Hello, this is Alex Hai Tran, your local Asia correspondent coming to you live from Singapore with the latest and greatest Asian Trends. This week, we explore the emerging industry that is Vietnamese Pop (VPop).
A few weeks ago, while in HCMC/Saigon, I had the chance to go karaoke-ing with a few localized Viet-American expats and their friends. They started putting on Viet songs, but to my surprise these weren't the old, slow songs I knew from my parents. Instead, the songs played featured young, attractive people singing modern songs in fancy music videos. And that was how I was introduced to the new world of VPop.
Now VPop for sure is a total ripoff of KPop, but they say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. No matter, I was already hooked. You know how it's really amazing for Asian-Americans to see Asian representation in western media? Now take that down one level - in some circles, Vietnamese and Southeast Asians are seen as not as attractive or even just inferior to your typical East Asians. Yes, Asians are not immune to racism within our own community. So I was in complete awe to see these confident, attractive Vietnamese stars rocking it as hard as any KPop idol. Makes me so damn proud!!
So without further ado, here's my review of some of the top VPop idols based on their songs/music videos. I'll give them ratings based on Attractiveness (because we all know beauty is the most important trait when judging people), Earworm-ness (how catchy is the song AND how they can make the Vietnamese language not sound like someone's gargling their last dying breath), and MV production value.
Sơn Tùng M-TP (don't ask me what M-TP stands for) is basically the Jay Chou of the VPop world currently. One of his Youtube music videos has 70 millions views (Vietnam only has a population of 90 mil...). As for this video, it has that long, melodramatic story element that's popular in a lot of Asian MVs. He's definitely idol pretty and leading man material. The song is a so-so ballad.
Attractiveness: 7/10
Earworm-ness: 4/10
MV production: 7/10
If Sơn Tùng is the Jay Chou of VPop, then Tóc Tiên is the Beyonce/Rihanna/Miley/Madonna of VPop. Actually, I just made that up. Whatever, she's hot and her name literally translate into "Angel Hair." How badass (and stripper-y) is that?! Also, this video has everything: ninjas, geishas, house of flying daggers shit, OMG IS THAT THE DEAF WINNER FROM AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL?!? Come for the typical dance-pop, stay for the sick trap beats.
Attractiveness: 9/10
Earworm-ness: 7/10
MV production: 9/10
This MV features a pop-ballad duet between singer Ngô Kiến Huy and pop diva Sĩ Thanh. He has nice boyish charms, but gosh she needs to wash that heavy makeup off her face. Diva fosho. The real star of video though is the amazing direction and cinematography. It captures the beautiful cities of modern Vietnam gorgeously. Makes me want to go back! The song is also catchy and the first to make me feel that Vietnamese can sound sweet and pleasant! It's also basically a long cellphone commercial, so there's that.
Attractiveness: 5/10
Earworm-ness: 7/10
MV production: 10/10
365daband (or just 365) is the hottest VPop boyband apparently. First there's Jun & Will aka the Lance/Chris/Joey of the group. We don't care about them. Then there's ST or basically JC. And like JC, he had potential but then they went and gave him a really bad dye job that fucked up and damaged his hair. Wow, give the guy some deep conditioner for god sake. So basically the Justin of the group is Isaac a.k.a. Mr. Turtleneck. He's the true star here. I mean look at his solo song here:
#SWAAGGGGG. No ratings needed, Isaac wins.
For more info on VPop, check out this blog www.vpopfan.com.
Okay, that's it for this installment of Asia Trends. Tune in next time when I'll go deep undercover to first-hand find the newest, hottest STDs of Asia.
