Korean wonder: The Wonder Girls
The news was so telling, an electrician, while buying something from a neighborhood store, was beaten up for not knowing the song one of the suspects was singing when asked, and then finally stabbed to death. The song? Nobody.
How could a song be so influential to cause death? The song apparently was so popular that “nobody” should not know it – under pain of death.
So what is this “Nobody”? This Korean song (which has an English version) is by an all-girl Korean pop group called Wonder Girls formed in 2007 and whose members were products of an extensive search-audition.
A global hit with fans from Paris to Pasay, Wonder Girls is a sensation no Filipino pop group has ever accomplished. Which is a shame to a people who prides itself as the most musically talented people in this side of the globe.
How could Koreans who are not well known for their musicality become popular in such field which Filipinos claim as their God-given field of expertise and hold with virtual license and instinctive pride? They don’t sing and dance ad nauseum like Filipinos do. They don’t have Arnel Pinedas and Charice Pempengcos who make it in America. Filipinos are better English singers.
Well, not even Pineda’s older and most watched Youtube video can match WonderGirls’ more recent video’s view hits. They have more fans, they are more popular, and they are known for their own songs!
How could this be?
Simple. Rather than developing our own, we insist on copying others, trying to claim their audience as our own by imitating the original in the vain hope that the adulation would be ours as well. By endlessly aping our colonial masters, we have ceased to know and see who we truly are, and what we can do.
Pineda and Pempengco have better voices and are more talented. But these pathetic copycats are left biting the dust in the popularity and identity race by the underrated and allegedly less talented Koreans.
The Koreans have now Wonder Girls and we only have a fake Steve Perry, a Dion-Houston wannabe and a fake president.
Is it any wonder that we are left behind even in a field where we proudly yet foolishly thought we were the race to beat?
11 September 2009 at 11:27 pm |
Who you calling copycats? Didn’t this Wondergirls remind you of the “Supremes”? Just look at their get-ups? Why do some Filipinos think that we are the only creatures of God? That only we can have talents. So what if people of other races succeed? Is it so hard to just applaud rather than calling them inferior to the quality of our so-called native music? And in the process of criticizing them you also belittled the achievements of our budding artists. Remember life is a marathon not a sprint. Our time will come! And life is full of choices too.
And I choose to enjoy it!
4 October 2009 at 2:35 am |
You know, it’s people like you who completely demoralize the success that Filipino artists have had in the Western market. Think, you moronic sorry excuse for a human. The Western market is THE HARDEST market to break into and no Asian has broken into mainstream America. Arnel Pineda is THE FIRST Asian to be the lead singer of Journey. Charice is well on her way to becoming THE FIRST Asian to break into mainstream USA as a solo artist. They’ve accomplished so much yet all yu could think about is ‘lack of originality’. What a joke! Everybody copies a style once in a while. I’m guessing you’re a KPop fan and that’s completely fine. Support all you want. Just refrain from demeaning Charice & Arnel’s amazing & pioneering achievements.
12 October 2009 at 8:23 am |
Sorry, Arnel is Arnel. If you have faithfully read the reviews all over the internet regarding Arnel and Journey, it’s unanimous that Arnel simply sings better and performs better than Steve does. Sure there are the Perry fanatics who will not cease to attack Arnel. Arnel has made Journey one of the greatest comeback bands in history. Their new album hit platinum already. Arnel has brought together old generation Journey fans with the young fans of today who weren’t even born yet when Journey was hitting the charts in the 70s and 80s. This is a unique phenomenon.
Charice as a Houston-Dion wannabe? Hell, there’s probably no singer in this world who started out not singing covers. What about you, what songs do you hum at home or in your spare time? That’s right, you hum other people’s songs. You probably hum K-pop. Celine, before she was discovered by David Foster, was making a living singing covers too.
About WONDER GIRLS. I believe they are a WON HIT WONDER. Just kidding, don’t be offended! (but I’m damn sure you get the idea).