I read this article over at the Japan Times and thought it was perfect for a New Year's post. If you really want to know why I haven't been updating and stuff, see my personal blog. But I'm back, and what a better way, or worse way, to start the new year off than to post about J-pop.
From the article it would seem that some Japanese pop singers are making stabs at US recognition, most notably Hikaru Utada of Kingdom Hearts fame. She kind of tried before and failed, but she's at it again.
Since you can read all of that info on the article itself, I'm just going to give my $.02 as for this phenomenon. Here in the US we really need some foreign stuff. And I particularly don't like it when foreign artists try to become "American" by singing in English. Give me the original language, please!
For example, how many Americans (besides me) actually listen to classical and opera music on a day-to-day basis? Yet, walk into any music store and you'll find Andrea Bocelli CDs somewhere in the mix. This Italian tenor not only manages to sell classic CDs in America, but he also does it while singing in his native tongue.
Americans are particularly hostile to foreign languages, it seems. I agree, Mexicans should probably learn to speak English, at least enough to get by, before they jump the border into America, but to completely cut out foreign languages is just wrong. This isn't done intentionally, but whereas many other countriest have no problem selling Celine Dion CDs, Hollywood films, etc. we don't seem to want to import many foreign stuff at all, aside from anime and video games. Even then, we are plagued by people who just don't like to read subtitles.
To wrap this up, since I didn't pre-write this article, proof read it, and make it good, I'll say that if there's one artist who could very easily get away with fame in America, it would probably be Gackt. I'm not a fan of his by any means, but I do know that he has tons of fans all over the world, so why not make his CDs available all over the world? That would open the door to a ton of artists!
From the article it would seem that some Japanese pop singers are making stabs at US recognition, most notably Hikaru Utada of Kingdom Hearts fame. She kind of tried before and failed, but she's at it again.
Since you can read all of that info on the article itself, I'm just going to give my $.02 as for this phenomenon. Here in the US we really need some foreign stuff. And I particularly don't like it when foreign artists try to become "American" by singing in English. Give me the original language, please!
For example, how many Americans (besides me) actually listen to classical and opera music on a day-to-day basis? Yet, walk into any music store and you'll find Andrea Bocelli CDs somewhere in the mix. This Italian tenor not only manages to sell classic CDs in America, but he also does it while singing in his native tongue.
Americans are particularly hostile to foreign languages, it seems. I agree, Mexicans should probably learn to speak English, at least enough to get by, before they jump the border into America, but to completely cut out foreign languages is just wrong. This isn't done intentionally, but whereas many other countriest have no problem selling Celine Dion CDs, Hollywood films, etc. we don't seem to want to import many foreign stuff at all, aside from anime and video games. Even then, we are plagued by people who just don't like to read subtitles.
To wrap this up, since I didn't pre-write this article, proof read it, and make it good, I'll say that if there's one artist who could very easily get away with fame in America, it would probably be Gackt. I'm not a fan of his by any means, but I do know that he has tons of fans all over the world, so why not make his CDs available all over the world? That would open the door to a ton of artists!
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