine's debut style. Even the overall theme of the music video for "At Least I Still Have You" is black and white, with the members wearing mainly these two colors. Top Combine certainly has changed a lot.
"Cotton Candy" (至上励合 is Top Combine's name in Chinese):
I have to admit, talking about Vocaloids as an introduction to Japanese music may not have been the best idea.
To rectify my wrongdoings, this week's post deals with human singers in Japan. In my experience, Japanese music seems to be fond of cuteness, kawaii things, and school uniforms, which isn't to my taste.
However, a lot of well-known Kpop bands have a history of doing well in the Japanese music industry, especially Big Bang and SNSD. For example, SNSD has just released a new music video in Japanese, Flower Power. But I want to talk about a Japanese artist. A while back, I discovered a Japanese-American singer named Hikaru Utada. Her debut album, First Love, is the all-time best selling album on the Oricon charts, the equivalent of the American Billboard charts. She also sung the theme song of Disney's Kingdom of Hearts. The reason Utada stood out to me was her emotive voice and the scope of her vocals, ranging from acoustic songs to fast-paced video game theme songs.
Simple & Clean by Hikaru Utada
Utada is definitely worth checking out. Some other notable Japanese artists are:
AKB48
Kumi Koda (who is currently topping the Oricon chart)
I realized that I haven't done an artist bio in a while, so I will briefly describe an Asian artist this week.
One
of my early discoveries in the world of Chinese pop music was Will Pan.
He was born in West Virginia and moved to Taiwan, his native country,
as a child. When he became older, he studied at Cal Poly Pomona for a
while before he decided to pursue a career in entertainment.
Will
Pan's interest in the entertainment industry was actually present
before left college. While studying at Cal Poly Pomona, he participated
in the NMG/BMG Los Angeles Singing Competition and won "Best Image
Award." Although he didn't receive an award for his singing ability, he
did catch the attention of Andy Lau's, a very prominent Cantonese
singer/actor, manager. His manager invited Pan to audition for the
position of a host on a new show called "V Style Society." Besides
hosting, Pan also dabbled in various areas of entertainment. He clung on
to his dream of becoming a singer and sang four songs in the soundtrack
for the first drama in which he acted, named "Great Teacher." Soon
after he filmed his drama, he finally got the opportunity to release a
solo album. His debut album, titled "Gecko Stroll" (I wasn't aware that
geckos had a stroll), featured songs written by well-known C-pop artists
like Jay Chou and Anson Hu.
Over
the years, Pan has matured as a singer and has made great progress in
his singing career. His style began as more old-school hip-hop and
developed into somewhat pop and occasionally R&B. He released an
album each year and even did a collaboration with Akon. I thought their
song turned out alright, but some of my friends thought it had "the
quality of a potato." Since the feedback varied so drastically, you'll
have to judge for yourself:
(Here's where the title of this post becomes relevant. Their collaboration piece is called Be With You from Pan's album 007, alluding to James Bond's code name. The music video is also based on the story of Will Pan being a spy.)
When we think of Asian media, we often forget some of the most important people in the industry, the dancers. In Asian pop, dancing is much more an integral part of the music than in the United States, where the celebrities themselves don't bust moves too often. However, in Asia, live performances are often rigidly choreographed.
Also, the larger-than-life celebrities performing on stage and in music videos need background dancers, not to mention the the choreographer. If the choreographer of the song is lucky, the dance will be so iconic and distinctive that the moves will soon be recognizable by anybody that keeps up with pop culture. Iconic dance moves include: the horse dance from Gangnam Style, the hand rub from Super Junior's Sorry Sorry, and the crab dance from SNSD's Gee, to name a few. For a more in depth analysis of Kpop choreography and more examples, I direct your attention here.
One Kpop choreographer who I've found is Ellen Kim. Based in San Francisco, she is a member of a dance company named Movement Lifestyle. She also co-owns a dance company called the Lost Kids with Kyle Hanagami, another notable Kpop choreographer. She has choreographed for big Kpop names, and has danced for big American names such as Beyonce and Snoop Dogg. Below is one of her dance covers, where she dances to I am the Best by 2NE1 with yet another notable Kpop choreographer, Aimee Lee Lucas, and a few others from the Movement Lifestyle Studio.
If you care to explore more, here are links to other choreographers and Ellen Kim's Youtube channel:
With
a twist. Imagine a game of soccer with kung-fu. Well that's exactly
what the Hong Kong film Shaolin Soccer is about. It tells the story of
six Shaolin monks who form a soccer team to defeat the evil team
sponsored by Hung, a former friend who betrayed the monks. The captain,
Sing, seeks out the retired kung-fu masters and brings them into the
team. Unfortunately, the old masters are completely out of shape and
have to revive their martial arts skills in a short amount of time. It
also turns out that the players on the evil team are taking drugs to
turn them into invincible, superhuman soccer players. The tension builds
up and at the beginning of the final championship, the good team is
completely beaten. The force of the evil players’ kicks sends the ball
rocketing across the field, covered in flames. Many members on the good
team become severely injured as a result. When all seems lost, Sing’s
love interest shows up and proves to be an amazing kung-fu soccer
player. She and Sing team up to defeat Team Evil.
Shaolin
Soccer is one of my all-time favorite kung-fu movies. It's
action-packed (but not too gruesome and graphic) and hilarious. There is
one scene where the good team, the underdog, charges onto the field for
its first game, cheering. Much to the players’ surprise, there are no
fans waiting for them on the bleachers. All they see are a few cleaning
ladies sweeping the bleachers. One member quickly bounces back from the
disappointment and screams, “You are all still our fans!!” The cleaning
ladies respond by throwing their brooms at the team.
In
order to fully appreciate this movie, the viewer has to understand that
it is intended to be a lighthearted movie and not meant to be taken
seriously. Some viewers complain that the plot is too simple and the
kung-fu action scenes are too fake. Although I agree that the plot could
have been better-developed, I think that the “fake” action scenes fit
the movie well. After all, what are the chances of kung-fu masters
fusing their martial arts skills with soccer techniques? Close to zero.
Because the entire movie is set in a fictitious world where soccer
players can zoom 50 feet into the air and rotate freely, violating
everything Newton held sacred, expecting the movie to seem realistic
would be unrealistic. Shaolin Soccer is an action-packed comedy that is
just for laughs.
Meet the team (Sing is in the center with a “10” at the bottom of his cloak/uniform):
A vocaloid, in the most literal sense of the word, is an artificial singer. Vocaloids are computer synthesizers that can mimic the human voice as it sings using source sound bytes from actors and singers. Developed in Japan, vocaloids are surprisingly popular among Japanese music fans, but not as much outside of Japan.
Vocaloids aren't totally true to the human voice, which can be off-putting. However, fans of vocaloids still enjoy vocaloid music, and even go to concerts, where a vocaloid singer is represented on a huge screen as an anime character.
Notable vocaloids include Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Rin and Len, and Luka. Below is a live performance by Hatsune Miku, who, as far as I can tell, is the most popular and well known vocaloid.
The best part of vocaloid music, for me, is the cuteness. It is easy to see why people like it, even if it isn't exactly to my tastes in music. I am also amazed that each song is "sung" by a computer alone and that the voice is so accurate, even though it isn't exactly like that of a human. Maybe someday, technology will have come so far that vocaloids will be indistinguishable from human voices.
Beatboxing,
the art of producing beats and sounds using one's mouth and voice, is often left out when one thinks of the word "music." It's a
relatively new style of producing music and has its roots in hip-hop
culture.
I
am a huge fan of beatboxing because it's such a cool and easy way to
make music. Well, not easy in terms of technique, but rather in terms of
its portability. With your mouth as your instrument, you can produce
beats and music anywhere.
Beatboxing is also not limited to just hip-hop music; you can use its
techniques to improvise classical pieces too if you want.
In
the Asian beatboxing world, I usually watch videos by Krnfx and
Hikakin. Krnfx (pronounced "Korean effects"), whose real name is Terry
Im, is a Korean-Canadian beatboxer who has won the Canadian Beatbox
Championship two years in a row and has also been a Beatbox Battle World
Championship Finalist. He has a very clean style and is always precise
in his technique. Many beatboxers blend their sounds together when they
try really fast beats or multiple sounds at the same time, but
you can still hear Krnfx’s individual sounds even when he speeds up his
beats or adds different types of beats. He really tries to focus on
perfecting his technique.
Krnfx freestyling on the stairs:
However, clean and precise isn’t the only style of beatboxing. Hikakin, a
Japanese beatboxer, is famous for using beatboxing to imitate popular
radio songs, video game theme songs, and classical pieces. His most
viewed video on YouTube is a beatbox version of the Super Mario theme song, which has over 19 million views. Unlike Krnfx,
Hikakin doesn’t put as much emphasis on advanced beatboxing skills or
beatbox championships. Instead, he chooses to keep his beats simple and
focus on creating melodies using beatboxing techniques. Many YouTubers argue about whether Krnfx or Hikakin is the better beatboxer, but I
personally think they’re both great in their own ways. So I just sit
back and enjoy the music.
The problem with living in America is that it makes discovering less well known Asian pop songs much, much harder. The power of the internet is limited by the interest in the subject, and sadly, there isn't much interest in little known Asian bands. However, finding a good, less well known band becomes much more satisfying as a result. Off the top of my head, I can think of three such bands in the Kpop industry; Ft Island, CN Blue, and 10cm.
Ft Island was the band that prompted me to write this post, following the release of their new song, "I Wish." Ft Island has a very distinctive style with lots of guitar in the background and catchy verses. While they aren't totally clouded in anonymity, it is much harder to find an FT Island fan than it is to find a 2NE1, Big Bang, or SNSD (a very popular girl band) fan. My favorite song of theirs is "Love Love Love," and the music video is below.
Besides just being a good song, the music video for "Love Love Love has amazing side effects with starbursts of color along the walls and an interesting story line. Well, "interesting" in a weird sense. I don't really know what the burning dolls are for, but you know, it makes it more meaningful, yes?
Another band that I enjoy is CN Blue. I can't really say much about this band that I haven't already said about FT Island, the two bands are very similar in style. Neither band really fits into the usual sense of the genre Kpop, but both are just as good as any other Kpop band. My favorite song from CN Blue is "Loner" ("외톨이야" in Korean). If you listen to it, you'll probably notice how similar FT Island and CN Blue are.
The last band I want to mention is 10cm. Out of the three bands in this post, 10cm is definitely the least well known. The band is named 10cm apparently because the difference in height of the two band members is, you guessed it, ten centimeters. The duo got their start playing their indie songs in coffee shops and bookstores and got a big jump when a well known Kpop new website in the US, allkpop, did an editorial on them. In fact, that was how I first heard of them.
10cm's songs are softer and slower than those of FT Island and CN Blue and have more harmonies and prominent acoustic guitar. Their song "Healing" is below, from a live performance in a bookstore. I don't know about you, but this is my go to rainy-day song.
Needless to say, I definitely lean towards Korean indie bands when I am discovering music. I did a little happy dance inside when I found these three bands. Sadly, these are the only ones I know of so far because, as the post title says, my Bonnie lies over the Pacific ocean...
Before I begin, I just want to say that I’m really excited about a new Chopin waltz I’m currently working on and that it inspired me to write this post.
Jay Chou is my favorite Chinese pop (AKA C-pop) artist of all time. To be honest, I can’t actually tell what he’s saying in most of his songs because he mumbles so much. But the reason I love his songs is because he is such a great composer. He does an amazing job of combining classical music with popular music and creating his own arrangements for classical pieces. His favorite composer is Chopin, so he tends to use Chopin nocturnes and waltzes as the bases for his songs. (In fact, he loves Chopin so much that he even named one of his songs “Nocturne.”)
On top of composing and producing his own music, Jay Chou is also an actor and director. One of his films, “Secret,” included a piano battle, which eventually turned into a duet. The phrase “piano battle” comes from the story of the main character (Jay) having to battle the piano prince (Yuhao) to prove his worth at his new school. Of course, the music from the entire battle scene was arranged by Jay. During Yuhao’s second solo, he plays part of Chopin’s Waltz in C-sharp minor (the one that I am learning), and then transitions into an improvisation of the piece. The fast-paced improvisation contrasts nicely with the slower and smoother original Chopin waltz. Finally, Jay and Yuhao battle it out on the piano. They start out competing with each other for the melody, but then merge together to complete the piece. The view of the moving keys inside the piano makes the scene even more exciting to watch.
Check out the piano battle below: (Howe-Yuhao (on the left), Other guy-Jay)
Over the summer, a lot of my favorite bands released songs that I jam out to every night now. For example, my all time favorite band, Big Bang, released a single titled "Monster." Big Bang is a very popular South Korean band (well I suppose there aren't any North Korean bands) with five members. Big Bang is best known for their unique music and style choices and are praised for composing their own pieces. The music video for Monster is below.
First of all, I'd like to say that Spock was not the hairstylist for this video. Secondly, I really, really love this song. It's catchy and the background music is just great, especially the piano part. The teasers came out right before I left for vacation and during the second week of my trip, I just had to seek out an Internet connection so I could watch it. Thankfully it didn't disappoint me at all. Another notable video that has been released this summer is Gangnam Style, by Psy. It has a whopping view count of somewhere around 113 million, the most any Korean Pop (Kpop) video has gotten, as far as I know.
While this music video seems like another sleazy video, Psy, who masterminded the entire video, is actually sending a message about the Gangnam district of Seoul. The Gangnam district is the equivalent of the Beverly Hills of Korea, and in the music video, Psy mocks their attitude and lifestyle. Personally I think it's really funny, and I'm still working on learning that dance... Maybe if I go crazy during Finals week I can let off some steam and chase college students around while doing the little horse gallop dance. -Julia
