Asian Invasion

Prepare for invasion!! Alert all troops!! Asia is hitting the world...in a big way!!

No, no, no, it's not war, well, not the nuclear-guns-missiles war anyway. It's the war of music!!

Yessiree, if you've been living under a rock, or deafening yourself with your headphones, then you don't know that the Asian artists are readying themselves to invade the West. Artists like Utada Hikaru, BoA, and Koda Kumi are branching themselves out of their home-turf and Asia, and sticking their big music toe into the Western door. Since I'm more of a Japanese/Korean music fan, the artists that I'm talking about are mainly from there so forgive me if I have no clue about other Asian artists.

I just only notice this trend when I was watching MTV's JKMusic program, which showcases the latest of Japan and Korea's music videos. BoA came on the screen suddenly and it pulled my attention 'coz I saw the video earlier at a restaurant but couldn't make out the music. Imagine my surprise when she sang the song in pure English!! BoA, or rather Boa Kwon, is a Korean singer who sings, and have sung, in Korean (duh, of course), Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and now, English (is there no end to her multi-lingual talent?). I just only found out that her first English single, 'Eat You Up', was released on October 21, 2008!! My God, am I late with the news, either that, or MTV Asia is late with the coverage. :roll:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Y47HsDy6o

BoA - Eat You Up (Asian version)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bezeMui5S3s

BoA - Eat You Up (US version)

In my personal opinion, BoA should just stick to the Asian version of the music video. 1) 'Coz her dance moves are GREAT there, and 2) She just doesn't look natural in the US version, kinda like she's trying too hard.

Anyway, reading about BoA's debut US album made me think about other Asian  artists that tried, some failed, to generate some Western traffic their way. Koda Kumi actually sang a duet with Fergie, ex-member of the Black Eyed Peas, a while back. The song was titled 'That Ain't Cool', released on June 11, 2008. The tune was good, the duet was fine, but the lyrics? Not exactly what I would call inspirational writing. Also, Koda Kumi really needs to work on her English pronunciation. At one line, she sounded as though she was speaking Japanese, I couldn't make out a single English word. 8-O The only other pure English song I know  she sang is 'A Whole New World' with Peabo Bryson in her Best - Second Session album, and that too wasn't very English-friendly.

But of course, the one I love the most is my favourite, Utada Hikaru, a.k.a Hikki (don't ask me why the fans call her this). She was actually born in the US, and was known as Cubic U way before she returned to Japan. Unfortunately, her debut album, Precious (1998), wasn't successfully released in the US, but after translating it to Japanese, the sale of the album just blew up in her home country. She then decided to return to her roots and came out with  Japanese albums First Love (1991), Distance, (2001) Deep River (2002), Ultra Blue (2006) and recently, Heart Station (2008). In 2004, Utada Hikaru re-attempted to enter the American market with another English album, Exodus. She teamed up with legendary Timbaland on some of the songs, but apparently, the West is not ready for her composing and songwriting power (or are they actually afraid of her power? ;-) ). I find it a pity that she still hasn't grown popular in America, even though she was the one who wrote and sung the ever-popular opening themes for Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzBfpi9oCw

Utada Hikaru - Simple & Clean (Kingdom Hearts)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umeAjM5G-5U

Utada Hikaru - Sanctuary (Kingdom Hearts 2)

There are a few more Asian artists that I can mention, such as Che'nelle (who's actually born in my country, Malaysia) and Anggun (from Indonesia). We don't have that many well-known Asian actors and Asian singers in the other side of the world, but I won't be surprised if we turn out to be next big trend and capture the world's undivided attention. 8-)