Eurovision Preview Review fun will resume tomorrow, but in the meantime let's take a break from Eurosong with an interesting thing going on domestically.
Two significantly popular Korean popsters are trying to break into US market: Se7en & BoA. (Rain is also trying to do so as well, but via acting so the jukebox won't get into him.)
Se7en is starting out with a song with Li'l Kim (who is near unrecognisable) called Girls. It's...well, judge for yourself, and I'll give my impression afterwards:
The song itself is not bad, but it's not really attention-getting: no dancing, rather average beat, and there's nothing that makes it stand out from anything else. Still, as an appetiser, it makes me curious as to what he might do next. Girls is currently available on iTunes.
Now for BoA. BoA has a very good track record in both Korea and Japan. She's pretty much a tour de force there, so it would make sense that the next outgrowth would be tackling the English-language market.
Her first single was Eat You Up, released this past Autumn, which certainly was full of double entendres (and occasionally peculiar grammar), although I wonder if team BoA realised it at the time.
Her self-titled album was released earlier this month (available on Amazon, iTunes, and Zune marketplace), and personally, I have to say it's a great listen: it's all dance/electropop with great producers. The release also coincides with the next video off of the album, I Did It for Love. Here's a teaser:
Alas, there's a downside to both of these rather ambitious US debuts: They have dropped the ball in regards to marketing. There seems to be very little--if any--national television interviews, performances, or even features, which is a shame. Perhaps the management teams have a big April/May multimedia press ahead, but I don't think mere word-of-mouth, weird online contests (Win a date with Se7en?), and sporadic live appearances (this country is touch bigger than just Los Angeles and New York) is going to get them beyond niche status at the moment.
Good luck guys.
1 comment:
there aren't many non-native english speakers who break into the u.s. market, and almost all of them are latin (shakira, ricky martin, thalia, selena, et al.). the only crossover from asia that i can think of is pizzicato five, but they had only mild success over 10 years ago.
Post a Comment