DBSK and BoA are “Not Yet” ready for America; And Others…

So says Lee Soo Man and I completely agree.

 

But I think they could be sellable in America. Sooner or later Asian pop music is going to be filtering even more strongly into the states. I don’t think groups like SNSD would have much of a chance but solo singers like BoA can definitely do it. She is a good singer and she makes pop music, pop music is always and will forever be “in” music. (This does not include sickeningly sweet bubblegum pop, that is a conundrum I am still investigating).

 

Utada Hikaru tried to release an album in the United States but it only sold 30,000 copies. I really don’t think this has to do with the fact that Americans aren’t ready for Asian singers. I think the executives in charge think that Americans aren’t ready for Asian singers. Utada’s company didn’t promote her at all. So of course for American’s that have never heard of her, they wouldn’t buy an album that they haven’t heard of. 

To be fair I think Americans get really confused when people don’t fit into preconceived notions about the music a race “should” make. Like when Fefe Dobson was singing rock music or when Justin Timberlake started doing Hip-Hop. People start freaking out and then when you throw Asians into the mix, unless they’re playing the cello or are the one Asian person in a hip-hop crew people don’t know what to think. That however is quickly changing. And I think if music execs would relax and let the talent do what they do, things will work out fine. 

A mix of bad promotion and confused music execs could be Se7en’s downfall. He needs to stop promoting himself just to Asians and open up to the general American audience. His album preview party was in NYC was at Hiro Ballroom. And he was promoted almost exclusively by BaseNYC which is solely about Korean-American nightlife. Hopefully, he’ll start branching out and this isn’t the only thing he’ll be doing. 

But back to Dong Bang Shin Ki, I think these guys are about 3 years away from being ready. They all need English fluency and it has to be better than Yoochun mistaking the word “rudolph” for “deer”. There singles are usually very American-friendly. I would exclude Hug and Beautiful You, though Beautiful You, because it’s so boring, may work out. To appeal to a younger demographic they pretty have to do the same things minus the homo-erotic behavior and wearing animal suits. People who do that in the states are either on Nick Jr. or Disney (in the morning when only toddlers watch it).  Their personalities though are pretty much perfect for anywhere because they’re so personable and I think they’ll be able to be themselves a little bit more because of the general lack of psychofans in the states. 

For all of these artists though, because they’re minorities and foreigners they’re going to have to work twice as hard to get half as far. Sad truth.