Recent Video footage says yes. They performed their smash hit "Nobody" in New York in English, and they were surprisingly decent. However, Asian artists breaking into the US market has proven challenging; Boa's current career in the US appears to be more rocky than smooth, Se7en has never gotten any attention from US R&B fans and Utada who is probably the most likely to have any Western success has never sold that many albums here . Although I wish Wondergirls luck, it would cool to see all those tween queens like Miley, Demi and Selena shaking in their boots a bit...probably won't happen but I can dream.
Their debut single in Korea...
OH AND GUESS WHAT...after I wrote that whole piece about The Wondergirls possibly breaking into the US market I find the dubut US single...I'm a fast one.
Going to university in a city like Toronto exposes you to a wide range of music. With China Town a block a way, Korea Town a half mile a way, and Little India a thirty minute subway ride away cross cultural music exposure is bound to happen. These are songs I have been introduced to by friends, heard while walking around the city, and found on my own.
Epik High - One, and Love Love Love I love the woman's airy voice mingling with the more aggressive Korean rap.
Jujin - Hey Ya (Feat Son Dambi, Bigtone) Look, the English lyrics make absolutely no sense, and they try too hard to add Americanized rap beats to the song, but at the same time it all seems to work for me. Sometimes the lyrics feel a bit forced, but they also feature one of my favorite Korean songstresses on the track (Son Dambi). However, this tune really should be located in my guilty pleasures list...
The Black Skirts - 좋아해줘 I don't know the English name of this song, but its indie Korean rock, I found it through orienkorea, the indie Korean rock YouTube channel I featured in a previous blog post.
Asian KungFu Generation - Rewrite You cannot tell me you don't love this song, its been featured on the widely popular Naruto anime series, and you just got to love to the catchy hooks. Plus, the band is composed of wiry nerdy looking guys who look like they would be more comfortable reformatting your PC than wielding guitars...but at the same time that's what makes them strangely appealing (although I am a science nerd).
Sorry for the fan video...I couldn't find it anywhere.
Utada Hiraku - Tokyo Nights Featured this woman in a blog post about two days ago, but she really is the best Japanese mainstream has to offer. (Hey Shelly I'm using the song you suggested in my Utada blog post--"Tokyo Nights"!!!)
Nami Tamaki - Heroine Another song that should be on my guilty pleasures list, but whatever. She's so cute and this song is so addictive!
Sonu Nigam - Aaj Ki Raat Featured in the Bollywood movie, The Don as well as Slumdog Millionaire, its sexy, and catchy. (A.R. Rahman's soundtrack for Slumdog is not bad either.)
Mohammed Rafi - Chunari Chunari Featured in Monsoon Wedding (a very good movie by the way) just a great party song. However the video is questionable...VERY QUESTIONABLE
Bally Sagoo - Aaja Nachle Another song featured in Monsoon Wedding, its Indian dance music.
Hans Raj Hans - Punjabiyan Di Shaan Featured in Bend it Like Beckham (another awesome movie) and featuring Bally Sagoo, just really really good dance music.
b21 - Darshan Another Bend it Like Beckham soundtrack song, I honestly am reminded of the Indian N'Sync every time I listen to this tune, but its sooo good I feel no shame in tuning in.
I love Utada Hikaru's voice, but every time she tries to break into the US market it seems like an epic fail to me. They make her sing weak songs that don't showcase her strong voice, plus you can clearly tell that these songs were not written by her (she writes a lot of her material in Japan). This is the second attempt for Utada who has dual Japanese and American citizenship, the first attempt was the single "Easy Breezy" a horrible song released in 2004. With lyrics like "you're easy breezy and I'm Japaneezy, you look stupid telling all your friends you got the best of me...." it never went far, the lyrics were just too horrible even for the American pop music industry. Currently, she has released "Come Back to Me" which is not as horrible, but mostly sounds generic and boring, like something a washed up Mariah Carey would sing in her Glitter days. I just hope whatever other singles come out in America will be much stronger than this Nicole Sherzinger rip off (Utada can compete if you give her the material to work with). I am posting both US releases plus her Japanese stuff, I strongly encourage you to see the difference between the Americanized sound, and Utada's more personal Japanese sound.
