Will America Ever Be Ready For An Asian Superstar?

Over the past 5 years the music industry has slowly begun to evolve. Gone are the days of bubblegum pop and teenybopper lyrics from artists with no musical talent and even less of a voice. The trends of the past are nowhere to be found among the sounds of orthodox singer\songwriters that now populate the industry.

With the Latin boom of the late 90’s the large racial gap in the American music industry began to close. Fueled by the growing Hispanic population, artists such as Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez sprang to the top of the Billboard charts, America’s most prestigious music magazine establishment charged with composing weekly listings of America’s top albums and singles. Martin’s hit “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” released in 1999 started the craze, spawning the careers of such artists as Marc Anthony and Joy Enriquez. Spanish music took off, becoming the most popular variety of foreign language music in the States.

Artists from other countries have struck gold in the States as well with minor hits. The biggest one of them, India’s Punjabi MC won national acclaim with his hit “Beware of the Boy,” which sampled the theme from the popular 1980’s show “Night Rider” and spawned a remix featuring Jay-Z. Though he has yet to follow up, he’s already secured himself among America’s DJ elite.

With artists from all over Europe and other continents breaking into American’s mainstream music industry, one has to wonder, where are the Asians? This is a simple yet complex question that has boggled the minds of music lovers for years. I for one however, think it’s not a question of where, but why. It’s happened before. In 1963 Kyu Sakamoto released his hit song “Sukiyaki” in the States. Even though the song came over with a different title and in Japanese it managed to reach the top of the charts. Why hasn’t it been done since then?

Asian artists, both foreign and domestic, have been trying to break into the industry for years, but to no avail. The past 5 years alone have seen a decent number of artists try to crack through the rock hard exteriors of the world’s most popular musical establishment. One of China’s biggest names in music, Coco Lee first tried to break into the industry in 2000 with her American debut “Just No Other Way.” The album failed to even brush the surface. She did, however, perform the theme to Ang Lee’s Academy Award Winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the 73rd annual Academy Awards, becoming the first Asian artist to perform at such an event. Chinese American rapper Jin scored a deal with Ruff Ryders and released his debut album “The Rest is History” in late 2004. Even though Jin has some notoriety as the Freestyle Friday champion on BET’s popular request show “106th and Park, but it failed to carry over into his album sales. That coupled with the lack of interest in his career led to his decision to quit the industry this past May.

Perhaps the biggest failure so far came from the artist that was said to have the most hope of succeeding where others have failed. Utada Hikaru, One of Japan’s biggest artists, first announced her one album deal with Island Def Jam in spring of 2003, with a late 2003-early 2004 release date. The album didn’t come out until October because of marriage and surgery, and what the fans got was something far from what they expected.

Hikaru’s roots in R&B were what most believed was going to carry her through to the top. Since she was born in New York, and raised between there and Tokyo, so she didn’t have the accent problem that most who tried to cross over were plagued with. She’d even received minor success with a song entitled “Blow My Whistle” in 2001for the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack. The Neptunes produced track backed by female rapper Foxy Brown, brought Hikaru some attention, but because she was booked solid in Japan, and couldn’t promote the song.

The final product of her Island debut, Exodus, was not up to par with Hikaru’s previous ventures. Debuting using only her surname, Hikaru hoped to reach the top of the billboard charts. The over synthesized sounds and the meaningless lyrics of the album did nothing to help it on the charts. It peaked at a dismal 162 on Billboard before dropping off completely.

With all the talent out there, what could possibly be the problem? Several could be easily identified, but how deep do they run? One of the biggest problems is the artists themselves. More often than not, the lyrics of most American Asian artists are riddled with lyrics on Asian pride. The country has a whole doesn’t want you to tell them something they can obviously see. Jin is a good example of this. Although his rapping skills are commendable, a good portion of the album is devoted to being an Asian rapper in a predominately African-American field. While most of what he said is true, people don’t necessarily want to hear about it for the entire album.

Utada has some of these same problems as well. Though she’s not as up front with her Asian pride as Jin, it’s still there in a big way. It’s not as strong in her lyrics, but it’s in the music. Songs like “Devil Inside,” “Hotel Lobby,” and “You Make Me Want To Be A Man” all push Hikaru’s Japanese heritage, something that you must be careful with when producing an album for mass American release. Her biggest lyrical flop is the lead single of the album, “Easy Breezy,” which further adds to the racial stigmata Americans have placed on Asians. To sum it up, the song basically says you “kissed and told” in so many words. While other artists do this, Asians need to be mindful of stereotypes, this one being one of the biggest, and avoid them at all costs. Hikaru’s first English language effort, Cubic U, released when she was only 12, would have been a better choice because its urban sound is much closer to what the market reflects today.

Thick accents and the timid nature of the artist can lead to failure as well. Korean super group Baby V.O.X. released their semi English language CD “Ride West” in April of last year. Even though it was supposed to be an American release, the album never saw light stateside. The lead single Xtacy was riddled with heavy accents, something that would have been quickly dismissed among the American public. Legal troubles soon arose when it was discovered that samples of the late Tupac Shakur were used without the permission of his mother and owner of his estate, Afeni Shakur. Even though the album had few English songs on it to begin with, it was clear that even if they broke into the market, they’d be quickly laid to rest once the story reached public ears.

China’s Coco Lee and Korea’s J face similar issues. Coco’s second all English release, the sex charged “eXposed, “was released in China March of this year. The album seemed rather generic and you could barely hear Coco in some places, making it hard to decipher the lyrics. This one might give Coco the edge she needs if she improved her stage presence. We may, however, never find out because the album, which is one of the few English albums by an Asian artist intended for an American release not to push Asian pride, has yet to have a Stateside release date.

J’s English album “Chocolate” will probably never see light on this side of the Pacific, but she too sounds as if she were mumbling in her songs. J, another American born artist was thought to have what it takes to become a hit overseas.

Although artists are a big part of the problem, it’s not all their fault. Unlike their Hispanic counterparts, Asian artists are at a huge disadvantage. For one numbers aren’t on their side. Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez could have become stars with the Latin vote alone because Hispanics are the largest minority group in America, which is the main reason Spanish is so widely accepted. Asians have the huge task of pleasing everyone in order to receive national success. At times this can be one of the most difficult tasks to master because it ends up being a double standard. To get the Asian vote, an artist must stay true to his or her Asian roots, but doing so means alienating the rest of the country. Artists usually try to find a middle ground which usually ends up coming off as a gimmick.

Take Jin for example, while his image reflects the hip hop industry, it doesn’t reflect his Asian heritage, and he received bad reviews among the Asian community. Those who did buy the album where put off buy his Asian pride and he was seen as using his ethnicity as a gimmick to sell his album.

A big problem is American society itself. As with anything else, stereotypes were forced upon the Asian community that has never been disputed at a large scale. So when an Asian artist comes out with anything that doesn’t carry a traditional Asian theme to it, the project is seen as a joke and put off to the side. Image plays a large role as well. The typical image of an Asian woman in America is a sex loving stripper who will have sex with anybody she wants.

Record companies are a large part of the problem is well. When an Asian artist is discovered and ready to face the public, companies don’t know how to promote their freshly picked talent. More often than not, they see the artist as an “Asian person” instead of a creative human being. Island, for example, had no idea how to promote Utada. They were so lost they turned to the members of the online community Utada Online and asked them to assist. The company shelled out upwards of a million dollars, and it was all spent promoting in areas frequented by Asians. This was another mistake considering that Asians will have no problem supporting their own, but the rest of the country will. The problem comes full circle again with artists because they don’t want to sign a contract with a company that doesn’t know how to promote them. Honestly I can’t say that I blame them. Why would you want to go to someone that looks at you like a piece of meat fresh off the chopping block for a contract? Still, someone has to be the guinea pig. That’s not going to happen until someone swallows their pride and does just enough to get out in the public eye, but that may not happen for years to come. There’s definitely no shortage of talent on either side of the Pacific. Here three artists I, as a budding producer, think should be paid more attention to or should try their hand at the American market:

Toshinobu Kubota is Japan’s longest running R&B act. He first debuted in 1986 and slowly climbed up the charts. Although he may be past his prime now, he still continues to dazzle audiences now even though he’s well into his early forties. Toshi has more soul than most people in R&B today and is fluent in English as shown on his three English language releases “Moonlight, Sunshine,” “Nothing But Your Love,” and “Time To Share,” all of which have Stateside releases and very little to no accent. Unfortunately, even though he’s backed by such industry heavyweights as Mos Def and Angie Stone, he’s yet to hit mainstream radio. If given a fair chance Toshi could very well hit the top of the Billboard charts.

Monday Michiru is another artist that could crack the rock hard American industry with her bare hands. The Japanese\American jazz chanteuse is the child of jazz legends Toshiko Akiyoshi and Charlie Mariano. The jazz crowd is much more forgiving than the mainstream music market, and Monday’s brand of jazz would fit in perfectly. Most of her songs are in English, and just as with Toshi have no accent. With her being half American she doesn’t exactly look as if she has Japanese blood in her, which could work in her favor when trying to make a splash in the American music industry

Kevin So is the most sought after independent Asian artist in the industry. He’s been producing and releasing albums since 1996. His soulful blend of pop, folk, rock and R&B have brought him some attention. Several labels have approached him with offers, but Kevin has yet to find one that he likes. I think if he were to bite the bullet and take a lesser deal and get noticed mainstream, he could later use that success to obtain a better one.

Although it may not happen anytime soon, I think people of Asian descent have a fair shot at making it in the American music industry. It will take the right person at the right time, with the right sound, and the right label to do what only one artist Kyu Sakamoto could do in 1963 with his hit Sukiyaki, crush all competition and make it to the top of the Billboard charts.

http://www.toshikubota.com/e_html
http://www.mondaymichiru.com/bio.aspx?langID=1
http://www.kevinso.com/