The King of C-Pop

Jay Chou

           Not only is Kato a Master Martial Artist, but he is a musical prodigy too.

Who is he?

A majority of people in the west have probably seen Jay Chou on the big screen.  He starred as Kato in the Hollywood film, The Green Hornet.  However, what you may not know is that Jay has pioneered a massive movement called the “China Wind”.

            During the early 21^st century, China experienced an economic transition.  The country eventually allowed western influences in.  Hence, the new and younger generation of china was easily influenced by western pop culture. 

            This is where Jay Chou comes in.  Chou was the first artist in China to incorporate elements of western pop music with traditional Chinese music.  This unique style appealed to the younger population, but it also attracted the older gyration as well.  Hence, Chou’s music became a massive success and launched Chinese pop (C-pop) as a force to be reckoned with all over Asia.  With this success, Jay Chou has become China’s national icon.

            However, he is not only a talented musician.  He starred in, directed and wrote the script for the critically acclaimed movie Secret.  The film was nominated for seven awards and won “Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year, Best Visual Effects and Best Original Song for "不能說的祕密" (Secret)”, a song by Chou himself.  He is really a Renaissance man of entertainment!

The Music

          Unlike many pop artists, Jay Chou has complete artistic control over his music.  As well as being the songwriter and composer, Chou produces every single one of his albums.  Hence, Chou is able to dabble and experiment in a variety of different genres of music.

          

         The following song is called Nunchucks and was used in the soundtrack for The Green Hornet.  It's a hip-hop/rap song, but it also includes traditional Chinese instruments.  It's an absurd combination, but Chou manages to merge the two completely opposite styles seamlessly.

     

         Another song by Jay Chou is Secret that cannot be Told, which was used in the movie Secret.  The song is a good example of how versatile of an artist Chou is.  It is a slow rock song with a melancholy piano melody.  

          So, what are your thought of Jay Chou? Would you want to hear more of his music?

  Sources

http://seoulbeats.com/2012/12/unpopular-opinion-defending-jay-chous-hit-on-gangnam-style/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Chou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_%282007_film%29

Big in Name and Numbers

AKB48

  And you thought the Pussycat Dolls had too many members.

  

Who are they?

AKB48 holds the Guinness World record for largest pop group, consisting of an astounding 88 members.  That’s right, eighty-freaking-eight members! But that isn’t the only thing that sets them apart from girl groups such as the Pussycat Dolls or the Spice Girls.  They are an extremely popular idol group from Japan.  Formed in 2005, they have sold a total of 20 million physical CDs in Japan so far.

Idols 

 AKB48 is an idol group, but what is an idol group?  In Asia there is a massive explosion of entertainers called idols.  They are basically “media personalities in their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or cute”.  So, they’re similar to the tween idols of America (e.g. Disney Stars, Justin Beiber, One Direction). 

 However, what makes these idols different than their counterparts in North America are the fans.  These worshipped figures “command a level of obsession among their fans that easily outshines the Beliebers and Directioners”.  The level of delusional obsession borderlines pure criminal insanity (i.e. a fan once tried to poison her idol).

So, yeah, idol culture can be quite off putting, but it is a unique aspect of the Asian music industry.  All negativities aside, not all fans are rabid worshippers.

The Music

      AKB480 never really strays from very cheery and poppy music.  But with zillions of catchy tunes, it’s not hard to see why they are such a popular group.  Below is the group’s most recent release called UZA :

     Compared to AKB48 other releases, the song falls a bit flat with its heavy use of auto-tune.  Despite this, the single still sold over a million copies in the first week of its released. 

          Just for kicks, here is another video called Gingham Check:

      It’s a very interesting video, one that you wouldn’t normally see in the west.  So, what are your thoughts on AKB48? Love them? Hate them?

Sources

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/8000/largest-pop-group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_idol
http://www.asianjunkie.com/2012/10/korean-executive-says-k-pop-fans-are-a-cult-the-fandom-scares-an-american-journalist/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKB48
http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/11/akb48-sells-over-20-million-cds-total/

The Guitar Slapping Legend

Miyavi

The first musician I'd like to introduce is Miyavi.  Since he studied in America for a few years, some of his songs are in English.  So, I thought that Miyavi's music would be a nice way to ease into Asian music for new listeners.

Who is he?

A tattoo clad “samurai”.  Miyavi is a singer-songwriter from Japan and is most famous for his atypical guitar playing skills.  In his ongoing career he has released a total of 7 studio albums so far, with each of his albums showcasing his unique guitar playing skills. 

Over his 14 year career he has developed an “unconventional style of playing the electric guitar, not with a pick, but with his fingers and his original slap style which is like no other”.  This gives a characteristically raw feel to his music. 

His newest single is “Ahead of the Light”, which was released just a few days ago.  It is a fast-paced and energetic song, which is filled with his signature guitar slapping.  The song also highlights his raspy vocals.  

Even though the song is filled with massive amounts of engrish, his pronunciation isn’t as comical as other Asian artists.

So, enough with the talking and take listen for yourself:

(Lyrics here)

 Miyavi is also known as a very versatile artist.  He tends to experiment in many different styles.  A great example is in his song “Ha Na Bi”.  The song is composed of a mixture of instruments including the acoustic guitar, flamenco guitar and a shamisen (a traditional Japanese instrument).  Take a listen to it below:

     So, that's it for this post.  Did you like any of Miyavi's music?  Yes? No? Place your comments down below and stayed tuned for the next post of Mochi Muse.

Sources 

http://myv382tokyo.com/?aid=222
http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/09/miyavi-reveals-details-on-his-upcoming-min-album/

http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/miyavi/lyrics/ahead-of-the-light/ahead-of-the-light::157246.html