Category Archives: Two Cents

Two Cents: GT’s Top 10 Performance Clips from 2011

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OK. One week down in 2012, and 51 one left to go! We’re continuing our 2011 countdown series with a recap of my top 10 favorite performance clips from last year. The criteria for this list came down to a mixture factors, including the actual performance, the crowd response, production values, and sheer overall entertainment. The only other restriction was that the clip had to be released in the calendar year of 2011, even if the performance is from earlier. Lastly, click through till the end for a bonus pick that didn’t quite fit in my top 10 but shouldn’t be ignored.

Now, starting with my number 10 pick, we have…

10. April Chase – “All You Need to Say” (article)

Ever since first discovering April Chase a couple years ago, they quickly became one of my favorite Pop/Rock bands. The group encompasses radio friendly hooks with a great rock foundation, wrapped up with Carina Valdes’ sweet but gutsy vocals. The only thing the above clip that is missing, was an audience to appreciate the unplugged rendition of “All You Need to Say” from their EP, Still Breathing. It’s always a blessing when a rock group still sounds just as fun and engaging without the benefit of studio polish.

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Two Cents: GT’s Top 10 MVs from 2011 (and 10 Honorable Mentions)

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2011 was a banner year in the world of Asian-American music. We saw more releases than ever, more artists achieving more mainstream success, and more fans across more ethnic backgrounds recognizing the great music by our artists. But along with more of the good comes more of the bad – with there also being an influx in mediocre music, an increase in hate and bigotry (check Youtube comments) and even more pressure to try and stand out. That’s why I wanted to look back on the past year and choose what I consider to be my top 10 favorite music videos from 2011. Now this doesn’t mean that these are the MVs with the top production values (although this is often the case), but rather it’s a reflection of what I found to be the most well executed, balanced, and entertaining visuals. On the very last page we also have a list of 10 honorable mentions that I thought deserved to be recognized as well.

So without futher ado let’s jump straight into number 10…

10. IAMMEDIC – “Spaceship” (article)

Electronica-Pop group IAMMEDIC took the concept of their song “Spaceship” to the max by injecting a silly Star Trek inspired motif and alien abduction. The video is fun, looks great, and represents the high energy of the audio perfectly. Deep? Not so much, but fun and well executed? Very much so.

Directors/Cinematographers/ Dan Fisher and Ed Park
Produced by Joe Park and IAMMEDIC
Edited by Steve Arcenio
Visual Effects – Ed Park and Derrick Lee
3D Model by Daniel Harris
“Spaceship” Written and Produced by IAMMEDIC
Mixed by Enik Lin

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Two Cents: 5 Reasons Why Youtube Is Hurting Our Artists

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Before we begin allow me to make one thing clear. Youtube, in itself, is not bad. In fact it’s one of the greatest tools that musicians have come across since Myspace first launched. Heck, Youtube, and it’s corporate extension Vevo, has become the new mTV in a day and age when most teens couldn’t tell you what TRL stood for. The Youtube community is humongous and it allows artists to interact visually with their fans in an instant and unprecedented way. That being said, the phenomenon and age of the Youtube star isn’t without it’s share of downsides. Here are my top 5 reasons why Youtube is hurting our artists.

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Two Cents: Apathy Killed the Asian American Star

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So I decided to give vlogging a try and I realized I talk WAY too much. I apologize for being so verbose, I’ll work on it for the future =).

Anyways, the point of the video is this: Support the music you love, because we, the consumer can shape the market for Asian American musicians.

Here are the articles I referred to:

Hope I didn’t bore you to death! Thoughts? Comments?

Two Cents: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Hate ‘Em?

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I recently read a tweet from a very talented up and coming Korean-American R&B singer that said the following:

listening to BoA’s US CD while working on my secret weapon. girl needs to learn english or just STOP. *cringe*

Now I don’t wanna blow up her spot, and I imagine if you tried hard enough you could figure out who it is but that statement did get me thinking…

You may remember last month I wrote a post about the perception of Asian accents. The statement above definitely exemplifies the point I was trying to get across, and it’s coming directly from another Korean. With that said, I must admit I do somewhat understand where she’s coming from but I really didn’t think BoA’s English was that bad. In fact it all made sense, S.M. paid the writers to make sure of that, it’s just BoA’s accent did peep through now and then, despite the heavy electronic masking of her voice. By no means did I find it all that distracting or detrimental as a listener nor did I ever feel the need to “cringe”, but that may be just me.

And as my train of thought continued, the next thing that popped into my head was that BoA is making much bigger moves than this particular outspoken artist. I don’t see this artist headlining major events, having song placements in major TV shows, putting out numerous music videos, working w/ Akon, etc. Of course it’s not fair to directly compare since this artist doesn’t have the backing of a major Korean entertainment company to see her through the market, but still… it seemed almost silly for her to make such a statement when she hasn’t achieved nearly as much tangible success. It’s kinda like when someone upstaged you in HS so you drew all over the picture in the yearbook.

BoAHATE

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Two Cents: Wait, is this OK?

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Earlier this week I read about Korean musician MC Mong’s upcoming comeback and had a positive initial reaction being an MC Mong fan. I thought his last couple albums were definitely solid and I really enjoy the fact that he’s a rapper that doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s the kind of guy who seemingly doesn’t mind being the butt of a joke.

Then I paused to think for a second about this new image/style concept… an ‘Indian Boy’. I scratched my head… and asked myself… “Wait, is this OK?” Look at the following images…

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Two Cents: The Wonder Girls – Defenders of the Universe

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 WG_Voltron

After watching the clip of the Wonder Girls goofing off backstage with Jordin Sparks I realized these girls are TINY in comparison.

JS_WG

I mean look at them standing next to Jordin! And they are all roughly the same age! Although to be fair, Jordin is not small by any means but she still completely dwarfs the Wonder Girls. I feel like if all of the Wonder Girls combined into one person then they would almost be the same size as Jordin. Almost.

Maybe they all secretly form to make one single world dominating super star. Wonder Girls UNITE!

Hmmm… Maybe that was JYP’s plan all along.

PS. Did anyone else get the sense that JYP is like a crazy stage dad? Listen to him “encouraging” the Wonder Girls to teach Jordin their dance. It’s like watching parents forcing the kids to do a talent show at a family gathering.

Two Cents: All Accents Are Not Created Equal

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WonderSpice

With so many Asian artists attempting to cross over to the US music industry this year (BoA, Wonder Girls, Se7en, Utada Hikaru, etc), it goes without question that increased public awareness also brings increased scrutiny. Across the board it seems like a lot of people are commenting on how (fill in the name of an Asian artist here) needs to work out their accent (Utada being the exception). Or how they sound foolish or embarrassing. Go to any youtube video or forum post about these artists and you’ll undoubtedly see all the negative remarks. You know I’m not going to lie, I’ve made similar comments many times myself.

However I think it begs the question, what makes an Asian accent so “ugly”? I mean, British and Latin accents are almost unanimously considered attractive or sexy, yet Asian accents are often the subject of ridicule and shame. What makes Enrique sound so exotic and smooth, but Se7en awkward and funny? What made the Spice Girls sound so endearing but the Wonder Girls like level 2 ESL students?

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Two Cents: SNSD evolved from birds

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OK, so if you are now or have  at any point in the last couple years been a KPOP fan, then you have heard of SNSD aka Girls Generation. They hit the scene as part of SM’s master plan of world dominance and haven’t looked back since. Now I’ll be quite frank and say I was never that into the group. They all seemed so young and cutesy and there is just so friggn many of them it kind of boggled my mind.

Putting any personal dispositions aside I have to admit their new single is catchy in that mind numbingly repetitive and overbearingly cute kind of way. I can’t say I’m any more or any less of a fan now but I will admit that I did pay a little more attention this time around.

And I realized something…

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Two Cents: YMGA needs to fire somebody pt 2

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Everyone loves some good hand signs to help represent a group…

So its awesome when a group with Masta Wu and Digital Masta can broadcast to the world who they are. Now the world shall know them as..

ymgatellittomyheart_inkigayo_121008thedeathsblogavi_000178444

A.. backwards G… M… Y?

Someone should have told them it only spells YMGA to them and their back up dancers…

Part 1 can be viewed here.