I realised recently that I don’t have much to say about the Japanese music industry these days. It’s just come to my attention by how I write my blog entries of J-Pop in comparison to K-Pop over the years. I’m getting there now but still… I’ve never really got involved in any forums or found any updating new sites until last year. And the entertainment industry is now more cutesy, girl group dominated and money hungry.
(This article is what I wrote for my Journalism assignment. Some of my friends and followers wanted me to upload it so here it is! It’s supposed to be non-bias yet catchy to the reader, enjoy!)
The UK is in for a big surprise with a new trend spreading to the West. And it’s called K-Pop.
By Nyasha Oliver
Take a minute to think about your first impression of South Korea. How would you describe it? What about the music? If anything, it’s not all traditional as people would think it is. In fact, there is a growing trend in the UK called “K-Pop.”
Got to say in terms of 2010, it’s been a pretty tiresome year. J-Pop has made me realise some things that I never knew before – in a negative way. K-Pop has just upset me so much despite comebacks of my favourites and news that depressed me. It’s not all been so bad but…I had kind of hoped from all the artists that came back (e.g. Queens of J-Pop were present this year, BoA and Se7en who have been seen for years) that they would have a bigger success than usual.
Just a few minutes ago, BoA’s MV for GAME was released on SM’s Youtube Channel. I guess…it’s ok but it’s also so-so. I don’t think BoA lived up to my expectation. Or the great hype. I’m hoping the album is decent. Will she even dance for this song? It slightly reminds me of Lose your Mind to me. 2:05 is a different side of her that I haven’t seen. I feel like doing a Touched Fanmade MV because of this.
Don’t get me wrong; the MV is glittery, glamourous and gorgeous. But let’s me honest, I think travelling to America and Japan tired her out, I was kind of expecting something as feisty as Energetic. I feel like the comeback title track has been rushed. I beg her to use a different song because this song doesn’t seem like the best song to come back with after 4 or was it 5 years Was BoA what you expected?
Looks like 2010 may be an upcoming good year because of the comebacks from:
BoA
Lee Hyori
Rain
Se7en
I guess that among these four, BoA and Se7en matter most because they haven’t been seen for more than 2 years in Korea unlike Lee Hyori and Rain but I can’t wait for their comeback.
Right now, though is BEAST’s time and oh my gosh, it’s shocking…
credit: UrAsianSource
Continue reading
WARNING: Even though these topics have bullet points on them, if you are lazy and do not want to read much, I suggest you skip to the Overall part and also answer the questions at the bottom. Thank you! ^_^
Looks like we have reached the end of an eventful year in J-Pop and especially, K-Pop. I would like to say, despite my lack of knowledge of the J-Pop World for 3 years, I can say the world of J-Pop and K-Pop seemed more calmer at the start of the year compared to the drama that later unfolding in the following months. Let’s recap what happened in the year of 2009 of J-Pop and K-Pop, from my standards and choices, of course.
Don’t know if you guys know my post on allkpop, but this year we have seen a lot of girl groups debut and also comeback. Most of my predictions for the last four months in 2009 were correct but the ones that weren’t were pushed back.
Anyways, who would you like to comeback next year? Or would you like debuts of more boy/girl groups and solo artists?
Continue reading
…in the USA, that is. Now I don’t live in America (instead I’m from London), but back in March, there was a quite buzz at the amount of several Asian Pop artists (three solo artists and one group) that I thought had a good 30% chance of breaking into America as an Asian artist, Sadly, it’s now October and it’s dropped to 5%. Why? I’ll tell you why…
I have to say that, for some reason people never seem to take well to asi ans in music. From what I’ve learnt over the years before and after listening to Asian music, Nationality is the issue. I hate to say it but it’s true. I don’t think Americans are very responsive to any sort of Asian artist/group. I mean, can you name any local Asian-American act that’s actually made it big? So the chances are probably slimmer than my predicted percentage.
I don’t live in America but I can tell you that if I ever saw BoA’s song, I wouldn’t give her a second glance, I would most possibly call her mixed-race which is…stupid. Yeah, and anyways living in London, some British people wouldn’t respond well too, especially how we don’t have enough asians over here too, the other day I showed my sister SHINee and she called them gay (You can imagine how pissed I was), she didn’t even let me explain that there are music differences in other cultures.
Here are some of the artists who, if they had planned their steps correctly, would have made a breakthrough into America.
