Is Hikaru Utada the next Britney Spears? I hope not, for her sake...
The Japan Times anticipates a slew of J-Pop acts making waves on U.S. shores in 2009. This is not particularly big news, I think – but the lineup of usual suspects trying their hand at cracking the U.S. market is pretty strong. Hikaru Utada, BoA (who is technically Korean, but who’s really counting), Dir En Grey, etc.
I’d like to think this is a real possibility, but honestly – I just don’t see it. It’s not that none of these groups have any chops (they’re all as talented as their Western counterparts, and just a slickly produced), but mainstream U.S. audiences still don’t seem to have developed a taste for Asian music, even if it sounds just like the domestic variety.
Am I wrong in pegging these artists as ‘niche’ interests? Utada is probably more well known in the U.S. for her contributions to videogame soundtracks, and even a highly publicised appearence with Britney Spears on Japanese television did nothing to raise BoA’s profile several years ago. I left to wonder why none of them have succeeded in the States. There are a number of Japanese musical artists who have made respectable names for themselves in the indie scene (Cibo Matto, Pizzicato Five, Shonen Knife, Cornelius, etc) – but none of them achieved the level of success that I believe Hikaru Utada desires.
Why is it that American listeners are perfectly willing to send other foreign artists to the top of Billboard’s music charts (Coldplay, anyone?) but not Asians, or more specifically, Japanese?
I think some of it may be the ‘sing-along’-ability. Coldplay sings in English, so English-speaking listeners can sing along in their cars. My husband and I are big fans of European metal, and the bands that have become most popular in the U.S. (Lacuna Coil, Opeth etc.) write lyrics mostly in English.
Well, Utada’s 2004 album ‘Exodus’ was almost entirely in English, as I understand it. Speaking of metal, the Japanese metal band Loudness did fairly well over here, and even had a couple of videos in rotation on MTV back in the 80′s.
My own taste in music runs toward Zeni Geva, the Boredoms, and Merzbow, which I’m pretty damn sure will *never* show up on anyone’s best-seller lists (although the Boredoms may have cracked the Billboard college charts sometime in the 90′s, while they were touring as part of the Lollapalooza thing…wierdest show I’ve ever been to…)
I love Utada, but her English album is largely experimental in nature and frankly it doesn’t work. Both of them. She needs to do what she has always done rather than try to make something different for Americans.
I tend to agree with that – people will either accept her or not accept her, regardless of the language she sings in.
As an English speaker I like music from other countries and am always looking for new musical groups no matter where they are from and what language they sing in. It is all about the music for me and if I connect with it or not.
There's something about singing in a language you don't understand that makes it more appealing. Currently, I'm into German music, and there's some pop I'll listen to and enjoy… yet if I hear the translated version, I think it's terrible. Go fig.