|
|
Yellow Is Not the Next WhiteYellow is Not the Next White
by Long Tran, De Anza College - Nov. 2004
A beautiful white canvas with its multifaceted artistic flares stood steady, adored as if Monet had created it himself. Seen on the painting was a unique mixture of black to accentuate the white origin while leaving all the other colors from yellow to green left beneath the black and undetectable among the canvas. The massive suppression both the white and black are placing among the other colors resembles how dominant they are upon many businesses around the world including the music industry. We are living in a society that consist of much racial biases that promote the white and often time the black man while almost never upgrading any other minority throughout the United States. Though primarily a world for the white, the music industry within the U.S. entrust much of its time and power to the avid white or black performer, which leaves many other races that include Orientals left almost non existent. Occasionally there are a few minorities that become tolerable by the American crowd, although they are frequently seen as entertainment that white people can easily control in the palm of their hands. The most widely known Asian artist that was capable of integrating himself into the media was the world renowned “Asian American Idol.” Although William Hung has broken into the mainstream with his comical singing style, he is widening the gap between Asians and the music industry in the United States, while exploiting many stereotypes to his advantage as well.
When thinking about music what generally comes to mind is popular singers accompanied by their audience appealing lyrics, but what people don’t usually associate with it is William Hung. From his cover of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs,” Hung gained his stardom by showing the world the many possibilities Asian artist can create with well-known hits. As Simon Cowell stated “Thank You You cant sing you cant dance,” from this I would like to know why he is being glorified for his pathetic replica of Ricky Martin? The music Hung displayed was abnormal to everyone’s usual mindset of music, but because it was so amusing to watch a grown Asian man make a complete fool of himself the white audiences’ reaction to his performance tended to be left on a positive note. The reaction almost all Asians had to his performance has been on the negative side, for it created a bad image for Asians everywhere. Although because Asians are one of the minorities in the U.S., whites are the primarily race that decides what will become part of the mainstream, and so they decided that Hung’s humorous style of singing was worth being placed amongst all the other well known singers today. The truth of the matter is that white producers are trying to milk his fame for all its worth knowing that his music will never be at the level many black and white artist have reached.
Usually music corporations like to promote popular performer like Brittany Spears of Ricky Martin because of their singing talent, but in this case Hung is glorified for his inability to even hit a note correctly. After his debut on American Idol both the viewers and record companies found his performance to be ridiculously amusing, although impossible to be placed in the category of being good or anywhere near. He has been partaking in many events along his singing career that have trigger much commotion, for instance, when he performed at his school’s volleyball game at which he was offered a record deal. Everyone who has listened to Hung’s performance from his American Idol tryout knows that his voice and his rhythm do not connect with any genre, yet people still buy his albums and ask him to appear at events in order to help promote. Talk show host and even the students at UC Berkeley are trying to use Hung’s newfound fame to advertise and bring more popularity to their own causes. It seems that people are always looking for the next best thing or in this case the next worst thing just so long as it attracts the attention of people everywhere.
Asians in the music industry do not seem to attract much attention to people in the U.S., which accounts for the lack of variety of races in music. Although one would think that even a minute amount of new Asian faces in the business cannot help but make the separation between Asians and the industry dissipate slightly and therefore aid in bringing to life a new era to music; however, in this case Hung is not only broadening the gap but also creating new standards for Asians in the industry. Before Hung had first integrated himself into the mainstream media there were very few Asians like Trish and Coco Lee, but they alone didn’t make much of an impact to music in the U.S. with their acceptable singing style. Good Asian singers did not bring in much audience, and so when Hung hit the floor the new era of Asian singing began which brought with it much publicity. People all over the world were surprised by how amusing Hung’s music really was, which caused people to think closely about the question of “if good Asian singers can’t make it, can bad ones?” Currently William Hung is the walking, dancing, and singing answer to that question.
As hard as it is to “make it” in the music industry William Hung was accepted, yet Coco Lee, an Asian Artist who was featured in one of Jay-Z’s videos, is not an accustomed name to many Americans. Even when accompanied by a well-known rapper, an Asian performer, who can sing, still undergoes much straggle to try and penetrate the barriers Americans have set for Oriental singers. Do all Asians who want to “make it” in the music industry have to where pants up to their chest and talk funny? Usually when an Asian singer is connected with popular American performers they tend to share in their success, but in Coco Lee’s case her role in Jay-Z’s video only lend to her long ran unpopularity. Asians who are trying to conform to the American audience won’t “make it” but those that are creating their own styles have the chance be included among the many known American artist. Coco Lee is trying to become mainstream with the style of music similar to that of all pop and R&B artist, which didn’t result in much, but when Hung used his own style in front of the world they accepted it because it was unusual and funny. The style Hung has shown to audiences is a style unlike the norm and society in general; however, because it worked the standards he has set for the typical Asian artist: goofy smile and corky style cannot be lived up to which brings Asians farther away from what Americans have a tendency to desire.
Like William Hung Asians are always associated with electronics, math, and of course not being able to sing very well. Hung may not even know it, but because he was accepted among the mainstream media for his horrific singing people are now associating Oriental music with the Asian American Idol. He attains Cal Berkeley and has a very difficult major, which leads me to believe that he want to milk his fame for all its worth because soon it will fade away. Although from the start Americans were not relating Asian music with anything other then a language that would sound like rubbish to them, since the beginning of the Hung era people in the U.S. believe Oriental music and William Hung go hand in hand. The view of Asian music was better left as incomprehensible rubbish then where it is today: a massive sampling, comical, and indescribable flaw some Americans now call music.
Musicians who have originated in areas outside of the United States have brought with them unique styles from their homelands, which have included anything from new clothing and most importantly foreign accents. Usually foreigners would perfect their singing style to fit into the mainstream music white Americans enjoy, but unlike the average nonnative American artist William Hung works to create the ideal model of foreign music. Because white Americans are the majorette factor that decides if one “makes it” or “breaks it,” foreign singers that consist of Trish, Coco Lee and the like have formed their singing styles to fit the desires of white Americans everywhere and one of the major requirements they had to give up was their native accent. Aside from the language barrier amongst native foreign and native Americans to date, people from areas outside of the United States must work much harder to integrate themselves into the mainstream media then natives simply because their not native Americans which causes greater separation to the gap for foreigners in the music industry. Also because Americans have accepted Hung because of his inability to conceal his own accent the ideal mainstream for Asian artist in the United States has be modified to the extent of Asians entertaining the white American at the cost of their integrity and pride.
William Hung has turned everyone’s perception of Asian music upside down, and as a result weakened the chances for Asians to break into the American media at the expense of the integrity Oriental music once had in the United States. Since white Americans have a strong grasp upon what will “make it or break it” within the music industry, it causes much concern to Asians and many other minorities in the U.S. Although William Hung’s ridiculous singing brought him into the mainstream, it was at the cost of progressing many stereotypes placed upon all Asians. Hung’s acceptance also brings many questions upon the music industry of what requirements would a minority need in order to appeal to the public, while setting a standard no average Asian artist can duplicate. We all just hope that Asian artist everywhere don’t take into consideration the methods Hung used to integrate himself into mainstream and thus actively abide by the old saying “if you can’t beat them join them.”
|
|
|
