Vernon becomes the third member of the 13-piece group to release solo material, having previously teamed up with Charli XCX and Omega Sapien
Pop punk colors Black Eye, the debut solo from Vernon, one-thirteenth of the K-pop supergroup Seventeen. The third to venture out on his own, following Hoshi and Woozi, the hip-hop unit member previously appeared on a string of features, popping up alongside Charli XCX and Rina Sawayama on a “Beg For You” remix and Omega Sapien on “Wrecker.”
Vernon chose chaos from the initial announcement of the project, sharing a teaser trailer previewing the guitar-heavy title track with the lyrics: “I’m on my worst behavior/How you like me now?/Put a muzzle on me/I’ll spit in your mouth.”
The fiery concept photos accompanying the release of Black Eye set the basis for an adoption of pop punk’s roughed up aesthetic. The “Black Eye” music video is all cathartic emotional release riding on the high of destruction captured in camcorder-quality footage. The singer is seen singing against moody backdrops, from abandoned buildings to forlorn sunsets.
Vernon has been working towards enveloping himself in the genre’s sound since first suggesting Seventeen toy with it in the style of Avril Lavigne on their 2021 bonus track “2 Minus 1,” he and his bandmate Joshua told Forbes at the time.
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“I’ve been into that genre recently and when our label offered a chance to work on an all-English track to me and Joshua, I thought ‘Why not a pop-punk track?’,” Vernon said. “Bring back the early-2000s vibes, but we also took inspiration from that and new-school sounds.”
Fans pressed him on his influences from there, finding that he was as much of a student of Green Day as he was of Lavigne, with Black Eye reflecting the streamlined rock sound of artists like Yungblud and Machine Gun Kelly with a sharp pop edge.
Mariah Carey performs to a recording of All I Want for Christmas Is You at Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York.NBC/Getty Images
When Mariah Carey performed to a recording of All I Want for Christmas Is You atMacy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York last month, the holiday season more or less commenced. The crowd against the commercialization of the holidays cried, “Too soon!” For some musicians, however, it couldn’t come soon enough.
December is a jackpot month for artists with holiday albums in their catalogues, especially in a country where a holiday record (Michael Bublé’s Christmas) won a Juno Award for album of the year. Not only are festive songs evergreen and popular, they are the passports into the lucrative seasonal concert schedule.
“We released Barenaked for the Holidaysin 2004, and we’ve toured behind it 12 years now,” said Barenaked Ladies’ drummer Tyler Stewart. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”
The band’s Hometown Holidays tour this month covered 14 cities, from Vancouver to Toronto. Not only does their 18-year-old album give them material for an annual show, it allows them to hit markets more frequently. Barenaked Ladies just played a Toronto-area concert in November, at Casino Rama in Orillia, Ont. Less than a month later they were back in the same region with a holiday concert at Toronto’s Massey Hall. This kind of tour routing is only feasible with a completely different show on the return visit.
“Our fans love it,” Stewart said.
The BNL show was just one of the holiday concerts that filled up this month’s calendar at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The artists booked there, including Molly Johnson, Good Lovelies, the Tenors, Kellylee Evans, and Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, all have recorded seasonal albums at some point in their careers. Coming off the pandemic, generally ticket sales this year have been sluggish, according to promoters and presenters who spoke to The Globe and Mail. Christmas concerts were the exception.
“There’s a significant appetite,” said Heather Gibson, responsible for non-orchestral music programming at the NAC.
What helps fuel the demand is the family nature of the events. With multi-generations attending, tickets are snapped up quickly. “It’s a holiday experience with kids, parents and grandparents,” said Tim Des Islets. “Where typically fans are buying two or three or four seats, for Christmas shows it’s six, eight and 10.”
Des Islets is the founder of the Canadian artist management company Noisemaker. His clients include the Newfoundland vocal trio the Once and Ontario’s Good Lovelies, both touring mistletoe music this month. Citing the broader audiences who attend Christmas concerts, Des Islets sees the shows as a marketing tool. “It’s an opportunity to introduce a new fan base to the band.”
Comprised of singer-songwriters Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough, andSusan Passmore, the harmony trio Good Lovelies are a hot ticket on the summer folk festival circuit. But, with three holiday-themed albums and EPs to their credit, they’ve developed a niche as annual Christmas specialists as well.
Barenaked Ladies on the Bravo! Program in December 2006.Geoff George/Handout
“The Good Lovelies are like the Messiahs of pop music,” says the NAC’s Gibson. “Our orchestra has to do Messiah and I have to book the Good Lovelies. I think I would catch a fair bit of flack if I didn’t bring them in.”
Despite the demand for seasonal pop, it’s not as easy as decking the halls with retreads of Jingle Bell Rock and, with all due respect to Bruce Springsteen, Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Both Good Lovelies and Barenaked Ladies mix in their own holiday-themed material with traditional chestnuts and covers. “It was important for us to write original songs,” says BNL’s Stewart. “With the complete saturation of the shopping environment today, by the time Christmas rolls around, you’re kind of done with hearing the same old songs.”
It’s hard to deny the bottom-line implications of putting out Christmas music. According to a 2017 report from The Economist, singer Carey, the self-branded Queen of Christmas, had earned more than US$60-million from All I Want for ChristmasIs You since its release in 1994. That big number doesn’t reflect touring income from seasonal concerts. With a pair of jingle-belled shows this month at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and two more at New York’sMadison Square Garden, Carey is laughing all the way to the bank.
Other seasonal ventures are more organic. Hawksley Workman recorded Almost a Full Moon in 2001 as a mediation on his sentiments toward Christianity and as a nostalgic celebration of family. It was also a reaction to 9/11. “The songs were written at a time when the world was rethinking its position on religion and how these things play out globally,” said Workman, whose Almost a Full Moon tour this year hit 14 Ontario markets. “There were zero commercial intentions for the record.”
The album is tuneful and thoughtful, with such nose-nipping gems as First Snow of the Year, Common Cold and Let’s Make Some Soup. Workman tours the record every year now. As well, the songs were adapted by playwright Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman for a stage musical that premiered at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton this fall. Rather than a one-off holiday lark, Almost a Full Moon endures as one of the Juno-winning musician’s finest works.
“There’s nothing maudlin, which is what Christmas music is turning into,” Workman said. “All the songs came from my gut and my heart, which is why I think the music has fallen into people’s lives in a way that is meaningful enough that it has become an annual tradition. I mean, I’m not singing garbage.”
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Singer Justin Bieber may be joining the ranks of musicians selling their song rights for hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Canadian pop star is close to selling the rights to his recorded music for $200 million to Hipgnosis Songs Capital, a firm that invests in music rights, reports the Wall Street Journal. Hipgnosis Songs Capital is backed by asset manager Blackstone, which committed $1 billion to the company to help acquire music rights.
The Bieber deal would be Hipgnosis’s largest, according to the Wall Street Journal. The firm also acquired the rights to Justin Timberlake’s music for $100 million earlier this year.
Blackstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hipgnosis declined to comment.
Several other prominent musicians have also sold their music rights for hundreds of millions of dollars. Bob Dylan sold the rights to his songwriting and recorded music catalogs to Universal Music and Sony Music respectively, netting the Nobel Laureate somewhere between $450 million and $500 million in total.
In November 2021, Sony Music acquired Bruce Springsteen’s music rights in an estimated $550 million deal. And in January, Warner Chappell Music bought the rights to David Bowie’s catalog for $250 million.
Why are people paying top dollar for music rights?
Those acquiring music rights believe that the rights, especially for works from beloved artists, can generate long-term income from licensing deals and royalty payments.
The growth in blockbuster deals for back catalogs comes as older music takes over streaming.
“Catalog music,” defined as music released over 18 months prior, made up 72.4% of the U.S. music market in the middle of 2022, according to analytics company Luminate. New music made up the 27.6% remaining.
And streaming users are listening to old music as well. The 200 most popular songs of 2021 were only streamed 5% of the time last year, according to Luminate (formerly called MRC Data). That’s half as often as 2018, when users streamed that year’s most popular songs 10% of the time.
Other forms of pop culture can have a hand in streaming success. TikTok trends can send a classic song back into the charts: in 2020, a TikTok trend featuring the Fleetwood Mac song “Dreams” sent the song to second place in Billboard’s song charts.
More recently, Kate Bush’s song “Running Up That Hill” became the most-streamed song in the world in June when it was featured in the opening to Netflix’s latest season of Stranger Things. The streaming boom could have earned Bush an estimated $2.3 million in royalties.
Bieber may have gotten lucky with his music rights deal, as the market for back catalogs could be cooling. Higher interest rates are making it more difficult for potential buyers to get financing, and a looming economic slowdown is dampening income projections from song rights, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Not all of Bieber’s business deals turn out well. On Monday, the singer accused clothing retailer H&M of selling merchandise with his name and likeness without his consent. H&M, which disputes Bieber’s claim that it made the clothes without the singer’s approval, pulled the products on Wednesday.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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Justin Bieber has a lot going on. The “Peaches” singer just called out H&M for copyright infringement over an unauthorized merch collection; he’s also amongst The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, Post Malone, and more celebrities serving as defendants in the lawsuit against Bored Ape Yacht Club’s NFT creators.
Luckily, it looks like the most recent news is exciting. The star is reportedly approaching a deal to sell his music rights to Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital for about $200 million, according to sources who told Variety.
Justin Timberlake sold his entire catalog to Hipgnosis in May.
This follows the postponement of Bieber’s Justice World Tour this year. In June, he revealed his Ramsay Hunt syndrome diagnosis, which causes partial facial paralysis. He resumed his tour in Europe and performed six shows from July 31 to August 12, but he announced another postponement following his record-breaking set at Rock In Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 4.
“After resting and consulting with my doctors, family and team, I went to Europe in an effort to continue with the tour. I performed six live shows, but it took a real toll on me. This past weekend I performed at Rock in Rio and I gave everything I have to the people in Brazil,” his statement read in September. “After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realized that I need to make my health the priority right now. So I’m going to take a break from touring for the time being. I’m going to be ok, but I need time to rest and get better.”
The tour has been postponed through at least March 25, 2023.
Apple Music—the macOS app, rather than the streaming service—is a popular feature-packed choice for managing large music collections. But you might never have come across one of its key capabilities: being able to manage multiple libraries.
It gives you separate spaces for your music, with its own songs, playlists, and settings. This can be particularly useful if you have a musical taste that ranges over very different and clashing styles, and you don’t want to swing drastically from one to the other when you hit the shuffle button.
At the time of writing, Apple Music (the program) has yet to make it over to Windows, but users still have access to iTunes, which also supports multiple music libraries.
Why you should set up a second Apple Music library
Apple Music gives users the flexibility to create complex music collections, with smart playlists, folders, star ratings, and other organizational features. However, you might not want to keep all of your music in the same bucket.
[Related: How to add your personal music collection to your streaming playlists]
Seasonal tunes are a good example. Even if you love all the Christmas classics, you don’t necessarily want them cluttering up your music library for the rest of the year, and dropping into automated playlists when you least expect them. It makes sense to build a dedicated Christmas music library you can turn to when the time is right.
Having a second Apple Music library can also come in handy when you use different types of music for specific purposes. Long, instrumental, chill-out tunes can be great for working or studying, for example. And while these tracks are perfect to have on in the background, perhaps you don’t want them to pop up on your random playlists when you’re getting ready for a night out.
A second library also gives you additional flexibility. If you’ve got a lot of tunes stored on an external hard drive that isn’t always connected to your computer, for instance, you can add them to a second library you can load up whenever you plug it in. If local storage space is at a premium on your computer, this will enable you to create a bigger library on a separate drive, as well as a smaller one that’s always available.
How to set up a second Apple Music library
Setting up a separate music library on Apple Music is easy. First, make sure the desktop application is completely closed. Continue by holding down the Option key (macOS) or the Shift key (Windows) and launching Apple Music again from the Applications window in Finder on macOS or the Start menu on Windows.
You can then choose Create a new library to make your second library or Choose a different library to switch between your existing libraries (by default, the program opens the last library you used).
Opt to create a new library, and the app will prompt you to pick a new location for it—it can be anywhere you like on your computer system or on an external hard drive. You’ll also need to give your new library a name to help identify it, so call it something that describes what it is for or what kind of music it contains.
[Related: Everything you need to know about the new Apple Music Voice Plan]
After a few moments, Apple Music will generate your new library, giving you a blank canvas to start building up playlists and adding songs. Open up the application settings (via Music and Settings on macOS, or Edit and Preferences on Windows) to configure how the library works. For example, you can choose whether the app consolidates tracks into the same folder location once you add them to the library.
There is one key restriction for additional libraries: You have to stick to files locally stored on your devices that you’ve purchased digitally or ripped from CDs, rather than tracks streamed from Apple Music. This is because only one of your libraries can incorporate streaming tracks and sync to other devices (such as phones and tablets) through iCloud and your Apple ID. You can set this up via the Sync Library option in Apple Music settings.
Vietnamese compete in a K-pop dance cover competition in Hanoi in 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
A new branch of South Korea’s World K-POP Center will provide classes to local artists looking to become Asia’s next pop sensations.
Vietnam Television Cable Corporation (VTVcab) is working with World K-POP Center in order to open the institution next year.
Bui Huy Nam, general director of VTVcab, said this is the first time South Korean experts would be directly training Vietnamese musicians in the ways of pop music. The school’s instructors will also play a direct role in discovering and introducing local talent to the world, he said.
Nam added that the center’s mission was to help the K-Pop and V-Pop culture industries thrive and grow both locally and internationally.
One program slated for next year after the center’s inauguration is “Click The Star.” This reality TV show produced by the center will aim to find, train and manage young Vietnamese talent according to a uniquely K-pop model.
World K-POP Center has collaborated with international broadcasters and entertainment/production companies to train professional performers and other players in the music industry. It currently has branches in China and Japan, as well as other international localities.
K-pop is a genre of popular music originating in South Korea, featuring catchy music and dance performances. Many K-pop artists have come to perform in Vietnam in recent years.
K-pop fever hit Vietnam in the early 2000s when Korean TV shows and pop songs achieved an unusually high level of popularity, long before Psy’s “Gangnam Style” took the world by storm.
According to a May 2019 survey by HCMC-based market research firm Q&Me, 51 percent of Vietnamese like South Korean pop music and 68 percent like South Korean TV serials.
STOCKHOLM, Dec 20 — Elitist, outdated, old-fashioned. Prejudices about classical music can be deep-rooted. However, it’s a musical genre that keeps on finding ways of renewing itself in the hope of rallying a younger audience. And that, it seems to have found on social media, in particular on YouTube.
So suggests the first annual report from Epidemic Sound, a Swedish company that offers easy access to over 35,000 royalty-free compositions. It shows that the use of classical music on YouTube has increased by 90 per cent in the last 12 months. This would make classical music the genre that has seen the strongest growth among content creators in 2022.
So what’s driving this renewed interest in the compositions of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert? Their timelessness, it seems. Indeed, the expression “classical music” itself evokes the idea of the genre not being tied to a contemporary age. The works belonging to this musical repertoire seem to cross the ages, contrary to certain songs that remain forever associated with a very precise moment in time.
These pieces also have the advantage of conveying a wide range of emotions, and can therefore be used as a soundtrack for a wide range of content. The classical repertoire is used in humorous and educational videos, as well as in news and fashion reports, according to the “Sound of the Internet” report. YouTube artist Cecilia Blomdahl uses classical pieces to introduce her 491,000 followers to her life in the Svalbard archipelago, located halfway between the North Pole and the Norwegian mainland. “Classical music […] can be both melancholic and joyful depending on the footage, so the genre fits really well with the feeling I want to evoke in my videos,” she said.
Bringing classical music to new audiences
Musicians such as Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen and Hampus Naeselius are benefiting particularly from this musical trend. The Swedish pair are the classical music composers whose pieces have been used in the most YouTube videos this year, according to Epidemic Sound. Trevor Kowalski, Megan Wofford and Franz Gordon also make the list.
For Oscar Höglund, CEO of Epidemic Sound, this could serve as inspiration to others. “I expect there will be an even larger movement towards storytellers using classical music in their content, which also creates an opportunity for classical music artists to continue to modernize the genre and appeal to new audiences,” he explains.
This renewed interest in the classical repertoire is not limited to YouTube. It is just as prominent on TikTok, Gen Z’s favourite social network. The #classicalmusic hashtag has over 2.3 billion views on the platform. And classical works feature in videos as diverse as a rehearsal video from the trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf, and a video of someone cutting pumpkin seeds into tiny strips. Here too, classical music proves its versatility.
@ibrahimmaaloufofficiel SOLD OUT #classicalmusic show where I will be playing my Third Symphony !! Thank you to everyone coming to watch the show #symphony #tiktokmusic son original – Ibrahim Maalouf
If these new uses can annoy purists, they have the merit of encouraging TikTok’s young users to discover — and appreciate — a musical genre that’s all too often viewed as stuffy and outdated. Indeed, research suggests that under 35s massively turned to the classical repertoire during the Covid pandemic. In fact, their consumption increased by 17 per cent between April 2019 and April 2020, according to a study produced jointly by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Deezer and the British Phonographic Industry.
And it’s a phenomenon that TikTok is fully aware of. The short-form video platform partnered with Warner Classics to release, in August, a compilation of the most listened-to tracks on the application. Here, all the songs had been reworked by the German Babelsberg Film Orchestra, including orchestral versions of Say So by Doja Cat, No Roots by Alice Merton or Wipe It Down by BMW Kenny. An initiative that’s sure to help bring classical music to new audiences. — ETX Studio
As 2022’s most successful K-pop debut with the triple-punch release of surprise singles “Attention,” “Hype Boy” and “Cookie,” NewJeans have followed up with the new track “Ditto” that shows off a cooler and more subtle pop approach suitable for the winter months.
While their NWJNS EP was more focused on effervescent pop hooks suited for the sunshine, “Ditto” is more subtle while remaining true to the sweet style NewJeans established at the start. Over a soft, chopped-staccato beat somewhat reminiscent of the Baltimore club style, members Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein mix eerie, dulcet harmonies with fun and fast melodies to match the breakbeat. The quintet spill about the rush of hoping to take the next step in a relationship and having their feelings reciprocated: “I don’t want to stay in the middle, like you a little/ Don’t want no riddle…/ Say it back, oh say it ‘ditto’/ I want you so I want you/ So, say it ‘ditto.’”
While Danielle wrote on “Attention” and Hanni wrote on “Hype Boy,” this time eldest member Minji helped write “Ditto,” giving three of the five members songwriting credits just five songs into their career. As the group told Billboard in an earlier interview, NewJeans label CEO Min Hee Jin gives the group “plenty of opportunities to participate” in different ways in their music despite being so new in the industry.
Just like how “Hype Boy” and “Attention” were released in multiple music video versions to help tell the group’s stories, “Ditto” comes with two different visuals. The video’s “Side A” and “Side B” versions both focus on a look back to the five NewJeans members playing and dancing in younger school days alongside a sixth, faceless friend in an arm cast who tends to record their dance rehearsals. While the viewer never gets to see the sixth friend’s face fully, we follow her journey which includes a crush on a schoolmate and reminiscing on her time with the girls by looking through old VHS tapes as an adult.
Visually, the “Ditto” video does a fantastic job in capturing not just the technology middle ground of the ’90s/’00s, where memories lived on fuzzy video cameras and grainy VHS tapes, but in the loneliness and awkwardness one can feel in adolescence, even when surrounded by friends. Lyrically, “Ditto” might be initially thought to be about a romantic crush, but the visual offers the possibility of hoping a new friend reciprocates your feelings to take a friendship to the next level too.
As previously reported, “Ditto” is NewJeans’ pre-release buzz track ahead of the new single “OMG” dropping on Jan. 2. Check out both the “Side A” and “Side B” versions of “Ditto” below:
A new study that tracks our changing music habits has been released, with a handful of interesting findings.
The Victorian Music Development Office (VMDO) has just released the latest results from its Music Habits survey, which looks at music discovery, investment, attitudes and consumption across digital platforms, gigs, festivals and merch in Australia.
“Pop music is living up to its name – it is the most popular music genre in Australia.”
To begin with, pop music is currently the number #1 genre consumed by Aussies.
“Pop music is living up to its name – it is the most popular music genre in Australia,” VMDO director Jas Moore said in a press statement. “59% of Australian adults say they regularly listen to pop music, while 20% claim it is their favourite genre.”
Rock/indie rock music was next on the list with 13% of listeners, country music was next with 11%, 10% mainly listen to the Top 40 and other current hits, while 7% of respondents mainly listened to hip-hop and rap.
As for music consumption, interestingly, the old CD format is still going strong.
“The survey reveals that CDs are the most common music purchase (18%),” Moore continued. “However, CD music consumption is in decline, down 7% from 2019.”
Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, streaming is on the rise (up 6% from 2019), with almost half (49%) of Australians saying their favourite and preferred method to consume music is to either stream free music, access free music videos or listen to paid music.
Interestingly though, it seems the role of music in our lives is more important than before the pandemic. 37% of Australians said that “music is my life, my number one passion”, a rise of 5% from the 2019 figures.
When it comes to music discovery methods, it seems YouTube reigns supreme with 31% of Aussies rating it as their top platform for finding new artists and tunes. This is followed by commercial radio (20%), music streaming services (18%), social media (17%) and TV and movie streaming (16%).
“Once discovered, 41% of Australians follow-up an artist and stream their music on YouTube, which is up from 25% in 2019,” said Moore.
Among those who discover music via social media, the survey showed that TikTok is growing (50%) and that Facebook is still important (61%). 55% of respondents rated Instagram as their main social media source of music discovery.
Here’s some more juicy stats: on average, Australians listen to 1.9 hours of music every day, but this shifts dependent on age.
“The survey discovered that under 35s listen to an average of 2.3 hours of music a day, with 15% listening to more than 4 hours. While over 55s are less frequent consumers, with over 20% saying they don’t even listen to music most days,” said Moore.
In some good news for the live music sector, gig attendance also seems to be growing.
“There doesn’t appear to be any reservation for music fans to be in large crowds. 18% say they are visiting stadiums at least a few times a year to watch live music, which is up from 13% three years ago,” said Moore.
Finally, despite a general vibe of increased enthusiasm for music, overall music spend in Australia is still recovering from Covid.
Spending on recorded music is up 5%, however there’s significant less cash being invested in live music (down 18%) and merch (down 15%).
“Even though there is a lower spend on music, it’s pleasing to see that under 35s are the most willing to invest in music with 59% purchasing live music tickets, CDs or merchandise,” said Moore.
For the full rundown of all the survey results, you can slap your mouse here.
Further Reading
Most Music Fans Prefer Live Concerts Over Sex, Study Finds
Going To Gigs Can Actually Help You Live Longer, New Study Finds
Punters Are Having More Sex At Splendour In The Grass Than Any Other Aussie Music Festival, Study Finds
The lyrics of “Cam Sung Ai Dung Cam Sung Em” (You Can Cuckhold Anyone But Me) by singer Phi Phuong Anh are predictably ridiculous:
“Cuckolding can neither be created or destroyed. It only moves from one person to another. You can cuckold anyone but don’t cuckold me.”
Music producer VirusS called the lyrics unacceptable and has asked audiences to stop sharing poorly written songs that attack the tastes of youth culture and lower local music industry standards.
Many songs with allegedly absurd and meaningless lyrics have ended up trending on social media. Detractors say this is because artists only care about viewership instead of making good music.
“Tat Ca Dung Im” (Everybody Stands Still) was hyped as a comeback for singer Ngo Kien Huy. But disgruntled listeners were infuriated by the nonsense hook with lyrics like “Everybody stands still, don’t move”.
Another recent song skewered for its completely inane lyrics is Hoang Yen Chibi’s “U! Em Xin Loi” (Ok! I’m Sorry). Listeners questioned the meaning and message of the repetitive chorus “You want to break up? Not that easy” and “Sit down, sit down, sit down.”
“Anyone has a clue what she’s trying to deliver in this song?” user Ngoc Yen commented on YouTube. “She should put more effort into her songwriting. I think she can do better than this.”
Some other V-pop songs have been criticized for their inappropriate content.
Singer Chi Pu’s singles “Black Hickey” and “Sashimi” were criticized for being sexually suggestive and glorifying workplace affairs. After that, Chi Pu announced she won’t be releasing new music anytime soon and even canceled her plan for a debut album.
The public has also sounded disappointment with local artists who borrow too much from international stars.
Listeners have noticed the similarities between Jack’s new single “Ngoi Sao Co Don” (Lonely Star) and Canadian singer The Weeknd’s 2020 megahit “Blinding Lights.” Jack seemed to mimic both the content and style of the song.
Critics have also said the ballad “Dap An Cuoi Cung” (The Final Answer) by singer Quan A.P. was similar to the song “How Have You Been?” by Chinese singer Eric Chou in 2016.
Many say the Vietnamese pop scene is crumbling under the trending weight of meaningless lyrics. But singers keep hopping on the bandwagon.
According to musician Nguyen Van Chung, perfection in music comes when everything about a song is true and beautiful. That includes melody, lyrics, meaning and title, he said.
Composer Nguyen Minh Cuong told Thanh Nien Newspaper he was worried about the future of popular music in his homeland.
“It’s true that a series of songs have been criticized for their ridiculous and meaningless lyrics,” he said. “Of course, the bad songs will fade away soon, but if we don’t raise awareness among young people, they will easily become a trend. Social networks often create trends for trashy songs, and the more absurd the song, the easier it is to get noticed, which eventually poisons both the music industry and public tastes,” he argued.
Of course, there are two sides to every coin. This year has also showcased creativity, passion and great artistic effort in many new music releases.
Hoang Thuy Linh’ new album “Link”, which infuses modern instruments with traditional Vietnamese music, received laudatory reviews from domestic and international critics.
“Link’s most convincing moments arrive when sonic experimentation matches lyrical conceit. Hoang Thuy Linh’s playful navigation of Vietnam past and present, something central to her art, exists even here,” wrote Pitchfork, one of the world’s most influential music criticism websites.
Singer Phung Khanh Linh also surprised everyone when she put out “Citopia”, an album that focuses on city pop, a popular urban sound from Japan in the 1980s. Fans lauded the album for its concept and musical scope.
“There is plenty of great Vietnamese music out there, you just need to know what to listen,” Minh Hien, a music promoter in Hanoi, said.
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