It has been a while since Music Bank but there are still many people talking, discussing and arguing on who did better: WonderGirls singing the SNSD song of ‘Kissing You’ or Girls’ Generation singing the WG song of ‘Tell Me’. Personally, I have started to become sick and tired of the arguing between the two sides. In all honesty, it is just a matter of opinion… whether you are a music virtuoso or completely tone deaf. So I decided to take a different route with this argument. Instead of arguing which group sang/performed better at Music Bank, I decided to ask the following:
Which group will be more successful?
Before I can attempt to answer this question, I have to define what success is. In my opinion, success for an Asian artist or group is one thing: The Western world. Now I am not trying to be racist or say stuff like ‘The West is Best’ but if you measure all the people who have heard of Britney Spears compare to all the people who have heard of BoA… which girl would have the larger group? I am pretty sure there are going to be some people who will argue with me saying: “But TroubledAqua… not all Asian artists want to debut in America.” This is true. But let’s think back to when we were all children and we all had big dreams. No one just wanted to be the best basketball player only in the US or the best soccer player only in Brazil… no… we all had a higher goal. We wanted to be the best whatever in the world.
Thankfully the western world is starting to notice the Asian talent into a more mainstream light. Some of the recent events we should know about are:
Charice Pempengco discovery on YouTube
The new lead singer of the band Journey who is Filipino
Rain’s appearances on ‘The Colbert Report’, ‘Speed Racer’ and his goal to release an English album
SM Entertainment’s plans to debut DBSK and BoA in America
Just yesterday ( 07/07/08 ), we were supposed to have Se7en’s new album debut into the American market. However, it was delayed into a later time. Why? Though the note sent did not mention much… we can all assume that this album wasn’t western ready to be released. We all have to remember that the east and the west have two different styles of music. To appeal to the west, you have to have a little bit of western roots in your Asian style.
So I am going to compare the two groups into categories and answer who I think the American people would like more.
Band/Number
Both groups are lucky since they are both girl bands. It seems like boy bands have died well into the 90’s but girl bands are still alive and kicking. This is probably because they appeal to both women and men. In concern to number, Wondergirls have won. This is because there are less of them. We have to remember two things… first human nature and then stereotypical western nature. Human nature is that it is easier to remember a few people then a lot of people… especially if you do not know them well. This also adds to the fact that stereotypical western world cannot tell Asians apart. I know a lot of you Asian out there have been called Chinese or Japanese (when you are not), or asked if so-and-so was your brother even if he was a different race than you. For some reason, we all look alike to them. It might take even longer to tell apart 9 people compared to 5.
Image
Wondergirls image seems to have varied a lot. It seems they were debuted to be the ‘sexy’ type but then transformed to the ‘cool, cute’ type. SNSD’s image was always the ‘cute, virgin, angel, unmarried type’. The win on image can go both ways but let me tell you some things I thought about. I think people are more willing to accept a 15 year old acting older than a 19 year old acting like a baby. The whole virgin image probably wouldn’t work now in the music field since sex really sells and there isn’t harsh censorship like in S. Korea. Even Britney Spears who debut as a ’16 year old virgin’ changed her image into a sex symbol over time. This brings me to my next point. Let’s say SNSD does change their image into a sexy risqué image. Maybe a lot of their fans who love their virgin image would feel hurt that they compromised themselves for the western market.
Song
This is the most important category since it is mainly why people like an artist or group. Before I go on I just want to say I am not going to be talking about vocal ability and quality in this. If William Hung can make a CD and actually sell it, I don’t think the American public is that into if a person can sing or not. Since I am talking about Music Bank… I am going to talk about the songs ‘So Hot’ and ‘Kissing You’.
True story: I was having lunch with a few of my friends and please note: they were not Asian and they never listen to K-pop. We were talking about what kind of songs we were currently listening too. I finally decided to 'fess up and tell them how in love I was with this one Korean song: ‘So Hot’. They wanted to hear it so I pulled out my iPhone (yes, be jealous.) and played it for them. Immediately they wanted me to send them the song, find out how to download it and find out who the artist was.
‘Kissing You’ is known as a bubblegum pop song or a baby cute song. I doubt westerns will immediately like girls singing that song. It isn’t something they are used too and as all Asian things that westerns aren’t used too... it will just be classified as weird. I bet a lot of people are also tired of love songs. At least with ‘So Hot’ it follows the footsteps of self-acclaiming songs like ‘Fergalicious’ and ‘Don’t Cha’. Because it follows a western trend, I am going to have to give the win to Wondergirls.
So Honeys, Wonderfuls, neutrals and haters all alike go argue as much as you like. Because no matter what you think about this one performance... just ask yourselves... which group will be more successful?
Sources:
(Reposted from: http://shenyuepop.forumotion.com/editorials-f16/wondergirls-vs-girls-generation-t2748.htm)
Se7en- http://shenyuepop.forumotion.com/korean-entertainment-news-f3/7-7-se7en-fails-to-deliver-t2727.htm?highlight=se7en
Dividers- http://www.countrylanecraftsandantiques.com/
anyway the only thing the SHitdea are good at it´s to show their pants and acting like some baby who cannot let their hands from plastic candys :))
